Rufus & Chaka Khan

R&B soul band Rufus was originally founded in Chicago, Illinois in the late 1960s by former American Breed members Chuck Colbert (bass) and Lee Graziano (drums). The group was originally known as Circus and Smoke before settling on the band name Ask Rufus in 1970. The following year, the group signed a deal with Epic Records, but the band was dropped in early 1973 without releasing any material. The group’s original vocalist Paulette Williams decided to leave the band and chose her friend Chaka Khan as her replacement. Ask Rufus started to attract interest from the ABC/Dunhill Records label after laying down an 11-song demo in two days. Even R&B legend Ike Turner expressed interest in the band, flying them out to record at his studio in Inglewood, California. By this time, founders Colbert and Graziano had already left the band and the only remaining member from the band’s inception was keyboardist Kevin Murphy. Signing to ABC/Dunhill, the group, who had changed their name to Rufus, released their self-titled debut album in 1973. The release did gain the band a little traction in the industry but was ultimately a commercial failure. Their second album, Rags to Rufus (1974), was a massive success thanks to the success of the hit singles “Tell Me Something Good” (written by Stevie Wonder) and “You Got the Love”. While Rags to Rufus featured Chaka Khan’s name on the cover, the popularity of the group’s vocalist inspired the group and label to credit the band as Rufus featuring Chaka Khan beginning with their 1974 album Rufusized, which was also a hit. That album was followed by the hit albums Rufus featuring Chaka Khan (1975) and Ask Rufus (1977). By the time of 1978’s Street Player, there were tensions in the band which forced several original members to leave. Chaka Khan released her self-titled solo debut album at the end of 1978, which outsold Street Player. Discovering that she had two Rufus albums left in her contract, Chaka Khan returned to Rufus for the albums Masterjam (1979) and Camouflage (1981), but by the time of the latter album, she was recording her vocals separately from the band. Rufus continued with one more album, Seal in Red (1983), before splitting up. Chaka Khan pursued a solo career and achieved several hits in the process. She would return to Rufus for a live farewell show that would be released as Stompin’ at the Savoy (1983).

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