Singing great Chaka Khan was born Yvette Marie Stevens on the south side of Chicago on March 23, 1953. Khan was the eldest of five children born to Charles Stevens and Sandra Coleman. The family lived in Chicago’s Southside Projects and several of her siblings are also professional musicians. Khan dropped out of high school in 1969 to pursue a music career and to volunteer for the Black Panther Party. It was at this time that she adopted the African name Chaka Adunne Aduffe Hodarhi Karifi. She later married bassist Hassan Khan of the band Lyfe in 1970 and took his last name. Though Khan had already toured nationally as part of the Afro-Arts Theater featuring Motown’s Mary Wells, her first major breakthrough to success came in the early 1970s when she joined the influential funk group Rufus. That band’s 1973 self-titled debut included the hit track “Tell Me Something Good.”