Songoftheday 11/5/13 - Baby, baby, when I look at you I get a warm feeling inside, there's something about the things you do that keeps me satisfied...
Chaka Khan - "I Feel For You"
from the album I Feel For You (1984)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #3 (three weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 17
Today's Song of the Day is by soul and dance music singer Chaka Khan, who had joined the group Rufus in 1973, and with them had a bunch of big R&B and pop hits like "Sweet Thing" and "Tell Me Something Good". During a time of turmoil within the band, Chaka struck out on her own in 1978 to release her debut solo album Chaka, and immediately scored a top-40 pop/#1 R&B hit with "I'm Every Woman". In 1981, she topped the soul chart again with "What 'Cha Gonna Do For Me", the title track from her third solo set.
Rufus and Chaka teamed up in 1983 for one more top-40 single, "Ain't Nobody", from their mostly live contract-fulfilling record Stompin At The Savoy-Live. A year later, Chaka released what would be her biggest moment, with a song originally recorded by its writer, Prince, for his second album in 1979 (of course there's no video around for that). "I Feel For You" was transformed into Chaka's signature song from the get-go, with rapper Melle Mel chanting her name to open the record (it's a sample of Mel's track "Step Off"), which breaks into Stevie Wonder's amazing harmonica solo set over chunky keyboards and fluid synth-bass produced by Arif Mardin before Khan breaks in breezily with a powerful yet effortless vocal that is funky yet classy at the same time. The music video stars the breakdancing stars of the movie Breakin' (which "Ain't Nobody" appeared in), Michael Chambers and Adolfo Quinones...
"I Feel For You" went to the top-10 on the pop chart in America in November of 1984, while topping the R&B chart for the third and so-far latest time as a solo artist. It also went to #1 on the dance club play chart in Billboard. Internationally, the record would go to #1 in Great Britain. The song would go on to win Chaka a Grammy for Best Female R&B Vocal in 1985.
As a solo performer, "I Feel For You" would be her last time in the top-40 on the pop chart, but she did come back twice in collaborations with Quincy Jones and Ray Charles with "I'll Be Good To You", and Brandy, Tamia, and Gladys Knight with "Missing You".
On her own, she would have a handful more minor pop hits, with "Love You All My Lifetime" in 1992 her most recent solo trip to the pop chart. She did much better on the R&B list, racking up eleven more top-40 hits on this chart, with three of them going top-ten, and the aforementioned "Love You All My Lifetime" topping out at #2. Her most recent hit here has been 2008's "One For All Time" (#35).
But her biggest latter-day success has been with the dance clubs, as she's topped the dance club play chart five more times since "I Feel For You", with "Disrespectful" most recently doing the trick in 2007.
(Click below to see the rest of the post)
..and here's Chaka at the Grammys (OMG on John Denver trying to figure what a "rapper" is...)
..and again live in Japan..
....and from this year...
Other artists have also tackled the song, including the Pointer Sisters, who included it on their So Excited! album from 1982..
..and for an added bonus, here's Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake on the Mickey Mouse Club jammin' away. OMG Britney actually had a decent voice back then. I mean really.
Up tomorrow: More romantic questions from unadorned peepers.
Comments