*Chaka Khan detailed in her autobiographical book, “Chaka! Through The Fire,” that she and her ex-husband Richard Holland were once violently assaulted by Natalie Cole’s ex-husband, Rufus drummer, Andre Fischer.
Here’s more from I Love Old School Music:
According to Chaka Khan, businessman Richard Holland (married to Chaka from 1976-1980), walked into a studio session while Andre Fischer (pictured above, 2nd from left) was listening to a playback recording of Richard’s song, “Better Days,” for their then-upcoming Rufus ft. Chaka Khan album, “Ask Rufus.” Chaka says Richard told Andre the recording sounded great. A few minutes later Andre reportedly asked Richard, to talk in the restroom down the hall, for privacy…things quickly got ugly.
Chaka says Andre went off on Richard, yelling “Don’t you ever tell me what to do!”. He then punched Richard in the head, but Richard couldn’t completely defend himself, given that he was 5’9″ and about 140 pounds, while Andre was 6’5″ weighing about 350 pounds, according to Chaka.
Per the report, Chaka intervened when she heard Richard’s screams.
“Richard’s screams were so loud that they registered on the monitor inside the studio. Long story short: When I got to the bathroom, I went upside Andre’s head with a Courvoisier bottle (which didn’t break, like it does in the movies). And next, Andre was all over me. By then, a roadie and some of the guys in the band were on the scene, too,” Chaka wrote.
She continued: “Richard wanted to sue Andre, but our manager talked him out of it because it would have been bad publicity for the group. Andre was soon out of Rufus and I never spoke to him again.”
Chaka also claims that Andre beat her while she was pregnant, during their tour with rockstar Iggy Pop.
“On one night, we had been asked to do a double show because Iggy had gone too far in his first set and cut himself pretty badly. I was game to do a double—as long as we got Iggy’s money. Andre thought we should be grateful for the extra stage time with or without extra pay. When I stood my ground, Andre literally jumped all over me—pregnant with Milini. If the rest of the band hadn’t been there to pull him off… I don’t want to think about what might have happened,” Chaka explained.
And there you have it!
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