Songbird

This chapter examines Khan’s development into a powerhouse singer and talented songwriter as the frontwoman of Rufus. Drawing Khan’s childhood experiences described in her memoir, as well as musicologist Guthrie P. Ramsey, Jr.’s notion of black community theater, the chapter demonstrates how she transposed her rebellious spirit, evidenced briefly during high school as a volunteer worker for the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, into a self-conscious and contrarian artist who epitomized funk aesthetics. As one of the few women funk singers who didn’t have a gospel background or grow up in a musical family, Khan developed a jazz-inflected vocal technique and a singular, Chicago-based, rhythm-and-blues sound that became a funk trademark. At the same time, the chapter demonstrates that Khan’s interpretation of funk as a concept, particularly its nonconformity, which she exemplified in exhilarating eroticism during live performances, proved to be a double-edged sword. While she captivated music fans, Khan battled executives at ABC Records over racialized images of her sexuality.