Rufus Featuring Chaka Khan

<Rufus featuring Chaka Khan> is the gold-selling fourth studio album by the funk band Rufus and Chaka Khan, released on the ABC Records label in 1975. It remained on top of the R&B album chart for six consecutive weeks.

By 1975, Rufus and lead front woman Chaka Khan had become one of the most popular bands in popular music.[citation needed] With their successful mixing of funk, rock, soul and jazz and the powerful vocals of 22-year-old Khan, the group had set themselves apart from similar groups such as The Isley Brothers and Earth, Wind & Fire. By the now, the group's billing had changed. While they were just known as Rufus on their first two releases, after the success of "Tell Me Something Good", the media (and Rufus' label at the time, ABC Records) had recognized that Khan was the attraction of the group.

Khan's popularity was starting to usurp that of her bandmates. For example, on the album's back cover and inner sleeve, Khan is featured with her trademark hair and outfits, sitting on a lips-decorated couch. On the cover, an animated cover of lips, which appeared to emulate Khan's, gave the impression that Khan was the dominant member of the group. Khan also handled all the talk in interviews for the group and she was given solo covers on magazines such as Jet and EBONY. As they entered the studio to record their fourth album, Khan and Rufus remained a collaborative group together. Unlike their three previous albums, they only recorded one cover version - The Bee Gees' "Jive Talkin'", while other songs were handled by group members and outside collaborators including, most notably, Gavin Christopher.

Tony Maiden, who had joined the group in mid-1974, also wrote more for the album. Khan brought lyrics for three compositions including what became one of Rufus' biggest hits, the ballad "Sweet Thing", which Khan and Maiden co-wrote together. After its release, Rufus Featuring Chaka Khan repeated the success of the band's previous two albums, going gold (later platinum) with sales of one million copies in the United States. By the end of the album's promotion, tensions had grown between Khan and group member Andre Fischer. Rufus Featuring Chaka Khan was the band's first album to top Billboard's R&B Albums chart and also reached #7 on Pop. The album included the singles "Sweet Thing", their second #1 hit on the R&B Singles chart and also #5 hit on Pop, "Dance Wit Me" (US R&B #5, US Pop #39) and the Bee Gees cover "Jive Talkin'" (US R&B #35). According to Billboard Magazine, "Rufus Featuring Chaka Khan" was the best selling R&B album of 1976 on the Year-End Charts.

1975年Rufus和女主唱Chaka Khan，凭借放克、摇滚、灵魂乐和爵士乐的成功融合以及年仅22 岁的Khan奔放的嗓音，已成为流行界相当最受欢迎的乐队，Khan的声望开始超越其他成员。专辑封底内页便可见Khan她标志性的头发和服装特色，封面则直接模仿了她的红唇，给人从视觉和专辑名称都暗示Khan是团体的主导。

1974年中加入乐队的Tony Maiden也创作三首歌词，其中包括Rufus热门曲之一的“Sweet Thing”。专辑延续了乐队前两张专辑的成功，在美国销售100万张 金唱片（后来追加为白金唱片），流行专辑主榜第七、副榜R&B榜的年终冠军。只是专辑宣传结束时，Khan和鼓手Andre Fischer的关系越来越紧张。

1975发行的第四张专辑，它在R＆B专辑榜排第一，而且连续保持了六周，达到金牌销量。单曲"Sweet Thing"在R＆B单曲榜第一。 虽然乐队获得成功，但女主唱Chaka Khan受欢迎程度远超过了乐队本身（专辑封套设计以她为特色，代表乐队接受采访，单独上杂志封面），乐队之间逐渐产生矛盾。