Chaka Khan "I Feel for You" Album Features On Boogie

On today’s show we feature the fifth and final installment of the Chaka Khan 5 album series. The series is now in its fifth week, and today we present the album I Feel For You—the fifth solo album by American R&B/funk singer Chaka Khan, released on the Warner Bros. Records label in 1984. Also coming up in the Airtel-sponsored second hour of the show we’ll bring you BOOGIE YOU SELECT where YOU get to select 80s groove n’ soul tracks you want me to play. To select your favorite tracks, stand by for alternative playlist coming up at the top of the hour at 7pm. Excellent from start to finish, this album went down in history as both a creative and a commercial success.

After having balanced her two simultaneous careers as a member of the band Rufus and a solo performer during the years 1978 to 1983, which culminated with the release of the final Rufus & Chaka Khan album Stompin' at the Savoy - Live after which the band dissolved, Khan recorded the album that was to make her a pop star with mainstream chart success; 1984's "I Feel for You".

The title track, "I Feel for You" was a sample-heavy cover of a 1979 Prince track, featuring Grandmaster Melle Mel on the classic Ch-ch-ch-chaka-chaka-chaka Khan rap intro and Stevie Wonder on harmonica (and also a sample from one of his first hits, "Fingertips") and saw Khan embracing high-tech funk, rap and hip hop and stands as one of her best known songs and her biggest commercial hit, reaching #3 on the US Pop Chart (and becoming Billboard's #5 song of the year in 1985), and was #1 US R&B, Dance, and UK singles. The song earned her a second Grammy Award in 1985 for Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female.

The album reached #16 on Billboard's Album Chart, #4 R&B and #15 in the UK. Additional hit singles were "This Is My Night" (US #60, R&B #11, Dance #1, UK #14), "Eye To Eye" (UK #16 ) and the ballad "Through The Fire," which reached the US R&B top ten (#15), setting a then-record for most consecutive weeks on the Billboard R&B chart. "Through the Fire" also rose to #60 on the US Pop chart during a 19-week run on the Hot 100, and crossed over to the adult contemporary chart (#16) and charted at #77 in the UK. The I Feel for You album's second ballad, "Stronger Than Before" co-written by Burt Bacharach, Bruce Roberts and Carole Bayer Sager, was released as the fifth single in certain markets.

"I Feel for You", "This Is My Night" and "Eye To Eye" were released as extended 12" remixes in 1984, and other mixes were created for the 1989 remix compilation Life is a Dance - The Remix Project. The 1984 mixes by Arif Mardin and Russ Titelman remain unreleased on CD.

1985 saw two other songs by Khan released on other albums: "(Krush Groove) Can't Stop The Street" from the Krush Groove soundtrack (US R&B #18, UK #80), and "Own The Night", from the Miami Vice soundtrack (US Pop #57, US R&B #66).

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JOETT

Radio Presenter, Recording Artist & Vocal Coach

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