Chaka Khan shares ahead of Aussie tour why her voice was stripped from superstar duet

Legendary queen of funk Chaka Khan wants the world to hear an iconic pop classic that was meant to be a duet, but she reveals why the version may never be released.

Chaka Khan had already established her credentials as the Queen of Funk with iconic hits I’m Every Woman and I Feel For You when English singer Robert Palmer proposed they record a duet four decades ago.

The song he had in mind was called Addicted To Love.

Khan liked the vibe of the demo version and the pair worked out their parts and recorded it.

But before the song was released in 1985 on his Riptide record, climbing to No. 1 on the charts in 1986, Khan’s vocals were stripped from the track.

To this day, that original duet version remains locked away somewhere. Khan, who returns to Australia next month for shows in Sydney, Melbourne and Byron Bay’s Bluesfest, would like the world to hear it but doubts it will ever surface.

American Queen of Funk Chaka Khan is touring Australia in April. Picture: Nick Nelson / Supplied.

At the time, her label refused to give permission for the Addicted to Love duet to be released on Palmer’s record company Island. They claimed Khan already had a couple of hits on the US R & B charts, and they didn’t want to oversaturate the market.

The singer did not believe them then and still doesn’t now. Palmer was furious and insisted she be given a “vocal arrangement” credit for her work on the song despite her voice being stripped from the track.

“I don’t think they’ll ever release the version that we did because they were the ones who took me off it,” Khan says.

“This man and I do a song together and you’d think they’d be over the moon about that. That’s how deep racism goes in this country.

“It was one of the things that hurt my heart the most and I started looking at the music business in a whole other way after that. I was very sad for a long time; people in power will do you like that. It was a cuckoo excuse because don’t you want your artists to be all over the charts?”

One artist who recognised her brilliance as a songwriter and interpreter was Prince. He signed her to his independent label NPG in 1998 and took her out on tour as a co-headliner.

Her cover of his 1979 song I Feel For You became one of her signature tracks, courtesy of Grandmaster Melle Mel’s “Ch-ch-ch-chaka-chaka-chaka Khan” rap intro and Stevie Wonder’s harmonica hook.

Khan says she wasn’t a fan at Melle Mel’s namecheck intro which had been a studio mistake made by producer Arif Mardin, who decided to keep it.

“I was just upset because I didn’t like to someone saying my name over and over again and saying what they were going to do to me,” she says of the rap.

“I sang the song one night, came in the next night and the producer Arif Mardin said ‘I have a surprise for you, my dear.’

The Queen of Funk shares the studio mistake which became a signature of her hit I Feel For You. Picture: Nick Nelson / Supplied

“I listen to it with this guy saying my name over and over and I was just floored; I couldn’t even act like I liked it. He said to me ‘Don’t worry, my dear. It will be a hit’. It was one of the first songs that incorporated hip hop and R & B.

“I wasn’t thinking about any of that but thank God he was; I never picked my first singles, I was just too close to it all.”

Ahead of her return to Australia next month, Khan reveals her next studio record is a collaboration with Aussie hitmaker Sia.

The pair have become close friends since the Australian superstar producer, writer and artist approached Khan a couple of years ago to sing with her on the track Immortal Queen from Sia’s Reasonable Woman album.

Aussie hitmaker Sia with her “godmother” Chaka Khan. Picture: AFP.

The I’m Every Woman superstar is now “officially” Sia’s godmother.

“I think it started when her publicist told my publicist she had a song for me, and when I met her, we just hit it off so fast, it was just cuckoo,” Khan says.

“We’re a lot alike, we’re both very lazy and when we’re not working, we’re trying to do nothing.

“And now I’m her godmother. She’s put all these songs by me and it felt like she was singing my life with her words. She just knows me.

“And said ‘Well, I’ve been listening to you my whole life’. We really, really clicked and we’ve done some great stuff together and now we’re doing some finishing touches and trying to get some visuals done for each single and we’re trying to get one out there a ways before summer here.”

Khan will be releasing a taste of her Sia collaboration in the coming months. Picture: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

Khan may be more selective in the gigs and festivals she plays now but she sees live performance as a duty rather than an indulgence at her age.

About to turn 72 this month, Khan doesn’t need to tour. She does it to strike connection with her fans and help them escape their doldrums.

“I know I’m here to sing the language of the angels, that’s what music is,” she says.

“It cuts through everything and you are talking to a part of a person that is very sacred.

“I see what it’s doing – and I know what I’m doing – I know the power of song. And so I just respect that and for me, it’s a balm that I give out, a heart to heart communication.”

Chaka Khan performs at the Palais Theatre, Melbourne on April 18, Bluesfest, Byron Bay on April 20 and Sydney Opera House on April 22 and 23. Tickets via livenation.com.au

Originally published as Chaka Khan shares ahead of Aussie tour why her voice was stripped from superstar duet