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Chaka Khan Slams Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige, & Adele Over Rolling Stone's Best Singers List
Chaka Khan has no chill.
The legendary R&B songstress is known for being outspoken and she didn’t hold back while weighing in on Rolling Stone’s 200 Greatest Singers of All Time.
Khan was ranked No. 29 on the controversial list, below her peers including Mariah Carey, Adele, Mary J. Blige, and Beyoncé.
During her appearance on Los Angeles magazine’s podcast “The Originals,” per The Daily Mail, the 69-year-old Queen of Funk claimed that this was her first time hearing about the list.
“I didn’t even know what the hell you were talking about, so obviously this don’t mean a great deal to me,” she said. “These people don’t quantify or validate me in any way.”
The Top 10 Singers of all time, per Rolling Stone:
10. Al Green
9. Otis Redding
8. Beyonce
7. Stevie Wonder
6. Ray Charles
5. Mariah Carey
4. Billie Holiday
3. Sam Cooke
2. Whitney Houston
1. Aretha FranklinWhat do we think?
— Richard Staple, BSN, RN🇯🇲 (@RichStapless) January 1, 2023
When informed that Mariah Carey had placed higher than her at No. 5, Khan quipped, “That must be payola or some shit like that.”
Adele, who ranked ahead of her at No. 22, also couldn’t escape Chaka’s wrath. “Okay, I quit,” she said before ripping into Mary J. Blige, who bested her at No. 25.
“These bitches are blind as a motherfu**ing bat!” said Khan. “They need hearing aids. They don’t have hearing aids? They have no eyes. They have no ears. They must have a – these bitches, you know what? These must be be the children of Helen Keller!”
The two have had a tumultuous past. In 1992, Mary released a cover of Chaka’s 1975 Rufus hit “Sweet Thing,” but her rendition was not well received by Chaka, who introduced it at her concerts as “the song Mary J. Blige f***ed up.” The two went on to collaborate on Chaka’s 2007 album Funk This.
But Chaka knew better than to upset the BeyHive when she was asked about Beyoncé, who ranked eighth on the list. “I’m not gonna comment on that,” she said, adding, “She’s a great singer, OK? She really has opportunity to be a great singer. She has what it takes. She got the chops, she does, OK?”
However, she did agree that the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, deserved to be No. 1. “As she fu**ing should be,” she said, while calling Whitney Houston’s second place rank “great.”