| The David Nathan Pages |
RUFUS & CHAKA KHAN: TELLIN’ SOMETHING GOOD July 1974, Phone interview conducted by David Nathan (in London) The group Rufus had released its first album on ABC in 1973; by the following year, the Chicago-based team was on its second LP and enjoying its first hit single and David spoke with Chaka from his flat in Bayswater, London, marking Chaka’s first ever interview with a UK journalist! (c) 2007, David Nathan/SCI Enterprises, All rights reserved |
WITHOUT any doubt, one of the faster rising soul hits of 1974 is the Stevie Wonder penned smash from Rufus, “Tell Me Something
Good” and although the name (not to be confused with Mr. Thomas!) may be new to most people, the group is not. It’s something of a
unique combination, consisting of four rock-orientated guys, who had previously been the nucleus of the pop group. The American
Breed, and a very soulful young sister who goes by the colorful name of Chaka Khan.
Chaka took some time out of Rufus’ increasingly hectic schedule to talk about their current success “Naturally we’re very happy with
the way everything’s going for us right now. This is certainly our first major smash, although our previous A.B.C. singles (“Whoever’s
Thrilling You” and “Keep It Coming”) both did well. But we were very lucky to have Stevie do this one for us. He wrote it especially for
me and I spent some time with him before he came up with it. He helped lay down the tracks, although he didn’t produce the record. We
produced it ourselves with help of Bob Monaco, who’s been our producer right from the beginning”.
Rufus has in fact been in existence for about five years now but Chaka (who has an amazingly powerful voice) has been with them for
three years. “I joined the group when the previous singer left and I’d been singing myself for about nine years – since I was about 12. I
used to hand around with the group and then when the other girl quite, I guess it was natural for me to join”.
The group’s first album, simply entitled “Rufus”, caused a good deal of excitement and interest when it was issued in the States in 1973
and Chaka feels that it helped establish a following for the group. “I guess that album did particularly well on r&b stations and our first
single, written by Allen Toussaint, did well on the soul charts we’re hoping to do some more material by him, incidentally”...
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| RUFUS & CHAKA KHAN 1975 Interview (RUF-75-2007) Conducted by David Nathan, (c) 2007, David Nathan/SCI Enterprises |
