Before Rufus – Chaka Khan in 1970

Chaka Khan rose to prominence after joining the band Rufus in 1972. However, she was still in the game even before she became a Grammy-winning artist. She is not known to give other people or other things credit for her success, but according to Khan, she’s more inspired by the things in life that try to hold her down rather than stories about lovers.

She also shared some snippets about herself in a chat with Interview Magazine. She was born and raised in the University of Chicago area and had a typical middle-class Catholic childhood, though she disagreed with her Catholic upbringing from the start.