I Feel for You
Encyclopedia
"I Feel for You" is a song written by Prince
that originally appeared on his 1979 self-titled album
. It became a hit single in 1984 for female R&B
singer Chaka Khan
, appearing on her album, which was also called I Feel for You
. Prince won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Song
in 1985 for writing the song.
Khan's version featured an all-star supporting cast, with rapping from Melle Mel
, keyboard and guitar by The System
's David Frank
, and harmonica playing by Stevie Wonder
. The song also uses vocal samples
from Wonder's "Fingertips". The repetition of Khan's name by rapper Melle Mel
at the beginning of the song was originally a mistake made by producer Arif Mardin
(actually a sample of Melle Mel's song "Step Off"), who then decided to keep it.
This version of the song became a million-selling smash in the U.S. and UK, and it helped to relaunch Khan's career. The song peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100
chart in December 1984, matching her previous highest pop chart position from ten years prior (the 1974 hit single, "Tell Me Something Good
", which she recorded with the band Rufus
). The single reached #1 on both the U.S. dance
and R&B
charts in late 1984, remaining atop both for three weeks each. In addition, the song also reached #1 on the UK Singles Chart
. While touring with Prince in 1998 in support of her collaborative album, Come 2 My House
, Khan and Prince performed "I Feel for You" as a duet.
The keyboard break from the Prince original was used in the "Beautiful" remix of Prince's #1 1994 single "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World
".
There are several lesser-known covers of the song. The Pointer Sisters recorded the song in 1982, two years before Khan's version was a hit, on their album So Excited!
. Their version, however, was not a single. Rebbie Jackson
also covered the song on her 1984 album, Centipede
which ironically was released one week after Khan's album. On an episode of The Mickey Mouse Club, Justin Timberlake
and Britney Spears
performed "I Feel for You".
. In most of the action carried out by Chaka Khan with some background dancers, a choreographer, it uses a Disc jockey
a mixer and scratching a record.
episode "Brake My Wife, Please
", Homer Simpson
calls out "Save me Chaka Khan, Chaka Khan, Chaka Khan!!!" as his car sinks into the ocean. In Eminem's song, "Bagpipes From Baghdad", from the album Relapse, he raps, "Shucka, shucka corn, shucka corn". The 1988 Morris Minor and the Majors
song, "Stutter Rap (No Sleep Til Bedtime)", features the line, "He was gonna throw a bottle, he was gonna chuck a can".
Serbian soul singer Bojana Stamenov sang it during her audition for I've Got Talent
.
Prince (musician)
Prince Rogers Nelson , often known simply as Prince, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Prince has produced ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career. Prince founded his own recording studio and label; writing, self-producing and playing most, or all, of...
that originally appeared on his 1979 self-titled album
Prince (album)
Prince is the second studio album by Prince, released on October 19, 1979. It was a quickly written album in reaction to his debut For You. It took seven weeks to complete. The album needed to have hits and sell well to make up for the blown budget on his first release...
. It became a hit single in 1984 for female R&B
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
singer Chaka Khan
Chaka Khan
Chaka Khan , frequently known as the Queen of Funk, is a 10-time Grammy Award winning American singer-songwriter who gained fame in the 1970s as the frontwoman and focal point of the funk band Rufus. While still a member of the group in 1978, Khan embarked on a successful solo career...
, appearing on her album, which was also called I Feel for You
I Feel for You (album)
I Feel for You is the Platinum certified fifth solo album by American R&B/funk singer Chaka Khan, released on the Warner Bros. Records label in 1984.-Overview:...
. Prince won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Song
Grammy Award for Best R&B Song
The Grammy Award for Best R&B Song has been awarded since 1959. From 1969 to 2000 it was known as the Grammy Award for Best Rhythm & Blues Song, from 1962 to 1968 it was known as Best Rhythm & Blues Recording, and from 1959-1961 as Best Rhythm & Blues Performance...
in 1985 for writing the song.
Khan's version featured an all-star supporting cast, with rapping from Melle Mel
Melle Mel
Grandmaster Mele Mel , also known as Melle Mel , is an American hip-hop musician — one of the pioneers of old school hip hop as lead rapper and main songwriter for Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five.- Biography :...
, keyboard and guitar by The System
The System (band)
The System was an American synth pop duo consisting of vocalist/guitarist Mic Murphy and seasoned session keyboardist David Frank. The band was founded in 1982 in New York and backed up by Paul Pesco on electric guitar and Kris Khellow - keyboards, synthesizers.Sometimes the group is referred to...
's David Frank
David Frank
David 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." -Early Development:...
, and harmonica playing by Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
. The song also uses vocal samples
Sampling (music)
In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...
from Wonder's "Fingertips". The repetition of Khan's name by rapper Melle Mel
Melle Mel
Grandmaster Mele Mel , also known as Melle Mel , is an American hip-hop musician — one of the pioneers of old school hip hop as lead rapper and main songwriter for Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five.- Biography :...
at the beginning of the song was originally a mistake made by producer Arif Mardin
Arif Mardin
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...
(actually a sample of Melle Mel's song "Step Off"), who then decided to keep it.
This version of the song became a million-selling smash in the U.S. and UK, and it helped to relaunch Khan's career. The song peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
chart in December 1984, matching her previous highest pop chart position from ten years prior (the 1974 hit single, "Tell Me Something Good
Tell Me Something Good
"Tell Me Something Good" is a song by Rufus and Chaka Khan, released in 1974. It was a big hit peaking at number three on the Billboard Hot 100, though it didn't chart in the United Kingdom. Written by Stevie Wonder, the song is among the earliest hits to use the guitar talk box. The single...
", which she recorded with the band Rufus
Rufus (band)
Rufus was an American funk band from Chicago, Illinois best known for launching the career of lead singer Chaka Khan. They had several hits throughout their career, including "Tell Me Something Good," "Sweet Thing," and "Ain't Nobody."-Origins:...
). The single reached #1 on both the U.S. dance
Hot Dance Club Play
The Hot Dance Club Songs chart is a weekly national survey of the songs that are most popular in U.S. dance clubs...
and R&B
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,...
charts in late 1984, remaining atop both for three weeks each. In addition, the song also reached #1 on the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
. While touring with Prince in 1998 in support of her collaborative album, Come 2 My House
Come 2 My House
Come 2 My House is the ninth studio album by American R&B/funk singer Chaka Khan released on the NPG Records label in 1998.Come 2 My House was Khan's first full-length album since 1992's The Woman I Am, due to the Warner Bros...
, Khan and Prince performed "I Feel for You" as a duet.
The keyboard break from the Prince original was used in the "Beautiful" remix of Prince's #1 1994 single "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World
The Most Beautiful Girl in the World (Prince song)
"The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" is a song by Prince from his 1995 album The Gold Experience It was his first release since changing his stage name to an unpronounceable symbol. With the consent of Prince's usual record distributor Warner Bros...
".
There are several lesser-known covers of the song. The Pointer Sisters recorded the song in 1982, two years before Khan's version was a hit, on their album So Excited!
So Excited!
So Excited! is the ninth studio by the Pointer Sisters, released in 1982 on the Planet label.-History:So Excited! spawned a major hit with "American Music" and included a cover of a Prince tune, "I Feel for You," which was again covered by Chaka Khan two years later...
. Their version, however, was not a single. Rebbie Jackson
Rebbie Jackson
Maureen Reillette "Rebbie" Brown is an American singer professionally known as Rebbie Jackson . Born and raised in Gary, Indiana, she is the eldest child of the Jackson family of musicians...
also covered the song on her 1984 album, Centipede
Centipede (album)
Centipede is the debut album by American singer Rebbie Jackson. Released on the CBS label in 1984, the record spawned two top-forty Billboard charting hits, the most famous being the title track. Centipede became Jackson's only gold-certified album throughout her 14-year musical career...
which ironically was released one week after Khan's album. On an episode of The Mickey Mouse Club, Justin Timberlake
Justin Timberlake
Justin Randall Timberlake is an American pop musician and actor. He achieved early fame when he appeared as a contestant on Star Search, and went on to star in the Disney Channel television series The New Mickey Mouse Club, where he met future bandmate JC Chasez...
and Britney Spears
Britney Spears
Britney Jean Spears is an American recording artist and entertainer. Born in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, Spears began performing as a child, landing acting roles in stage productions and television shows. She signed with Jive Records in 1997 and released her debut album...
performed "I Feel for You".
Music video (Chaka Khan version)
The music video plays in a U.S. districtDistrict
Districts are a type of administrative division, in some countries managed by a local government. They vary greatly in size, spanning entire regions or counties, several municipalities, or subdivisions of municipalities.-Austria:...
. In most of the action carried out by Chaka Khan with some background dancers, a choreographer, it uses a Disc jockey
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
a mixer and scratching a record.
Covers and Parodies
The repeating sample of Melle Mel saying "Chaka Khan" has been parodied many times. In The SimpsonsThe Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
episode "Brake My Wife, Please
Brake My Wife, Please
"Brake My Wife, Please" is the twentieth episode of the fourteenth season of The Simpsons. It first aired on May 11, 2003.-Plot:On a school field trip to the Springfield Aquarium, Principal Skinner pronounces two giant "yellow pearls" in a clam, only to find that it is actually Bart mooning...
", Homer Simpson
Homer Simpson
Homer Jay Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons and the patriarch of the eponymous family. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared on television, along with the rest of his family, in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
calls out "Save me Chaka Khan, Chaka Khan, Chaka Khan!!!" as his car sinks into the ocean. In Eminem's song, "Bagpipes From Baghdad", from the album Relapse, he raps, "Shucka, shucka corn, shucka corn". The 1988 Morris Minor and the Majors
Morris Minor and the Majors
Morris Minor and the Majors was a band led by the comedian and writer Tony Hawks. They were made vaguely famous by their 1988 song, "Stutter Rap ". The song aimed to parody the then popular Beastie Boys. The other two members were Rusty Wing and Phil Errup .It reached No. 4 in the UK Singles...
song, "Stutter Rap (No Sleep Til Bedtime)", features the line, "He was gonna throw a bottle, he was gonna chuck a can".
Serbian soul singer Bojana Stamenov sang it during her audition for I've Got Talent
Ja imam talenat
Ja imam talenat! is a Serbian television series, format of Got Talent series...
.
External links
- Video on VH1 ClassicVH1 ClassicVH1 Classic is a television network, launched on May 8, 2000. It is operated as part of MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom and primarily features music videos and concert footage from the 1970s through the mid-1990s, though it formerly included a wider range of genres and time periods...
website