Where This Site Came From, and Where It’s Going

I started my Chaka Khan collection when the album “I Feel For You” came out with the great remixes that came with it. Chaka’s vocal power was the perfect fit for the music. After purchasing the albums “Destiny” and “C.K.” I went to the international record store a few times a year looking for used Rufus and Chaka Khan records. In the absence of a good catalog it was always a surprise what I found there.

During the digitization and the rise of the CD in the early 1990s, stores opened up in the city with huge collections of music. These stores had the option to view the collection digitally and you could immediately order the right album on CD. That was quite unique at the time. My Rufus and Chaka Khan album collection grew pretty fast. However, I did not know that my collection was far from complete until I got an internet connection.

Rufus and Chaka Khan collection 1973-1997

At the end of the 90’s the official website of Chaka Khan was online and also a number of fansites with quite a bit of information. Some of those fansites had their own message boards so that the community could connect and exchange information. At the time, Chaka’s House was the website with the most extensive discography, compiled through community interaction at the existing message board. The information from Chaka’s House formed the basis of my own offline catalog in 1997 which eventually went online as a website in 2001. Partly due to the fact that the Chaka’s House website was not updated with new discography information after 2001 the Chaka Khan Music Website was a good addition, and substitution in later times.

After the Chaka Khan Music Website was put online in 2001, it was included in The Chaka Khan SiteRing which was set up by the owner of another fansite, Chaka’s World (part of Soul Legends). The SiteRing provided a link to all Chaka Khan websites online so that it was easier for fans to navigate between different fansites. Other fansites in this SiteRing were Chaka’s official website, Chaka’s House, Chaka Khan Diva Supreme, OooCHAKA…lot!!!, Chaka Connection, The Chaka Khan Gets Her Props Dammit Website!, Janice’s Blues Cafe Presents Chaka Khan and a few minor websites.

Most of the collection’s items were purchased online between 1997 and 2005, through websites such as GEMM.com, CDNow, and eBay. Sometimes it took a few months or even years before a particular album went on auction, or it was just convenient to wait for the price to drop. This way you could access items that were only released in a certain country, such as Japan: “Chaka Khan – Perfect Fit”, or other unique items that are now hardly offered for auction anymore, for example the soundtracks “Mama, I Want To Sing” and the special editions of “Krush Groove”. Occasionally unreleased tracks were also sold.

Between 2005 and 2009, all the collected tracks were randomly broadcasted on Chaka Khan Radio via a link on the Chaka Khan Music Website with the option to select your favorite songs which were then queued and played. In addition, a number of download links were available with special and unreleased songs. Some tracks came from members in the Chaka Khan community on Chaka’s message board.

The Chaka Khan Music Website went offline in 2011 due to the discontinuity of the website hosting provider, and the lay-out of the website was too out-of-date to upload it on a new host. Then the internet changed with the rise of social media platforms, Wiki and other community websites, making it easier to share information and reach people. I thought there was no need for a discography website anymore. Songs and albums can be found on streaming websites and bought online for download in order to get your collection together. Nice and easy.

However, search results on streaming websites and online stores with large music collections show only a select part of the discography even today. On the other hand, the amount of information you get from search engines is so much, that you have to learn how to use different filters until you get just about the right results. Even I don’t have that much patience. In summary, after 10 years there still seems to be no place that gives a complete overview of Chaka Khan’s discography.

So the Chaka Khan Music Website restarted in December 2022. The site has a new layout, is updated with the latest albums and where possible provided with information and photos. The Chaka Khan Radio is no longer present, but there are 1 minute previews of all the relevant songs for each discography item. Just like on the old website, it’s easy to find your way around and now ready for the future!


Do you have a comment or question? or do you have additional information that is not already present in this discography? Then you can always contact us. Please, use the CONTACT FORM for this. If you want to help us with our website running costs, there is an option to make a donation.

Thank you!

Wilco

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