During one of her recent shows, R&B legend Chaka Khan invited a fan from the audience to join her on stage for a little bit of “Sweet Thing” from the 1975 album, “Rufus featuring Chaka Khan.” However, she was not ready for what was about to happen next.
Countless singers can say they started their careers after songstress Chaka Khan gave them a chance. Some of the biggest names in music have shared the mic with her, including Meli’sa Morgan, Vesta Williams, Lisa Fischer, Sandra St. Victor, and Penny Ford.
The most iconic background singers to emerge from her camp were the late Luther Vandross, Cissy Houston, and her daughter Whitney Houston, who all did background vocals on Chaka’s 1980 Warner Bros. release “Naughty.”
On Friday, Oct. 18, the “Clouds” singer performed at the Armani fashion show at the Park Avenue Armory in New York and invited singer Morgan James to the stage. At the time, she had no idea that James, a white woman, was as talented as she was.
Vogue Magazine posted the encounter on its TikTok with the caption, “TikTok do your thing, and find this woman! Last night at the #Armani fashion show in New York City, Chaka Khan pulled a guest from the crowd on to her stage. What came next surprised everyone, including Ms Khan herself.”
The clip went viral, and many people on social media weighed in.
One person said this situation was an example of “When preparation meets opportunity.”
Another added, “Stay Ready, So You Don’t Have to Get Ready.”
When the video made its way to the X platform, the jokes started to come through.
“Chaka Khan pulled a lady on stage and didn’t expect this,” one X user said.
Someone else joked, “Patti LaBelle would have snatched the mic back, thanked the kind lady, kicked off her shoes, and gave the best rendition of her song the world has ever heard!”
Patti LaBelle would have snatched the mic back, thanked the kind lady, kicked off her shoes, and gave the best rendition of her song the world has ever heard! 😂😂
— Amoré King (@AmoreKingTIO) October 19, 2024
So many celebrated her, with a comment snapping, “Ok White Queen I see you.”
A fourth tweet said, “Teena Marie out there possessing bodies?”
Multiple fans quickly identified Morgan and educated other users on the talented singer. “What’s hilarious is Morgan has played Teena in a Broadway show. She’s literally a Broadway legend,” a fan said.
Even Morgan James posted about the experience, blending her own thoughts with the “De Ja Vu” singer’s.
“Greetings. I am coming to you from the beyond. I am now deceased,” she wrote on Instagram.
“So…tonight I attended the Armani show with my good friend Demetrius. After an incredible cocktail hour, fashion show and dinner, we learned that Chaka Khan was to be the surprise guest,” she went on to explain the experience from her perspective.
“So we got into the front row as soon as we could. She started singing, I was screaming. I was losing my mind. And she started to sing my favorite song, ‘Sweet Thing.’” She continued. “I am singing the lyrics so loud that it’s embarrassing, and some people don’t know the song. She clocks me in the front row—she says ‘SHE knows the words’ and she puts the mic in my FACE. YALL what happened next? it’s like a movie. CHAKA KHAN INVITED ME ONTO THIS MF AMERICAN STAGE.”
Then she ended her post, writing, “Goodnight, cruel world.”
One of her followers summed up the experience, saying, “Every kid that goes to the ballgame brings their mitt hoping that they will catch a foul ball and the manager will say, ‘Sign that kid up’ – And it happened to you!”
James agreed, saying, “THAT IS EXACTLY IT! I caught the foul ball AND she signed it”
While Chaka has given props to many good singers, she has also been shady to those who she thinks should possibly give it up and take a job at the post office, especially many new singers who use autotune.
She was very vocal about Mary J. Blige singing the same song on her “What’s the 411?” album, calling the performance “flat,” on an appearance on Andrew Goldman’s “The Originals” podcast for The Los Angeles Times.
Her peers catch shots, too. While not about her singing, she recently threw shade at Cher for dating a much younger man. Hoping in the comment section of The Neighborhood Talk, she said of the news, “Whatever.”
