| Destiny | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | July 1986 | |||
| Recorded | 1985–1986 | |||
| Genre | R&B | |||
| Length | 47:05 | |||
| Label | Warner Bros. | |||
| Producer |
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| Chaka Khan chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Destiny | ||||
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| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
| Robert Christgau | B [2] |
Destiny is the sixth studio album by American R&B/funk singer Chaka Khan, released on Warner Bros. Records in 1986.
Contents
Destiny was Khan's follow-up to the platinum-selling I Feel for You and was as high tech as its predecessor—symptomatically and characteristically for its period with more producers and sound engineers credited in the liner notes than musicians—but was musically more geared towards rock and pop than soul and R&B, most prominently on tracks such as "So Close", the self-penned title track "My Destiny", "Who's It Gonna Be" and "Watching the World" featuring Phil Collins on drums and backing vocals.
The album spun off five single releases, the first being "Love of a Lifetime", co-written, co-produced and featuring backing vocals by Green Gartside of British band Scritti Politti (US Pop #53, US R&B #21, UK #52). The second single "Tight Fit" was a midtempo R&B ballad, just like "Eye to Eye" from I Feel for You produced by Russ Titelman, which reached #28 on the US R&B chart. The satirical "Earth to Mickey" (When are you going to land?), featuring Khan both singing and rapping (and keyboardist Reggie Griffin rapping in the role of 'Mickey'), was released as the third single in early 1987 and only just made the Top 100 of the R&B chart, peaking at #93. The dramatic ballad "The Other Side of the World", written by Mike Rutherford of Genesis and B. A. Robertson and which had first been released as part of the White Nights soundtrack album in late 1985, reached #81. The fifth single "Watching the World" never charted. The album itself fared slightly better, reaching #25 on Billboard's R&B albums chart, but stalling at #67 on Pop and #77 in the UK. Destiny however gave Khan another Grammy nomination in 1987 for Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female. The track "My Destiny" was used as the theme song for Richard Pryor's motion picture Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling .
The closing track, the heavily edited one minute thirty-nine seconds "Coltrane Dreams", a tribute to John Coltrane, had a backing track mainly made up of samples of Khan's voice. The actual full-length version of the track (4:54) was only released as the B-side of the 12" single "Love of a Lifetime".
"Love of a Lifetime", "Tight Fit", "Earth to Mickey" and "Watching the World" were all released as 12" singles including extended remixes.
While the success of Khan's own single releases in 1986 was limited to the R&B charts, she appeared as featured vocalist/vocal arranger on two worldwide pop/rock chart hits that same year, Steve Winwood's "Higher Love" and Robert Palmer's "Addicted to Love"; on the latter she was only credited for 'vocal arrangement' in the liner notes. The song was originally recorded with Khan sharing lead vocals with Palmer but due to contractual problems between Warner Bros. Records and Island Records her own vocals were removed from the final mix. [3]
