"I'm Every Woman" is a hit song recorded by Chaka Khan in 1978. It was Chaka Khan's first hit outside of her recordings with funk band Rufus; the song was included on her platinum debut solo album Chaka. Produced by Arif Mardin and written by successful songwriting team Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson, the soul/disco song reached number twenty-one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, number eleven on the UK Singles Chart and hit number one on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. On the disco chart, the single peaked at number thirty.
The track was remixed and re-released in 1989 for Khan's remix album Life is a Dance - The Remix Project; this mix reached number 8 in the UK. Whitney Houston (who sang backup vocals on Khan's 1980 follow-up LP Naughty), would later record the song in 1992 with production by David Cole and Robert Clivillés, and vocals produced by Narada Michael Walden, turning it into a hit for a new generation.
When "I'm Every Woman" was released, Houston's preceding single, "I Will Always Love You", was still at number 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 (it remained there for eight more weeks). Houston's version of "I'm Every Woman" would become a bigger hit than the original, peaking at number four on the Billboard Hot 100 in just its seventh and eighth week of release; remaining in the top 40 for nineteen weeks.
As a tribute to Chaka Khan, Whitney Houston proclaims Khan's name towards the end of the song.
