The 26th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 28, 1984, at Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, and were broadcast live on American television. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1983. Michael Jackson, who had been recovering from scalp burns sustained due to an accident that occurred during the filming of a Pepsi commercial, won a record eight awards during the show. It is notable for garnering the largest Grammy Award television audience ever with 51.67 million viewers.
Yvette Marie Stevens, better known by her stage name Chaka Khan, is an American singer. Known as the "Queen of Funk", her career has spanned more than five decades beginning in the early 1970s as the lead vocalist of the funk band Rufus. With the band she recorded the notable hits "Tell Me Something Good", "Sweet Thing", "Do You Love What You Feel" and the platinum-certified "Ain't Nobody". Her debut solo album featured the number-one R&B hit "I'm Every Woman". Khan scored another R&B charts hit with "What Cha' Gonna Do for Me" before becoming the first R&B artist to have a crossover hit featuring a rapper, with her 1984 cover of Prince's "I Feel for You". More of Khan's hits include "Through the Fire" and a 1986 collaboration with Steve Winwood that produced a number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100, "Higher Love".
David William Sanborn was an American alto saxophonist. Though Sanborn worked in many genres, his solo recordings typically blended jazz with instrumental pop and R&B. He released his first solo album Taking Off in 1975, but had been playing the saxophone since before he was in high school and was a session musician long before its release. He was active as a session musician, playing on several albums by various artists.
Arif Mardin was a Turkish-American music producer, who worked with hundreds of artists across many different styles of music, including jazz, rock, soul, disco and country. He worked at Atlantic Records for over 30 years, as producer, arranger, studio manager, and vice president, before moving to EMI and serving as vice president and general manager of Manhattan Records.
"I Feel for You" is a song written by American musician Prince that originally appeared on his 1979 self-titled album. The most successful and best-known version was recorded by R&B singer Chaka Khan and appeared on her 1984 album of the same name. It became the recipient of two Grammy Awards for Best R&B Song and Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for Khan.
"I'm Every Woman" is a song by American singer Chaka Khan, released in September 1978 by Warner Bros. as her debut solo single from her first album, Chaka (1978). It was Khan's first hit outside her recordings with the funk band Rufus. "I'm Every Woman" was produced by Arif Mardin and written by the successful songwriting team Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson. The single established Chaka's career outside the group Rufus, whom she would leave after their eighth studio album, Masterjam, was released in late 1979.
I Feel for You is the fifth solo studio album by American R&B/funk singer Chaka Khan, released on the Warner Bros. Records label in 1984.
Joe Mardin is a Turkish-American music producer, arranger and engineer from New York City. He is a Berklee College of Music graduate and is the son of the Turkish American producer Arif Mardin. Joe Mardin is also a conductor, songwriter and drummer.
Vince Mendoza is an American composer, music arranger and conductor. He debuted as a solo artist in 1989, and is known for his work conducting the Metropole Orkest and WDR Big Band Köln, as well as arranging music for musicians such as John Scofield, Joni Mitchell, Michael Brecker and Björk. Over the course of his career, he has won seven Grammy Awards and one Latin Grammy Award and has been nominated for a total of 38 between the two awards.
Ken Bichel is an American actor, composer, conductor, pianist, and synthesizer musician.
Chaka Khan is the fourth solo album by American R&B/funk singer Chaka Khan, released on the Warner Bros. Records label in 1982.
Destiny is the sixth studio album by American R&B/funk singer Chaka Khan, released on Warner Bros. Records in 1986.
ck is the seventh studio album by American R&B/funk singer Chaka Khan, released on the Warner Bros. Records label in 1988.
Life Is a Dance: The Remix Project is a remix album of recordings by American R&B/funk singer Chaka Khan, released by the Warner Bros. Records label in 1989. The compilation takes its title from a track included on Khan's 1978 solo debut album Chaka.
The Woman I Am is the eighth studio album by American R&B/funk singer Chaka Khan, released on Warner Bros. Records in 1992. It was Khan's first studio album since 1988's CK and due to artistic differences between Khan and Warner Bros. Records it was also to be her final full-length release for the label. The entire album is dedicated to her friend Miles Davis, who died the previous year.
Epiphany: The Best of Chaka Khan, Vol. 1 is a compilation album of recordings by American R&B/funk singer Chaka Khan, first released on the Warner Bros. Records label in 1996. Although the compilation, which reached #22 on Billboard's R&B chart and #84 on Pop, was given the "Vol. 1" tag, it remains without a sequel to date.
Roxanne Joy Seeman is an American songwriter and lyricist. She is best known for her songs by Billie Hughes, Philip Bailey, Phil Collins, Earth, Wind & Fire, Barbra Streisand, Bette Midler, The Sisters of Mercy, The Jacksons, Jacky Cheung, and in film and television. She has two Emmy nominations.
David Martin Frank is an American music producer, composer, classically trained pianist, and founding member of the 1980s R&B group the System. Yamaha Music calls him "the founding father of electronic R&B."
The Greatest Ears in Town: The Arif Mardin Story is a 2010 documentary about the Grammy winning music producer Arif Mardin. The documentary was produced by his son Joe Mardin and was directed by Doug Biro. It was made in the years prior to Arif's death in 2006 from pancreatic cancer.
"Roll Me Through the Rushes" is a song written by David Lasley and Lana Marrano, originally recorded by Rosie, featuring the vocals of David Lasley and released on their "Better Late Than Never" album by RCA in 1976. American R&B singer and songwriter Chaka Khan covered the song for her debut solo album, Chaka, produced by Arif Mardin and released in 1978 by Warner Bros. Records.
