From charity work to small businesses to music, Chaka Khan celebrates her 60th birthday full throttle

BLACK ENTERPRISE - Celebrating her sixtieth birthday on March 23rd with soirees in New York, Miami and Los Angeles, the 10-time Grammy winner is not only preparing to mark another milestone, she’s celebrating a new chapter in her 40-year career...

Luther Vandross was outed as gay after his death.

From Black Enterprise:

You can’t say legendary singer Chaka Khan doesn’t know how to throw a party.

Celebrating her sixtieth birthday on March 23rd with soirees in New York, Miami *and* Los Angeles, the 10-time Grammy winner is not only preparing to mark another milestone, she’s celebrating a new chapter in her 40-year career — one that includes the expansion of her entrepreneurial empire.

Behind the scenes, the Queen of Funk-Soul has been keeping plenty busy, and not just releasing singles like “It’s Not Over,” which debuted on Valentine’s Day, or being feted as she was at BET Honors last month by fellow divas like Erykah Badu. Actually, the R&B songstress is now a sales-stress, luring fans to her online store with The iKhan Project, a unisex fragrance; her Khana Sutra line, a sexy collection of scented candles and home fragrances; and gourmet chocolates she calls “Chakalates.” Though some of these items have actually been available via department stores for the past few years, Khan recently began selling them exclusively on her web site, with a nod specifically to charity.

“A percentage of the sales for each of the items I sell will go to the Chaka Khan Foundation,” the singer says from an L.A. studio where she is recording songs for an upcoming album. “One portion will be for an educational initiative here in Los Angeles, another will be for an initiative in Louisiana for Hurricane Katrina victims and there will be more announcements to come,” she adds about her charity, which she founded to benefit women and children at risk.

Read the rest of this story at BlackEnterprise.com.

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