Chaka Khan tells all, from Rock & Roll honor to protecting her mental health

Chaka Khan has been telling fans something good for 50 years. Her hard work will officially be recognized on Nov. 3, when she is (finally) inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

During her storied career, Khan has released 22 albums, sold more than 70 million records and won 10 Grammys. She has notched a total of nine gold or platinum singles and albums, according to the Recording Industry Association of America.

Ahead of the induction ceremony, the 70-year-old "I'm Every Woman" singer sits down with TODAY.com to discuss the multiple projects she has in the works, her self-care routine, collaborating with Prince and more.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

How did you first get the name Chaka Khan?

It's not a stage name. It's my spiritual African name. The whole name is much longer and it's Yoruba. I was interested in the Yoruba way of life, which is a very healthy and spiritual way of life. Most of my names are named after Orisha, spirits that I would strive to become like, and each have a meaning. Chaka is warrioress. That's feminine for T'Chaka, which is the male warrior. I married a guy named Hassan Khan and the two names just work really well together. They sound a lot better than Yvette Marie Stephens.

You’re getting this Rock & Roll Hall of Fame honor. You have 50 years in the business. How would you describe Chaka Khan’s legacy?

Long as hell.

Never ending.

It’s like every time I think, "Yeah, OK, now I can chill." It’s not happening. God put me here to do this.

Have you considered retirement?

Absolutely. Yeah, but it doesn’t work.

It’s really amazing. It’s really a major gift that God gave me and it’s so much more than just music in it, you know. It’s a big deal.

You've collaborated with some big names. Is there a collaboration that's your favorite?

Prince. Miles Davis. I mean, I like everybody for different reasons. But I think that the people that were closest to it became close to my heart as well.

Can you tell me about working with Prince and Miles Davis?

We did a song together called "Sticky Wicked" on one of my CDs (C.K.) and it's (with) Prince. It's his song. He wrote it for me and I performed it and then Myles also performed on the track. That was iconic for me — as iconic as you can pretty much get with three different generations of music. The experience of making it was just like it sounded: Fun! We were having fun. We really were.

How did you end up with Prince's song "I Feel for You?"

Prince wrote it up and it was on his first album, a CD, whatever. And I liked it so I covered it. We weren't good friends then yet, but we became good friends. He gave me his blessing to cover his song.

Your life is set to be a musical in London next year. What are you most looking forward to in that?

A good body of work I hope. I hope they do a great job. I hope everybody enjoys it. What else can you hope for? And enjoy the story behind it as well. It's probably not the best way to catalogue your life. Maybe some of the achievements, yeah, but not really your LIFE life. So it should be interesting.

How do you want your life catalogued?

I have one book called "Through The Fire" and we're working on actually part two. I didn't expect to be around so long. I've lived a whole other life since I wrote that book in 2003.

You have a new fragrance, "Chaka," out Nov. 15 on HSN. What does it smell like?

Me. My life.

Your daughter, Milini Khan, famously played you in 2016 film "Love Under New Management: The Miki Howard Story." Did she do you justice?

She did excellent. She's a great everything. She sings. I don't know where she got the thespian in her from. She's a great actress.

It scared me how much she looked like me. After she had her makeover done, she sent me a picture and I didn’t know she was sending the picture. And I said, “Ouuu, looks like me.”

Do you remember what type of questions she asked you to prepare for the role?

She didn’t ask me anything. I’m her mother. What’s there to ask?

What's something you're excited about right now?

I'm excited to stop working for a minute and take some down time for the holidays. I'm excited about what I'm doing with my fragrance. There's talk of us bringing back our chocolates again because it was such a great demand for that 20 years ago or so. People, they call them chaka-lates, but we're going to do healthy chocolates.

What are some of your self care practices that you would advise young people to do to take care of their mental health?

I’ve been doing some transcendental meditation and simply I find it to be very helpful. I’m affiliated with the David Lynch Foundation, which focuses on this type of work, to promote healthy minds. Proceeds from my fragrance go to the foundation.

I’ve always been concerned about young people. ... I think there needs to be some initiative in place for young people trying to get out here in this madness and stay afloat.

The first thing you can do is start watching what you eat. You really are what you eat at the end of the day. That's one of the ways that genocide has crept so deeply into our culture: Bad food, sodium glutamine, sugar.

I will eat vegan food sometimes, but I'm more vegetarian. I'm a veggie person. I've been practicing this way of life since I was 16. I used to bake my own bread. I'm an herbalist. I'm an herbal doctor. They call me Dr. Khan. I carry my bag on the road so I have something that will help when someone feels under the weather.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com