{"id":359943,"date":"2026-03-26T22:58:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T22:58:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/359943\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T22:58:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T22:58:13","slug":"one-day-she-said-to-me-you-know-i-got-a-daughter-that-can-sing-i-said-oh-bring-her-down-she-came-down-and-she-held-her-own-she-was-brilliant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/359943\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cOne day she said to me, \u2018You know, I got a daughter that can sing.\u2019 I said, \u2018Oh, bring her down.\u2019 She came down, and she held her own. She was brilliant\u201d: Chaka Khan on her early encounter with the \u201880s star who would later cover one of her biggest hits"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chaka Khan has certainly lived the life, both good and bad. And happily, she\u2019s still around to tell us about it.<\/p>\n

Never one to hold back, Khan recently sat down with singer Jessie Ware and her mother, Lennie, on their Table Manners podcast. They discussed not only food \u2013 the hook on which the show is based \u2013 but also the many and varied characters that Khan has encountered during her storied career.<\/p>\n

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As you might expect, Khan has crossed paths with a huge number of artists, but revealed that she met one of them, Whitney Houston, long before she was famous.<\/p>\n

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The connection was made because, at the time, Khan was working with Houston\u2019s mother, Cissy \u2013 herself an accomplished vocalist.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe’d been singing with me for years, and one day she said to me, \u2018You know, I got a daughter that can sing,\u2019\u201d remembers Khan. \u201cI said, \u2018Oh, bring her down [to the studio].\u2019 She was only, like, maybe 13, and she brought her down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inevitably, Whitney got on the mic, and Khan says that she knew right away that she was something special.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe sang, I think it was Love Has Fallen On Me or something like that,\u201d she recalls. \u201cAnd she came down, and she held her own. She was brilliant. And, you know, I thought to myself, I was thinking, \u2018God, she’s going to be so great.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

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Houston would end up forming a musical connection with Khan when she covered her 1978 debut solo single, I\u2019m Every Woman, for the soundtrack to her 1992 film, The Bodyguard. They would later sing the song together at a 1999 Divas Live concert.<\/p>\n

Chaka Khan + Whitney Houston – I’m Every Woman (1999) – YouTube
\n\"Chaka<\/p>\n

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Another \u201880s superstar that Khan was close to was, of course, Prince. She covered his 1979 song I Feel For You in 1984, and the pair remained close throughout his life.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a special love from the heart,\u201d she says.\u201d We had a special love and appreciation for each other as human beings.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Did they ever date, though? \u201cNo \u2013 he\u2019s short,\u201d says Khan. Ouch.<\/p>\n

But what of Michael Jackson, Prince\u2019s great rival? According to Khan, her relationship with him was far more fleeting \u2013 in fact, she walked away from him almost as soon as they\u2019d met.<\/p>\n

\u201cI met him once, and I couldn’t hear him,\u201d she explains. \u201cHe came to me and I was saying, \u2018Hi, how you doing?’ He said something and I said, \u2018What you say? I can’t hear you?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Jackson\u2019s softly spoken voice just wasn\u2019t cutting through, so did Khan ask him to repeat himself?<\/p>\n

\u201cNo \u2013 I didn\u2019t want him to,\u201d she says, brusquely. \u201cI was like, done \u2013 \u2018you know what, I don\u2019t wanna talk\u2019. Wonderful artist, great artist, but I ain\u2019t got time for drama.\u201d<\/p>\n

What, though, of the many female singers who are dominating the music industry right now? Apart from Sia, who she\u2019s working with on her next album, Khan doesn\u2019t single anyone out for particular praise, but she does offer her opinion on the increasingly provocative performances that we see on stage today, suggesting that, in some cases, it\u2019s a way of masking a lack of vocal talent.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll bets are off,\u201d she believes. \u201cThese women are doing any and every damn thing on stage and trying to sing, too. And the ones who are doing the most physicalities with their butts and stuff, you know, and their body parts, are the ones that usually are compensating for what they don\u2019t have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Khan says that, by contrast, her sole focus is always on her vocals: \u201cI came to sing and I came to really do a good job, and that’s hard work. But I don’t feel like it’s hard work once I’m doing it. I feel great.\u201d<\/p>\n

How Sia Became Chaka Khan\u2019s Goddaughter | Table Manners Podcast – YouTube
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