Chaka (1978 album)

Infobox Album
Name = Chaka
Type = studio album
Artist = Chaka Khan


Released = 1978
Recorded = 1978
Genre = R&B
Length = 43:11
Label = Warner Bros. Records
Producer = Arif Mardin
Reviews = Rating|2.5|5 All Music Guide [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:axfqxqq5ldje]
Last album =
This album = "Chaka"
(1978)
Next album = "Naughty"
(1980)
Misc = Extra chronology 2
Artist = Rufus & Chaka Khan
Type = Album
Last album = "Street Player"
(1978)
This album =
Next album = "Masterjam"
(1979)

"Chaka" is the debut solo album by American R&B/funk singer Chaka Khan, released on the Warner Bros. Records label in 1978.

Overview

Two singles were released from "Chaka", the first being her anthemic solo debut "I'm Every Woman", one of Khan's signature tunes alongside "Ain't Nobody" (1983) and "I Feel For You" (1984) (US Pop #67, US R&B #5). The song has over the past three decades been re-released, remixed and covered a number of times, most notably by Whitney Houston in 1992 for the soundtrack album "", then featuring guest vocals by Khan herself and topping Billboard's Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart. A remix of Khan's original recording was also a Top Ten hit in the U.K. in 1989. The remix was included on the compilation "Life is a Dance - The Remix Project", the title track of which was the second single release from the "Chaka" album in early 1979 (US R&B #40). The album also features the ballad "Love Has Fallen On Me", never commercially released as a single but still receiving considerable airplay in 1979, as well as Khan's cover version of Stevie Wonder's "I Was Made To Love Her", re-titled "I Was Made to Love Him".

Following the release of the "Chaka" album Khan reunited with Rufus for the recording of 1979's "Masterjam", produced by Quincy Jones. Her second solo album "Naughty" followed in 1980.

The "Chaka" album was re-released on CD in the United States by the Warner Music Group in 1998. [ [http://www.discogs.com/release/457276 Discogs.com entry] ]

Track listing

#"I'm Every Woman" (Ashford, Simpson) - 4:05
#"Love Has Fallen on Me" (Lloyd Webber, Stepney) - 4:52
#"Roll Me Through the Rushes" (Lasley, Marrano) - 4:42
#"Sleep on It" (Kastner, McNally) - 4:21
#"Life Is a Dance" (Christopher) - 4:20
#"We Got the Love" (Benson) - 3:27
#"Some Love" (Boyd, Khan, Sapik, Stevens) - 5:50
#"A Woman in a Man's World" (Kastner, McNally) - 3:56
#"The Message in the Middle of the Bottom" (Washburn) - 4:15
#"I Was Made to Love Him" (Cosby, Hardaway, Moy, Wonder) - 3:23

Personnel

* Chaka Khan - lead vocals, backing vocals
* Gene Orloff - concert master
* Steve Ferrone - drums
* Will Lee - bass guitar & backing vocals trks 1, 5, bass trk 3, backing vocals trks 4, 10
* Hamish Stuart - guitar & backing vocals trks 1, 2, 4, 5, backing vocals trk 3, guitar trks 6, 8, 10, bass trk 9
* Phil Upchurch - guitar trks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, bass trk 6
* Richard Tee - piano trks 1, 2, 7, 8, electric piano trk 4, clavinet trk 5, piano & clavinet trk 10
* Cissy Houston - backing vocals trks 2, 3
* David Lasley - backing vocals trks 2, 3
* Anthony Jackson - bass trks 2, 4, 10
* George Young - alto saxophone trks 2, 5, 6
* Ronnie Cuber - baritone saxophone trks 2, 5, 6
* Michael Brecker - tenor saxophone trks 2, 5, 6, 7, tenor saxophone solo trks 7, 9
* Barry Rogers - trombone trks 2, 5, 6
* Randy Brecker - trumpet trks 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, trumpet & flugelhorn trk 7
* Rick Marotta - drums trk 3
* Leon Pendarvis - electric piano trk 3
* Brook Tillotson - french horn trks 3, 4, 7, 8, 9
* Jim Buffington - french horn trks 3, 4
* Cornell Dupree - guitar trk 3
* Gene Bianco - harp trk 3
* Alan Gorrie - backing vocals trks 3, 5
* Ken Bichel - synthesizer (S.R.M.) trks 4, 6, 8
* Raphael Cruz - congas trk 6, trk 9
* Arthur Jenkins - electric piano trk 6, clavinet trk 9
* Eddie Daniels - flute trk 6
* Phil Bodner - flute trk 6
* George Marge - alto flute trk 6
* George Benson - vocals trk 6
* Mark Stevens - bass trk 7, backing vocals trk 10
* John Clark - french horn trk 7, 8, 9
* Onnie McIntyre - guitar trks 7, 9
* Airto Moreira - percussion trk 7
* David Sanborn - alto saxophone trks 7, 8
* Sammy Figueroa - percussion trk 8
* Paul Faulise - bass trombone trk 8, 9
* Jesse Levy - cello trk 9
* Kermit Moore - cello trk 9
* Richard Bock - cello trk 9
* Terri Gonzales - backing vocals trk 10
* Tony Maiden - guitar solo trk 10
* F. Buldrini - strings
* E. Bianco - strings
* G. Marge - strings
* G. Lumia - strings
* H. Kohon - strings
* J. Levy - strings
* J. Malin - strings
* J. Abramowitz - strings
* J. Barber - strings
* K. Moore - strings
* M. Morgenstern - strings
* M. Takayama - strings
* P. Winter - strings
* R. Iandiorio - strings
* R. Bock - strings
* R. Sortomme - strings
* S. Allen - strings
* T. Israel - strings

Production

* Arif Mardin - record producer, musical arranger brass, strings, woodwind
* Chaka Khan - musical arranger trk 5
* James Douglass - sound engineer
* Bill Dooley - assistant sound engineer
* Michael O'Reilly - assistant sound engineer
* Randy Mason - assistant sound engineer
* Sheridan Eldridge - assistant sound engineer
* Anthony D'Amico - assistant sound engineer
* Lew Hahn - additional recording engineer, remix
* Gene Paul - additional recording engineer
* Recorded at Atlantic Recording Studios, New York
* Additional recording at Cherokee Recording Studios, Los Angeles

References