CHAKA KHAN INTERVIEW
SMHTP got the chance to meet the absolutely legendary singer and songwriter CHAKA KHAN. She’s worked with everyone from Prince to the Funk Brothers and her latest album “Funk This”, won 2 Grammy awards. Without doubt, we think Chaka gave us the best piece of advice ever for a new singer going into the music business today.
"Make sure you can sing”. Obvious but so true and spoken like the true pro she is.
Her own voice being exceptional and distinctive, it’s sleep these days that keeps her vocal chords in shape. Even when she sung for the first time on Broadway (in The Colour Purple), the experience of performing night after was something Chaka would love to do again sometime.
It’s always interesting to find out from different Artists how they go about choosing a producer to work with. Chaka told us how she managed to get Terry Lewis and Jimmy Jam on board by just turning up at the studio and saying Hi! Which probably only works if you’re a legendary singer like Chaka.
To read more about CHAKA KHAN - read her ARTIST PROFILE HEREFEATURED ARTIST
One Night Only
Shaggy of hair, snarly of lip and with the indie god gene throbbing deep in his marrow, George joined what was, in 2003, a not-entirely-hopeful Beatles covers act from Helmsley, North Yorkshire, made up of older schoolfriends from his secondary school. He insisted on playing guitar and singing. He began writing most of their best songs. He brought in a new keyboard player. Drummer Sam Ford, presumably spotting a pattern emerging here, must have feared a putsch on his stool but was thankfully deemed good enough to survive. The signs were all there – One Night Only had been struck by their thunderbolt.