MULTIPLE Grammy Award Winners Erykah Badu and Chaka Khan have been confirmed as the headline acts for the second Annual Tobago Jazz Experience, a four day jazz weekend festival which takes place from April 22 to 25 at venues across the sister isle.

They top an exciting line-up and foreign and local entertainers who will be featured at the highly anticipated musical event which takes up where the now defunct Plymouth Jazz Festival left off. The Tobago Jazz Experience 2010 is being presented by the Tobago House of Assembly’s Division of Tourism and Transportation in association with Mt Irvine Bay Hotel, Pan Trinbago, and the Plymouth/Bethesda Community.

The Tobago event marks the second time Chaka Khan will be performing in TT. She was here a few years ago for a private event for TSTT’s corporate clients.

Best known in the mainstream for her superb 1984 cover of Prince’s “I Feel for You,” R&B singer Chaka Khan enjoyed solo success as well as popularity as a member of the group Rufus. Born Yvette Marie Stevens in Great Lakes, IL, on March 23, 1953, she was raised on Chicago’s South Side, and at the age of 11 formed her first group, the Crystalettes. While still in high school, she joined the Afro-Arts Theatre, a group which toured with Motown great Mary Wells; a few years later, she adopted the African name Chaka Khan while working on the Black Panthers’ breakfast programme.

After quitting high school in 1969, Khan joined the group Lyfe, soon exiting to join another dance band, the Babysitters; neither was on the fast track to success, but her fortunes changed when she teamed with ex-American Breed member Kevin Murphy and André Fisher to form Rufus. Debuting in 1973 with a self-titled effort on the ABC label, Rufus was among the pre-eminent funk groups of the decade; distinguished by Khan’s dynamic vocals, the group earned half-a- dozen gold or platinum albums before she went solo in 1978.

Produced by Arif Mardin, Chaka proved to be a significant hit on the strength of the single “I’m Every Woman” (a hit over a decade later for Whitney Houston); however, Khan’s success was somewhat tempered by her public rivalry with the remaining members of Rufus, to whom she was still contractually bound for two more LPs. Their differences were eventually resolved in a 1982 concert at New York’s Savoy Theater, issued as Stompin’ at the Savoy.

As a solo artiste, Khan recorded backing vocals for Ry Cooder’s 1979 effort Bop Till You Drop, then cut her sophomore album, 1980’s Naughty; it was not a hit, however, nor was its follow-up, What Cha’ Gonna Do for Me. In 1982, Khan recorded Echoes of an Era, a collection of jazz standards featuring performances from Freddie Hubbard, Joe Henderson, Stanley Clarke, Chick Corea, and Lenny White.

Her pop career was on shaky ground when she released 1984’s I Feel for You, a platinum-seller launched by its title cut, a Grammy-winning, rap-inspired rendition (featuring memorable cameos from Melle Mel and Stevie Wonder) of a fairly obscure Prince album track. Still, while subsequent LPs like 1986’s Destiny and 1988’s C.K. kept Khan riding high on the R&B charts, her standing in pop’s mainstream again began to wane, and at the end of the 1980s, she relocated to Europe.

In 1990, she won another Grammy for “I’ll Be Good to You,” a duet with Ray Charles. “Come 2 My House,” released on Prince’s independent label, appeared in 1998, years after Khan had a falling out with Warner Bros. Just after penning the autobiography -Chaka! Through the Fire, she collected another Grammy — in 2004 — for performing Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” with the Funk Brothers in Standing in the Shadows of Motown. Classikhan, featuring several interpretations of jazz standards, followed later that year. As she continued an active touring schedule, she recorded Funk This, a set of relatively funky originals and covers (produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis), released in 2007.

Erykah Badu was born in Dallas, Texas, in 1971 as Erica Abi Wright. Erykah was raised by her mother and grandmother after their father walked out on them. By the tender age of four Erykah had already begun to show her talent and started performing with her mother at the Dallas Theater Centre. Soon Erykah decided it was time to peruse her own career.

Erykah attended Booker T Washington High, Dallas’s performing arts magnet school, as a dance student. At the age of 14 she could be heard on a local radio stations around Dallas. In high school Erykah was giving the nickname MC Apples, and would freestyle with a friend and start a female rap duo. Soon after Erykah had decided to change her name . Erykah - “kah” being a Muslim word for “can do no wrong” and Badu which means to “manifest truth and light” in Arabic.

After high school, Erykah studied theatre at Grambling State University. Erykah decided to concentrate fully on her music career and left the University in 1993 before graduating. She took on several minimum wage jobs to support herself. She often taught drama and dance to children at the South Dallas Cultural Center

In order for Erykah to make a name for herself she teamed up with her cousin Robert “Free” Bradford, and together they started a new hip-hop team, know as Erykah Free. Together they put out a 19-song demo, called Country Cousins; this attracted the attention of Kedar Massenburg, who eventually signed her to a solo record deal with Universal Records.

Erykah’s earlier musical influence were Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder and Chaka Khan. Erykah has often been labelled the queen of neo soul, sporting a jazzy bassy kind of sound along the likes of Billy Holiday.

Erykah is known for her spiritual image, as well as her trademark head wraps.

Erykah has stated that her success is something she knew would happen all along, art and creativity seems to come natural to her and no one every told her she couldn’t do it.

Erykah has always said that she is not going to be punching a clock anytime soon. She states that in order to survive in this world she needs to define herself as an individual, to have her own name, and be a complete person. She hopes to one day open a dance and art school of her own.

Erykah has put out five albums to date they are: Baduizm (1997), Live (1997), Mama’s Gun (2000), Worldwide Underground and New Amerykah, two of which went platinum and 1 that, went gold.

Along with her musical career Erykah is a talented actress starring in such films as Blues Brothers 2000, The Cider House Rules and Dave Chappelle’s Block Party, as well as making a special appearance on the sitcom Girlfriends. She has been nominated for several Grammy’s.