Chaka Khan proved why she is one of music’s most celebrated icons during her live performance on NPR’s Tiny Desk.
The 71-year-old singer took to the stage, where she sang some of her biggest hits, including “I’m Every Woman” and “Tell Me Something Good,” on Tuesday in celebration of Black Music Month. Fans couldn’t get enough of Khan’s performance, gushing about the phenomenal set on social media.
“CHAKA KHAN’S TINY DESK IS LIVE!!! This is NOT A DRILL!!” actor and content creator KevOnStage wrote on X (Twitter).
“Chaka Khan is really one of the best singers of our time,” media personality Scottie Beam commented on X. “Watching her sing is one of my favorite past times… because it looks so effortless. People will literally pass out trying to keep up with Chaka on stage.”
“Chaka Khan’s Tiny Desk performance was phenomenal! The way she is still singing in the original key of songs she recorded 40 to 50 years ago never ceases to amaze me! Chaka is the ultimate!” wrote another fan on social media.
Khan’s performance is one of several upcoming Tiny Desk performances by Black women artists for the month of June. NPR is releasing nine concerts in total.
“This Black Music Month, Tiny Desk is giving the ladies their flowers,” NPR said in a statement on its website. “We’re releasing nine Tiny Desk concerts from Black women artists, from veterans who’ve paved the way for what we hear today in Black music, to those who are carving out their own paths.”
Recommended Stories
In a recent interview with The Independent, Khan revealed that fellow music legend Stevie Wonder wrote one of her band Rufus’ signature songs “Tell Me Something Good” in the 1970s. Wonder originally offered Khan his unrecorded song, “Come and Get This Stuff,” but she turned it down.
“I don’t think he ever heard that at all,” she said when asked about how often Wonder heard negative feedback. “But I wasn’t thinking about that. I just tell the truth all the time, and I can’t help it.”
“It upsets people sometimes,” she added. “But hell, if the truth upsets you I can’t really help that.”
“Stevie said, ‘What’s your birth sign?’ Aries. ‘Oh, I got the song for you…’ And then he started playing that ‘wakka-wakka’ on the keyboard, and – bam! – there it was,” Khan recalled, referencing the band’s 1974 single, which hit No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts, according to People.
