
Sweet! Chicago’s own Chaka Khan – a ten time Grammy winner and funk icon with a music career spanning FIVE decades – has been named the Grand Marshall for the 2019 Tournament of Roses Parade.
Born Yvette Marie Stevens to bohemian parents in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood, Chaka Khan’s life has been far from charmed but novelistic in its twists and turns, from being a member of the Black Panthers and volunteer in the Panthers’ free breakfast program for children to musical stardom four years later as a member of Rufus to becoming one of the biggest pop stars of the ’80s with the Prince-authored single “I Feel For You.”
She was also pursued by ghosts.
According to Associated Press, “Khan will ride through Pasadena, California, in the 130th Rose Parade on New Year’s Day and participate in the celebration before the 105th Rose Bowl game, which will be a college football playoff semifinal.”
Photo: Dwight McCann / Chumash Casino Resort / www.DwightMcCann.com [CC BY-SA 2.5 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5) or CC BY-SA 2.5 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons