Chaka Khan | What Cha' Gonna Do For Me (Change Request ReVision)

The title track of her third solo album, 1981’s What Cha' Gonna Do For Me" was written by Ned Doheny and Hamish Stuart of the Average White Band. They had recorded the song a year earlier and released it on their LP Shine, produced by David Foster, but it was Hyde Park’s Very Own that took this song to another world.

Released on Warner Bros. Records and produced with Arif Mardin, Chaka Khan’s “What Cha’ Gonna Do For Me” has been a top “port of call” of my personal affinity for the early 80s post-disco electric funk. The Queen Of Everything put this song on the map as the first single off the album that would seal her stardom with other iconic tunes, such as "I Know You, I Live You”, and the Stardust-sampled, “Fate”.

Even beyond my Reprise-styled stripped-down take on this, I also continued to lust after this harmonic motion through an original track—Change Request | Ravaged Romance—that was directly inspired by the chordal arrangements that Doheny and Stuart set forth in their original composition. Have a listen to the evolution of this song—through these four versions—including my two interpretations of this all-time classic.

Average White Band | Whatcha' Gonna Do For Me (1980): bit.ly/31bcD2v 
Chaka Khan | What Cha' Gonna Do For Me (1981): bit.ly/31cRZ28 
Chaka Khan | What Cha' Gonna Do For Me (Change Request ReVision)(2018): bit.ly/2VbGcgH 
Change Request | Ravaged Romance (2020): bit.ly/2VcVQs2

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Chaka Khan | What Cha' Gonna Do For Me (Change Request ReVision)

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Andrew Emil // Change Request 

A preeminent artist of Chicago's 3rd wave, Andrew Emil is one of house music’s most staunch stalwarts. A concert-trained percussionist since age 11, he earned a chair in his native Kansas City Symphony before eventually moving to Chicago. 

As a traditional musician, Andrew Emil has worked as a keyboardist, arranger, and an orchestrator on recording sessions and productions, cutting his teeth at the former Chicago Trax Recording Studios. 

Credited on over 200+ recordings, his composition and studio productions have ranged from concert works and sound design to film scoring stages and hundreds of releases of electronic music productions. 

After a life in live music performance, from orchestra percussion sections to punk rock ensembles, he crafted a reputation for House Music productions in Chicago under his own name, as well as Broadway & Wilson, and Uptown Tones. 

One of the earlier innovators of the “Jackin House” genre under the Broadway & Wilson moniker with Jeff Bloom, Andrew is never content to stay in one place or style of musical thought for very long. 

He is the only recording artist to do production work simultaneously for Derrick Carter’s Classic Music Company, Mark Farina’s Great Lakes Audio, Gene Farris’ Farris Wheel Recordings, and four-time GRAMMY nominee Steve “Silk” Hurley’s S&S Records.

A string of double-digit singles for prominent labels, including remixes for artists such as Common, Kanye West, Little Louie Vega, Jamie Principle, Steve "Silk" Hurley, Iz & Diz, Fast Eddie, Shalamar, Roland Clark, David Morales, Colette, Amp Fiddler, JT Donaldson, and Gene Farris, to name a few. 

2012 saw the emergence of his epithet, Change Request, with the Change Theory EP on four play music. This new persona allowed the freedom to explore hybrids of mid-tempo live instrument focused jazz-dance-fusion. 

Following this release was “After All” on Seasons Recordings, with another single thereafter featuring house music icon, Chez Damier, “I Wanna Go Back”, including a remarkable rework from Glenn Underground, on Glenview Records. 

The ever-growing collection of songs and musical dialogue eventually led to the conceptual album series from Change Request. Each full-length effort containing a completely separate story and scored via its own unique incidental subtext. 

Emil created AstraVox Music with the award-winning Los Angeles-based composer, Mr. Nathaniel, as a home for his increasing catalog of incidental dramatic musical compositions. 

www.andrewemil.com