More than a decade after Prince’s death, Chaka Khan appears to still be struggling with the fact that he’s gone.
During a recent street interview with The Joy of Everything, the Grammy-winning singer was asked a seemingly simple question about her favorite memory of the Purple One. Instead of launching into a story about a concert, a recording session, or one of his legendary pranks, Khan delivered a two-word response that was equal parts shade and grief: “He’s dead.”
The interviewer tried again, hoping to uncover one of the countless stories Khan has accumulated over nearly four decades of friendship with Prince. But Khan's initial reaction revealed something deeper than nostalgia. For her, memories of Prince are still inseparable from the loss itself.
When pressed about what she misses most, Khan finally opened the door.
“Him,” she said. “Everything about him. He was priceless.”
It’s a fitting response from someone who knew Prince long before he became one of music’s most mysterious icons. Their relationship began in the late 1970s, when Prince was still a young musician trying to get the attention of one of his heroes. At the time, Khan was already a star thanks to her work with Rufus, while Prince was still fighting for recognition.
And in true Prince fashion, he found an unconventional way to introduce himself.
According to Khan, he called her hotel while they were both working in San Francisco and pretended to be funk legend Sly Stone. Khan immediately fell for it.
“I was completely fooled,” she recalled in a previous interview with Billboard.
Believing Stone wanted to see her at the studio, she rushed over only to discover a young Prince sitting there alone with a guitar.
“I said, ‘Do you know where Sly is?’” Khan remembered. “He said to me, ‘Hi, I’m Prince, I called you.’”
Her reaction? “I was very pissed.”
Fortunately for Prince, irritation quickly gave way to admiration. What started as an elaborate prank evolved into one of the most significant artistic friendships in modern music.
Their connection eventually produced one of the biggest hits of Khan’s career: her 1984 version of Prince’s “I Feel for You.” The song became a massive crossover success, earned Grammy recognition, and helped redefine her solo career.
Years later, the two would reunite creatively on Come 2 My House, Khan’s 1998 album released through Prince’s NPG Records.
