CTK via AP Images

From Essence

Queen of Funk Chaka Khan is set to be honored at The Apollo Theater’s upcoming 8th Annual Spring Gala Concert.

In celebration of her 40 years as a music icon, the singer will be inducted into the Apollo Legends Hall of Fame and will receive a plaque on the Apollo Walk of Fame.

On June 10, Erykah Badu will present Khan with her award at the Gala, which will also honor the music mogul with special performances from Patti LaBelle, Mary J. Blige, Jennifer Holliday and Alexandra Burke.

“I am honored that the Apollo is inducting me into the Apollo Legends Hall of Fame,” says Khan. “The Apollo Theater is an American institution and is world-renowned for developing, nurturing, and creating talent for decades…”

Go Chaka! You can read the rest of the story on Chaka’s big honor over on Essence.com.

So tell us: what is your favorite Chaka Khan song?

Just last week we showed you a few of the singers who thought they had what it took to try and cover Prince. This week, we’ve got a few big names who thought they could take on the King of Pop. While not every rendition/cover of his classics from throughout his career were well-done, they were all a lot different than the original songs, which is step one to trying to produce a worthy cover: Do your own thing, but have respect for the originator. Check out covers by everyone from Chaka Khan to Celine Dion, Al B Sure! and even Miles Davis, and let us know which ones you think were good, and not so good after all.

And of course, the links to the actual MJ songs are included in each description!

There’s not too many people in music who can put out the caliber of music Prince has since he debuted in the late ’70s. And maybe it’s for that reason so many artists, young and old, new and veterans, have tried to cover his joints and make them their own. Even Janelle Monáe and Tina Turner have done his work live and in concert. But it’s hard to outdo or really “cover” the Purple One.  However, these people gave it a try and released their attempts as singles. Some to great success, others to some “what-the-hot-hell??” results. But hey, it never hurts to try, right? Check out these cover attempts and let us know which ones were good, and which one’s you thought missed the mark.

*The original Prince tracks (which were hard to find) have been hyperlinked in the descriptions if you’d like to take a walk down memory lane…

Chaka Khan has got a lot going on to celebrate her 60th birthday and her 40th anniversary in the music business. First it was “Chakalates” and candles. Now it’s an augmented reality cover of Billboard magazine.

Using the Printergize app, fans can take a photo of the cover that will take them to Chaka Khan’s website and bring the image to life. The issue will be available March 16. (The image above was emailed to MadameNoire.)

In addition to the cover and the goodies for sale, there will be a 100 Days of Chaka campaign, starting on her birthday (May 23) leading to the anniversary of the release of her first album with Rufus on July 1 and the release of a new album, “The iKhan Project: Alive! The Commemorative Edition,” available July 2.

The first of three events to celebrate her birthday will take place on March 21 in Los Angeles. Then she’ll head to Miami on March 23, and New York on March 26.

Chaka Khan isn’t the only entertainer going hi-tech. Dita von Teese recently modeled a gown that was created using a mathematical formula and a 3D printer. We have video of that after the jump. (Story via Adweek.)

Do these digital advancement enhance the whole experience for you?

They may be known for working the runway, smiling for the camera or performing for millions of fans, but when these 15 celebrities wipe off the make-up and step away from the flashing lights, they are simply known as ‘Grandma’ and ‘Grandpa.’

WENN

In addition to being a reality television star, NeNe Leakes has added two primetime shows to her resume but is now prepared for another big role in her life: grandmother. Leakes’ oldest son Bryson welcomed baby girl Bri’asia in mid-June of 2012 giving the mother of two a granddaughter to play dress-up with. The “New Normal” star said, “I always wanted to have a girl and now I have one! She’s just adorable. Forty is the new 30. I’m a sassy, fashion-forward grandma!”

 Today, we have Beyoncé and Idris, but before they were heating up Google images, there was Eartha Kitt and Billy Dee Williams. With movie star good looks and the magic to make grown men and women cry, these 15 stars gave us nothing but sex appeal and our parents and grandparents loved it! Here are some of the best black sex symbols of yesteryear!

Source: Promotional Photos/Google Images

Billy Dee Williams

“Oh Billy Dee” is what all of our grandmothers said whenever the mere shadow of this actor came on a screen. Billy Dee was so hot that Diana Ross couldn’t  stop acting with him, appearing with him in Lady Sings the Blues and Mahogany.  Billy even made the hood-classic drink Colt 45 hot. Who else can do that?

CTK via AP Images

Singer Chaka Khan is giving us a “Sweet Thing” to look out for just before Valentine’s Day. The 10-time Grammy winner debuted her own line of chocolates at this year’s Grammy Gift Lounge in Los Angeles. As we know Chaka has struggled with diabetes and high blood pressure and the “Chakalates,” as they are called, are delicious and healthy and contain antioxidant rich dark chocolate, known to assist in lowering blood pressure. A box sells for $36.

Not only is she dabbling with chocolates again, Black Enterprise has reported that she will also indulge in the candle business, with her “Khana Sutra” candles ($27 on her website). Not only can you listen to the tunes of Ms. Khan to get you and your “Angel” in the mood, you can smell the scent of her soy wax clean burning candles. Do these candles remind anyone else of Mama Jones’ provocative “Poom Kash” perfume line or is it just me?

Hopefully she has a good product otherwise, “Ain’t Nobody” gonna buy it. Ok that’s the last one I promise.

These products will launch in celebration of Chaka Khan’s 40^th year anniversary of her music career. She’s also celebrating her 60th birthday, leading to what she’s calling the “Chaka Khan 40-60 Anniversary Kickoff.” She has been an inspiration in the music industry and hopefully she will have great success with her products.

Whether these artists were huge names or little known artists at the time, they’ve been featured on some of our favorite songs over the years, producing, singing, writing, and more. While many of their voices and talents were ignored since all the attention was on the major artist of that time they were working with, they all went on to have a great deal of success in their own right, even passing up the people they once had to go through hell and high water to get on a track with. Interested in finding who sang on what? You know what to do–get to clickin’. (Sorry, but you knew that was coming…)

When it comes to standards of beauty in the black hair community, one of the hot button issues arises from how much of the aesthetic we chose for ourselves comes from norms of attractiveness that have been imposed upon us by mainstream pop culture. In fact, one of the reasons that many women of color decide to go “natural” is in an effort to embrace their own definition of beauty and not to succumb to definitions that seem to be almost strictly decided externally.

As much as there is empowerment in, and a need for, embracing our own unique charm and comeliness, the fact is that we live in an increasingly diverse global village where cultures rub off on each other all the time (I love a Japanese man with locks) and sharing and emulating each other’s differences does not always have to be regarded as a pejorative phenomenon.

Take, for instance, Lady Gaga on the cover of Vogue’s huge September Fall Fashion issue. Wearing an intricately designed purple Marc Jacobs’ gown, Gaga sports a highly stylized blonde fro – a rather scene-stealing hairstyle, given the theatrics of the photoshopped hourglass figure she cuts in her couture dress.

One can imagine that the gravity defying, bodacious coif donned by Gaga must have taken quite some time to assemble by her team of stylists — a look inspired, no doubt, by the amazing properties of afro-textured hair. Our hair has the uncanny ability to assume shapes and heights and fullness that other ladies that lack the same texture dream about. This particular look, I like to call “The Halo Effect.” These are not traditional afros. Soft, full, unstructured and cloud-like, they give an ethereal vision of loveliness that is almost other worldly.

Here are some of our favorite stars over the years sporting their own natural (or not) ”halos”.

Earth angels, indeed.

www.sfjazz.org

Esperanza Spalding

www.stylebistro.com

Kelly Rowland

Kelly can pull off straight or textured hair with aplomb, but there is something about big “halo” hair that makes her look fresh-faced and dewy.

Isn’t weird when two people from the same immediate family look nothing alike..only to discover they have a lookalike out there in the world? Nowhere is this more apparent than with the public faces we know as celebrities. We revealed some Black celeb look-alikes in our first story with eerie resemblances, and we managed to uncover a few more – 10 couples to be exact!

Source: Taletela

Seriously, can you tell who is who here? Kinda freaky but Chaka Khan must be Nicki Minaj’s long lost aunt or something because how else can you explain the striking resemblance? (Chaka Khan is on the right).