Rufus featuring Chaka Khan (album)

History

By 1975, Rufus and lead front woman Chaka Khan had become one of the most popular bands in popular music. With their successful mixing of funk, rock, soul and jazz and the powerful vocals of 22-year-old Khan, the group had set themselves apart from similar groups such as The Isley Brothers and Earth, Wind & Fire. By the now, the group's billing had changed. While they were just known as Rufus on their first two releases, after the success of "Tell Me Something Good", the media (and Rufus' label at the time, ABC Records) had recognized that Khan was the attraction to the group.

Khan's popularity was starting to usurp that of her band mates. For example, on the album's back cover and inner sleeve, Khan is featured with her trademark hair and outfits, sitting on a lips-decorated couch. On the cover, an animated cover of lips, which appeared to emulate Khan's, gave the impression that Khan was the dominant member of the group. Khan also handled all the talk in interviews for the group and she was given solo covers on magazines such as Jet and EBONY. As they entered the studio to record their fourth album, Khan and Rufus remained a collaborative group together. Unlike their three previous albums, they only recorded one cover - The Bee Gees' "Jive Talkin'", while other songs were handled by group members and outside collaborators including, most notably, Gavin Christopher.

Tony Maiden, who had joined the group in mid 1974, would also write more for the album. Khan brought lyrics for three compositions including what became one of Rufus' biggest hits, the ballad "Sweet Thing", which Khan and Maiden co-wrote together. After its release, Rufus Featuring Chaka Khan repeated the success of the band's previous two albums, going gold (later platinum) with sales of one million copies sold in the United States. By the end of the album's promotion, tensions would grow between Khan and group member Andre Fischer. Rufus Featuring Chaka Khan was the band's first album to top Billboard's R&B Albums chart and also reached #7 on Pop. The album included the singles "Sweet Thing", their second #1 hit on the R&B Singles chart and also #5 hit on Pop, "Dance Wit Me" (US R&B #5, US Pop #39) and the Bee Gees cover "Jive Talkin'" (US R&B #35). According to Billboard Magazine, "Rufus Featuring Chaka Khan" was the best selling R&B album of 1976 on the Year-End Charts.

Personnel

Production

Charts

Album

Singles

Later samples

and "Remind Me" by RBL Posse from the album "A Lesson to Be Learned"