Chaka Khan says she will bring the ghosts that sit on her shoulders to the UK when she comes to Britain for gigs this summer.
The Queen of Funk declared she constantly sees a “Shadow Man” and “Guardian Angel” which will both be with her when she curates the Meltdown Festival in London in June. Chaka – whose hits include I’m Every Woman – said: “They are there whether I believe in them or not. I’ve lived with them or not – I believe.
“I feel them every day. It doesn’t matter what I’m doing – I feel them every day. “I check in with them every day. I get several types of manifestations of them. All the manifestations and the ways I speak to spirits – it’s really something that is just one of those things that happens.
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“And I know when it’s time to talk to them, and that’s it.” Chaka has said a “Shadow Man” and “Angel” appeared to her at the peak of her fame in the 1980s when she was hoovering up so much cocaine she once needed her stomach pumped.
(Image: Getty Images)
She added about her wild days: “I was in my 20s, and I was singing with the band Rufus. We were taking cocaine all day and working 12, 13, 14 hours in the studio.”
Chaka has said that her “Shadow Man” supporter appeared to her most when she was getting high. She added: “I was drugging then. I was self-medicating.
(Image: Getty Images)
“Plus it was a very lonely time on the road, working hard and coming in late, and there’d be this silhouette at the window all night. What I think happens is that drugs open one up to a certain realm where you can see certain things. But I don’t think it was a drug-induced hallucination, I really don’t.”
Chaka said she still sees spirits despite totally cleaning up her lifestyle since her drug days. She is now teetotal and clean after being diagnosed with high blood pressure and type-2 diabetes, with her drug abuse – which also included heroin – continuing into the 1990s.
(Image: Getty Images)
Chaka also had an on-and-off struggle with alcoholism until 2005, when she said she was sober. The funk veteran was featured in a 2013 episode of Celebrity Ghost Stories where she told the story of the ‘Shadow Man’ she says follows her on tour.
She added on the show she then met a guardian angel who ordered her to change her hard-partying lifestyle or die. Chaka is set to perform a run of UK shows this summer including at the Nocturne Live concert series at Blenheim Palace in London on 13 June.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
