*Chaka Khan recently shared a memorable story about meeting Whitney Houston when the singer was just a young teenager. Appearing on the Table Manners podcast with Jessie Ware and her mother, Lennie, Khan reflected on her early encounters with rising stars and the extraordinary talent she witnessed firsthand.
At the time, Khan was working with Whitney’s mother, the accomplished vocalist Cissy Houston. “She’d been singing with me for years, and one day she said to me, ‘You know, I got a daughter that can sing,’” Khan recalled, Music Radar reports. Curious, she invited the young Whitney to the studio. Houston, who was around 13 years old, eagerly came along.
When Whitney got on the microphone, Khan immediately knew she was witnessing something special. “She sang, I think it was Love Has Fallen On Me or something like that,” Khan remembered. “And she came down, and she held her own. She was brilliant. And, you know, I thought to myself, I was thinking, ‘God, she’s going to be so great.’”
That early impression of Houston’s talent proved prescient. Years later, Houston would cover Khan’s 1978 debut solo single, “I’m Every Woman,” for the soundtrack to her 1992 film “The Bodyguard.” Their musical connection continued when the two singers performed the song together at the 1999 Divas Live concert, highlighting the enduring impact of that first studio encounter.
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Reflecting on her decades in the music industry, Khan emphasized the significance of talent, dedication, and hard work. She contrasted her approach with today’s more performative stage styles, noting that her focus has always been on delivering exceptional vocals. “I 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,” she said.
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