E-mail a friendChaka Khan
airdate November 26, 2004
Chaka Khan is an industry legend who, for more than 30 years, has set standards in almost every musical genre. The Grammy-winning artist has worked with some of the biggest talents in jazz, blues and rock. She found fame as lead singer of the group Rufus and went solo in '78. Described as a force of nature, Khan recorded her first new material since '98 for her new CD, "Funk This." An avid community supporter, her foundation works to find a cure for autism and give at-risk children greater opportunities.
Chaka Khan
Tavis: It's a pleasure to welcome the one and only Chaka Khan to this program. The music icon is an 8-time Grammy winner who became a household name with her original band Rufus. For her latest project, she's teamed up with the London Symphony Orchestra for the CD 'ClassiKhan.' Gotta love that title. Later on, she's gonna perform a song from the CD, but first it is my delight to welcome to this program Chaka Khan, Chaka Khan.
Chaka Khan: Well, thank you. Good to see you, Tavis.
Tavis: You know, it's impossible to say your name now without saying it twice.
Khan: Well, that's what everybody thinks. Ha ha!
Tavis: You put it out there like that. Chaka Khan, Chaka Khan.
Khan: I did. I set myself up.
Tavis: You sure did. You can't say it without saying it twice now.
Khan: Well, you know, you can say it once, Tavis.
Tavis: Well, you deserve twice. You deserve 3, 4, 5 times. I love this CD principally because I love your voice, obviously, as you well know--huge fan, as you know--but I couldn't imagine what your voice would sound like with strings. But your voice and the combination of this London Symphony is absolutely amazing.
Khan: Well, you know what? That's really where I live.
Tavis: Mm-hmm.
Khan: I was born and raised on this sort of music. My mother and father, when I was a little girl...
Tavis: Back in Chicago.
Khan: Back in Chicago, on the South side.
Tavis: South-side!
Khan: South-side! Uh, this is all we listened to. This was my first music.
Tavis: Standards.
Khan: The standards. And I didn't buy, like--I didn't get into contemporary music actually until I was, like, in high school. And I started buying my first--the first album I bought was Led Zeppelin.
Tavis: Who knew? Yeah.
Khan: Go figure. Yeah. But my mom would play, like, anything, and my dad is a bebopper from way back, and so he's--in fact, my Christian name, Yvette, is after a Stan Getz song. So, you know, that's...
Tavis: Lot of history here.
Khan: Yeah.
Tavis: What's the challenge--I mean, I'm fascinated to hear you say that this was the stuff that you grew up on, as a vocalist who is so good at the R&B thing. Anything you sing you good at, but we know you, obviously, as an R&B star. What's the challenge of, certainly at this point in your career, singing standards and hitting those notes and working with those strings and--what's the challenge?
Khan: Well, um...it takes--you have to be very deli-- Delicacy. You know? And really sort of-- you have to think with this music, you know, like jazz. It's cerebral music. It's a thinking man's music. You know? And so is this music. You have to really treat it like, um, like an act.
Tavis: Right. So, I think--I'm trying to understand you on this. So, when you get up to perform R&B, your classic stuff, you get up, you just belt out what you want to--
Khan: Yeah, it's no thought, without thought.
Tavis: But this you don't want to oversing? You don't--
Khan: You don't want to undersing. You want to really treat it, you know, and get your point across, you know, in--in the most--in the best way possible. And, you know, in the way that's gonna, you know, convey what you're trying to...
Tavis: When I say standards, you do have some standards on here. Let me throw some of these titles at you, and I'm just fascinated as to how one Chaka Khan chose these standards to put on this CD. So there must be a story behind all these songs.
Khan: Kind of, yeah.
Tavis: All right. Let me throw a few of them out at you. Um, one of my favorites, 'Teach me tonight.'
Khan: Oh, dear.
Tavis: That wasn't a statement to you to teach me tonight. I'm just sayin' that, you know, I like that song. But you can teach me if you want to, but that's another story. But go ahead, Chaka.
Khan: We'll talk later.
Tavis: We'll talk later.
Khan: OK! That's the one song that really doesn't kind of have a history. I just like that song. I just liked it. And I grew up on it. I heard that in my--I've heard it, you know, done by...a hundred people.
Tavis: Everybody. Yeah.
Khan: And, um, you know, I just like that...
Tavis: When you hear something done by a hundred different people, to your point, do you really think, with all your talent, that you can do something different, you can give that thing a different treatment?
Khan: Interesting that you should say that, because when in studio, when I was recording this stuff, when I was especially doing, like, the Peggy Lee stuff and 'Goldfinger' and stuff like that, I was, like--I was, like, freaking out, because I was like, 'Oh, God. I'm sounding like--like...'
Tavis: One of those hundred people. Yeah. Ha ha ha!
Khan: So what I had to do was I had to, like, totally just let everything go and get rid of everybody and just--and go in like I was singing the songs and hearing them for the first time. Yeah. In a big way. I didn't know a lot of the lyrics, you know, so, I really did go in reading the lyrics, you know, as I sang them, you know, and it's best that way.
Tavis: Right. All right. So, 'Teach Me Tonight.' I picked the one song that there is no story to, thinking--that's how gifted I am. I just picked that one song. All right, let me try this again, then. Can I get a second shot at this?
Khan: Go ahead. Go ahead. Tavis:
Khan: Oh, OK. Now, there's a story to that. There's--now, you've seen, I'm sure, this black-and-white of Lena Horne.
Tavis: Mm-hmm. Many times.
Khan: Ohh. And the big window.
Tavis: Mm-hmm.
Khan: Ohh. And, uh, from the first time I ever saw that, as a--I think I must've been a kid, I was like, 'Whoa! That's so intense.' And life going on outside the window while she's in this, like--this drab black-and-white hotel room, this beautiful woman, and singing this song with the curtains blowing. And you see all these scenarios going on outside the window. And I thought, 'How clever.' And, you know, it really--it really spoke to me. And, uh, and now the song really speaks to me for--for...
Tavis: For different reasons.
Khan: Other reasons, too.
Tavis: We'll talk about that off-air, too. All right. So, I'm gonna let you pick one, 'cause there's so many standards on here, so much good stuff. So, I'm gonna let you pick one and tell me the story behind how it got on the CD.
Khan: Well, actually, you know, when we embarked upon this--this journey, um, I had over a hundred songs to choose from. So, this will really be volume one, actually.
Tavis: So there's more to come.
Khan: Oh, yeah. And it was difficult to--you know, just what to pick. What I did was I just picked the ones that I really liked the bestest bestest. Heh heh. You know?
Tavis: I like that. Ha ha ha! Chaka can say that. The bestest bestest. So...
Tavis: Among the bestest bestest: 'Hey, Big Spender,' 'Hazel's Hips.'
Khan: 'Hazel's Hips.' Now, that's an interesting one. Oscar Brown Jr. wrote that.
Tavis: Talented.
Khan: An amazing and, you know--you know...really unknown. Nobody knows who Oscar Brown Jr. is, really.
Tavis: Well, not--not the way we should.
Khan: We know. Not like we should. But, uh, he's written a lot of great songs, and, um, he's from Chicago. He's a homeboy, and I grew up, you know, listening to him, and I know him. I knew him. I grew up knowing him and his son Bobo, who played bass, God rest his soul. Bobo and I, we used to hang out, and he had beautiful hazel eyes. And I thought, you know, this is the perfect song, you know, to sort of commemorate or to remember Bobo by and also to let people know that I love Oscar, you know.
Tavis: Was there a reason-- Other than the fact that you love this music, was there a particular reason why you wanted to do this at this point in your career? Because you've done just about everything else.
Khan: You know, I'm trying to think of new things to do. Ha ha! You know, I've gotta come up with new stuff to do, yeah, instead of running out. Ha ha! But I tell you, uh, this stuff has been part of my fiber, you know, throughout my whole life, and...
Tavis: Was just time?
Khan: Oh, man. It was like--it was like I was constipated or something and--
Tavis: It had to come out.
Khan: Big release! You know?
Tavis: OK, Chaka! I'd call that too much information. That's like TMI. But I--I ain't mad at you, though. I--
Khan: Maybe a bad analogy.
Tavis: I get your point, though. I--ha ha! I get your point. Let me--I don't know how to follow that up. What do you ask Chaka Khan after that? What do I say now? Um...
Tavis: All right. So, um, um, um--so, how was the weather in London when you...
Khan:
Tavis: The weather was lovely.
Khan: Right.
Tavis: All right. So, um--I really am stumped here.
Tavis: I don't know what--all right, so, you're gonna sing 'To Sir with Love' here in just a minute or two. So, what do you love so much about 'To Sir with Love', other than it was a great Sidney Poitier movie?
Khan: Right. My mother took me to see that movie when I was--I forget how old. I was young, though.
Tavis: You were a kid. You ain't but, what, 25, 26 now.
Khan: About--well, more like 30. And, uh--
Tavis: Mm-hmm. That's a combination right there.
Khan: Oh, man! And it just--it's been with me. I mean, when I like--if I sing in the shower or if I sing, you know, cleaning up the house, that's one of them songs.
Tavis: Does Chaka sing in the shower?
Khan: No. I want to get out of the shower so fast that I get the job done. Ha ha!
Tavis: You know what? I think if I don't introduce this song right about now, this show's gonna end up...not in the shower, but in the toilet, and I don't want that to happen, because I love Chaka Khan, Chaka Khan so much. So, up next, a classic song, one of the standards from her CD 'ClassiKhan,' 'To Sir with Love', to be sung by the one and only Chaka Khan, Chaka Khan in just a moment. Stay with us.
From the CD 'ClassiKhan,' here is Chaka Khan singing 'To Sir with Love.'
Enjoy, good night from Los Angeles, and keep the faith.
Chaka Khan:
But in my mind, I know they will, they'll still live on and on,
But how do you thank someone who has taken you from crayons to perfume?
It isn't easy, but I'll try,
If you wanted the sky, I would write across the sky in letters
That would soar a thousand feet high, 'To Sir with Love,'
The time has come for closing books, and long last looks must end,
And as I leave, I know that I am leaving my best friend,
A friend who taught me right from wrong and weak from strong, that's a lot to learn,
What can I give you in return?
If you wanted the moon, I'd try to make that start,
But I would rather you let me give my heart 'To Sir with Love,'
Ohh-ohh, ohh, whoa, yeah, sing to me, daddy, yeah, yeah,
Ooh, if you wanted the moon, try to make that start,
But I, yeah, I would rather you let me give my heart 'To Sir with Love,'
Mmm, ooh,
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