Chaka Khan: Singer, Songwriter, Actor, Activist Chaka Khan was born Yvette Marie Stevens on March 23, 1953 into an artistic, bohemian household in Chicago, Illinois.  Bohemian, is not a word used much anymore but it by definition means "socially unconventional, but involved in the arts, or in an artistic way.  Chaka/Yvette was the eldest of five kids born to Charles Stevens and Sandra Coleman, Yvette described her father as a beatnik and her mother as "able to do anything." She was raised in the Hyde Park area, which has been called "an island in the middle of the madness" of Chicago's rough South Side housing projects.  Her sister Yvonne later became a successful musician in her own right under the name Taka Boom. Her only brother, Mark, who formed the funk group Aurra, also became a successful musician. She has two other sisters, Zaheva Stevens and Tammy McCrary. Yvette was raised as a Catholic, and attributed her love of music to her grandmother, who introduced her to jazz as a child. Yvette soon became a fan of rhythm and blues music as a preteen and at eleven formed a girl group, the Crystalettes, that included her sister Taka.  In the late 1960s, Yvette attended several civil rights rallies with her father's second wife, Connie, who was a strong supporter of the movement and joined the Black Panther Party after befriending fellow member, activist and Chicago native Fred Hampton in 1967.   Though many think that she was given the name Chaka while in the Panthers, she has made it clear that her name Chaka Adunne Aduffe Hodarhi Karifi was given to her at age 13 by a Yoruba Baba. In 1969, she left the Panthers and dropped out of high school, having attended Calumet High School and Kenwood High School (now Kenwood Academy).  Chaka began to perform in small groups around the Chicago area, first performing with Cash McCall's group Lyfe, which included her then-boyfriend Hassan Khan. Chaka and Hassan married in 1970.   Chaka was asked to replace Baby Huey of Baby Huey & the Babysitters A great singer and tight band   (CLIP)  Baby Huey Hard Times   After Huey's death in 1970. The group disbanded a year later.     While performing in local bands in 1972, Chaka Khan was spotted by two members of a new group called Rufus and soon won her position in the group (replacing rock n roll singer Paulette McWilliams). The group caught the attention of musician Ike Turner who flew them out to Los Angeles to record at his studio Bolic Sound in Inglewood, California. Ike wanted Khan to become an Ikette; she declined stating she was "really happy with Rufus. But Ike's attention was certainly a boost."     Early on, Chaka caught the attention of music icon Stevie Wonder, who penned her first smash hit with Rufus, “Tell Me Something Good.”   (CLIP).   TELL ME SOMETHING GOOD   The single from the group’s 1974 platinum-selling album, Rags to Rufus, earned Chaka her first GRAMMY® Award. With Chaka as the group’s dynamic center, Rufus becam

The Old School Rewind Featuring Chaka Khan

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