Rufus featuring Chaka Khan (album)

Last updated
Rufus featuring Chaka Khan
Rufus - Rufus Featuring Chaka Khan.jpg
Studio album by
Rufus featuring Chaka Khan
ReleasedNovember 18, 1975
RecordedMay–August 1975
Studio The Record Plant
(Los Angeles)
Kendun Recorders
(Burbank, California)
Genre
Length38:46
Label ABC
Producer Rufus
Rufus featuring Chaka Khan chronology
Rufusized
(1974)		Rufus featuring Chaka Khan
(1975)		 Ask Rufus
(1977)
Singles from Rufus featuring Chaka Khan
  1. "Sweet Thing"
    Released: 1975
  2. "Dance Wit Me"
    Released: 1976
  3. "Jive Talkin'"
    Released: 1976
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [1]
Christgau's Record Guide B [2]
The New Rolling Stone Record Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [3]

Rufus featuring Chaka Khan is the gold-selling fourth studio album by the funk band Rufus and Chaka Khan, released on the ABC Records label in 1975. It remained on top of the R&B album chart for six consecutive weeks.

Contents

History

By 1975, Rufus and lead front woman Chaka Khan had become one of the most popular bands in popular music.[ citation needed ] 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 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 of the group.

Khan's popularity was starting to usurp that of her bandmates. 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 version - 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, also wrote 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 in the United States. By the end of the album's promotion, tensions had grown 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). By the end of the year "Rufus Featuring Chaka Khan" would be ranked by Billboard on their R&B year-end list as the best-charting album of 1976.

Track listing

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Fool's Paradise" Gavin Christopher 4:41
2."Have a Good Time"Gavin Christopher3:20
3."Ooh I Like Your Loving"Bobby Watson, Tony Maiden, Chaka Khan 3:39
4."Everybody Has an Aura"Gordon DeWitty3:48
5."Circles"Tony Dulaine3:56
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
6."Sweet Thing"Tony Maiden, Chaka Khan3:18
7."Dance Wit Me"Gavin Christopher3:57
8."Little Boy Blue"J. Farris5:02
9."On Time" (Instrumental)Chaka Khan, Tony Maiden, Bobby Watson, Kevin Murphy, André Fischer3:31
10."Jive Talkin'" Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb 3:33

Personnel

Rufus

with:

Production

Charts

Chart (1975–76)Peak
Position
Australia (Kent Music Report) [4] 86
U.S. Billboard Top LPs [5] 7
U.S. Billboard Top Soul LPs 1

Certifications

RegionCertification Certified units/sales
United States (RIAA) [6] Gold500,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Later samples

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

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chaka Khan</span> American singer (born 1953)

Yvette Marie Stevens, better known by her stage name Chaka Khan, is an American singer. Known as the "Queen of Funk", her career has spanned more than five decades beginning in the early 1970s as the lead vocalist of the funk band Rufus. With the band she recorded the notable hits "Tell Me Something Good", "Sweet Thing", "Do You Love What You Feel" and the platinum-certified "Ain't Nobody". Her debut solo album featured the number-one R&B hit "I'm Every Woman". Khan scored another R&B charts hit with "What Cha' Gonna Do for Me" before becoming the first R&B artist to have a crossover hit featuring a rapper, with her 1984 cover of Prince's "I Feel for You". More of Khan's hits include "Through the Fire" and a 1986 collaboration with Steve Winwood that produced a number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100, "Higher Love".

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sweet Thing (Rufus song)</span> 1975 song by Rufus featuring Chaka Khan

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<i>Ask Rufus</i> 1977 studio album by Rufus featuring Chaka Khan

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<i>Party Til Youre Broke</i> 1981 studio album by Rufus

Party 'Til You're Broke is the ninth studio album by funk band Rufus, released on the MCA Records label in 1981. Party 'Til You're Broke which was the band's second album not to be fronted by Chaka Khan reached number 24 on Billboard's R&B Albums chart and number 73 on Pop and included the singles "Tonight We Love" and "Hold on to a Friend", making Party 'Til You're Broke the most successful Khan-less album from Rufus.

<i>Camouflage</i> (Rufus album) 1981 studio album by Rufus with Chaka Khan

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<i>The Very Best of Rufus with Chaka Khan</i> 1982 greatest hits album by Rufus with Chaka Khan

The Very Best of Rufus with Chaka Khan is a greatest hits album by funk band Rufus and singer Chaka Khan, originally released on the MCA Records label in 1982. The collection comprises ten of the group's biggest hits on the ABC/MCA labels, including "You Got the Love", "Sweet Thing", "At Midnight ", "Do You Love What You Feel", "Tell Me Something Good", "Stay", "Hollywood" and "Dance Wit Me".

"Once You Get Started" is a horn-driven funk number written by musician Gavin Christopher, and recorded and released by the band Rufus featuring Chaka Khan in late 1974. The song is led mostly by Khan, though fellow group member Tony Maiden contributed lead vocals for the song's second verse. It helped to make their third album Rufusized go platinum. "Once You Get Started", peaked at number ten on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1975, giving the group their second top ten single and third top forty single overall. The song also hit number-four on the Hot Soul Singles chart as well as number six on the Record World, Disco File Top 20 chart.

References

  1. ↑ Elias, Jason. "Rufus featuring Chaka Khan review". AllMusic . Retrieved 2011-10-11.
  2. ↑ Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: R". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies . Ticknor & Fields. ISBN   089919026X . Retrieved March 12, 2019– via robertchristgau.com.
  3. ↑ Gersten, Russell (1983). "Rufus". In Marsh, Dave; Swenson, John (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Record Guide . Random House/Rolling Stone Press. p.  438. ISBN   0394721071.
  4. ↑ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 261. ISBN   0-646-11917-6.
  5. ↑ "US Charts > Rufus". Allmusic . Retrieved 2011-10-19.
  6. ↑ "American album certifications – Rufus – Rufus Featuring Chaka Khan". Recording Industry Association of America . Retrieved May 13, 2024.
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