The Queen of Funk celebrates a milestone birthday on March 23.
Ain't nobody dishing life lessons like Chaka Khan. After a remarkable career that has spanned five decades, the Queen of Funk has earned her rightful place to dish a hefty serving ahead of celebrating a milestone birthday.
The 10-time GRAMMY winner invited ET to her home and opened up about turning 70 in March, the same month the legendary record producer-songwriter and collaborator Quincy Jones turns 90 (yes, she's excited they're both Pisces!). Khan also offered insight into some of her upcoming projects, including one with the great Joni Mitchell.
That she's worked with some of music's biggest legends -- past and present -- is a testament to her unparalleled work ethic over the last 50 years in the business, pumping out instant classics like "I'm Every Woman" and "Through the Fire."
With such hits, it's easy to see why she's earned the Queen of Funk title, a moniker she hasn't fully embraced all these years later.
"I guess it's a great handle, you know?" Khan tells ET. "There are [worst titles]! Absolutely. Look, I'd rather not be boxed into one aspect of music though."
And she's not.
Khan's been a magnificent talent in at least seven genres, including R&B, pop, rock, gospel and classical.
"I've done everything but kick myself in the back of the head," she quips. "The only thing left to do, I mean, really, I feel like I've done a great deal. I'm wondering, you know, what's next [laughs]?"
To this day, she still marvels at the thought of looking out at the crowd and seeing her influence transcend generations.
"I've got five generations in any given audience," said Khan, who last summer dropped "Woman Like Me, her latest single. " "Five generations of people, and I think that's significant."
Khan currently has several projects in the works, but she beams when speaking about working with eight-time GRAMMY winner Mitchell on an homage album. They got way back, "probably to the '70s," she says.
"We're great friends, and she's helped me through a lot of stuff in life with her music and as a friend," Khan says. "And we both have been there like that for each other."
For the Mitchell project, Khan says it'll be like a "Chaka Khan and Friends" tribute.
"I think I may do that," she says. "My daughter, who's a great singer, also grew up on her. I'd be remiss not to use her on the CD as well."
With so much under her belt, Khan is now offering her perspective to those who want to follow in her footsteps.
"I keep telling these kids, they want to know what should they do if they have a calling or a dream," she says. "The thing is, if you have a calling or a dream, you're either going to realize it or you're going to crash and burn; kill yourself or kill somebody else or something, you know? You're gonna have to do it, it has to be done. Or you have to pick something else. Because the calling is just the calling. It's that simple. It's bigger than you. So, you have to do it. And if you don't, the post office is always hiring."
Khan admits that when she started her career, she yearned for the simple things.
"Just give me some people to sing to, give me some people to play for, give me some people to share, to love on is basically what it boils down to," she says.
Khan will turn 70 just eight days after Jones -- her mentor, friend and collaborator -- turns 90.
"He's gonna make it to at least 110," says Khan, who also offered a birthday wish to the man she first collaborated with the 1978 hit "Stuff Like That."
"That maybe the birthdays will seem a little further apart," she quips. "That it doesn't seem like they're coming every five minutes. I know he's feeling that by now. Because I sure am! I'm like, 'Again?!'"
Whatever the case, Khan sweetly reacted to Jones once calling her one of the most soulful creatures on the planet.
"I like that tag," Khan says. "I can live with that one."
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