For most of the 1970s, Chaka Khan was the lead singer of the band Rufus. That band had some big hits, especially "Tell Me Something Good" and "Sweet Thing." In 1978, she put out her first solo album "Chaka," which contained the big hit "I'm Every Woman." She continued to be a member of Rufus for a couple more albums, but only because of record contract reasons. She went on to have a long and very successful solo career, which is still going as I write this in 2024.
Khan finished with his recent big hit, "I'm Every Woman." However, she didn't play any other songs from her "Chaka" solo album. She also didn't play the biggest Rufus hits. Instead, she played some lesser Rufus hits "Once You Get Started" and "Stop on By" and album cuts.
The only Khan set I know of is from September 21st at Madison Square Garden, so all the songs are from there. Her timing was unfortunate, because she went on at some point before Bruce Springsteen's set, and the crowd was chomping at the bit to hear Springsteen. You can hear on this recording that the crowd was chanting "Bruce!" during her set. She got upset, thinking they were booing her, and made some comments trying to calm the crowd down. Apparently, backstage, a couple of the other stars heard this. One said the crowd was saying "Bruce," not "boo." But the other one pointed out that didn't really make much difference, since either way the audience wanted her set to be over.
In retrospect, the crowd should have been more patient and respectful, because Khan put on a fine performance. And as an aside, they "Bruce"-d their way through other sets too. For instance, Jackson Browne had the same problem.
The song "Once You Get Started" appeared on the official "No Nukes" album. If this was Khan's only set, then this is that version. Everything else is unreleased.
This album is 25 minutes long.
01 talk (Chaka Khan)
02 Once You Get Started (Chaka Khan)
03 I'm a Woman [I'm a Backbone] (Chaka Khan)
04 In Love We Grow (Chaka Khan)
05 talk (Chaka Khan)
06 Stop on By (Chaka Khan)
07 talk (Chaka Khan)
08 I'm Every Woman (Chaka Khan)
I couldn't find any photos of Khan from the No Nukes concert. This one is from a concert in Chicago in 1980.
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