Chaka Khan on jazz, Billie Holiday, and music as self-expression

‘Music is much deeper form of communication than we give it credit for. I’ve seen and felt miraculous things happen because of music.’

During her curation of our 29th Meltdown festival in June 2024, the iconic singer and musician Chaka Khan took time out to sit down with us and reflect on her 50-year career in music. In this interview she discusses how her lifelong love of jazz – ‘I’ve always loved jazz music, I was raised on it’ – inspired her 2004 album ClassiKhan, and how as a young child she was drawn to both the beauty and suffering of Billie Holiday.

Khan also talks about the experience of performing with an orchestra’ – ‘we were all doing this wonderful thing together, we were conveying a message in a different language’ – and offers valuable advice to aspiring musicians – ’it’s not about competition, it’s simply about-self expression’. And underlying all this is Khan’s deep affection for experiencing and performing music; ’I’ve seen how music touches people in a way that nothing else does’.

Chaka Khan’s Meltdown, which took place at the Southbank Centre over ten days in June 2024, included headline performances from Khan to both open and close festival, as well as appearances from Emeli Sandé, Todrick Hall, Mica Paris, War,Lady Blackbird,  Incognito, Morcheeba and Les Amazones d’Afrique.