“Ain’t Nobody” is a song by American funk band Rufus and American singer Chaka Khan. It was released on November 4, 1983, by Warner Bros., as one of four studio tracks included on their live album, Stompin’ at the Savoy (1983). “Ain’t Nobody” quickly gathered popularity, and reached number one on the US Billboard R&B chart and number 22 on the US Billboard Hot 100. In 1984 at the 26th Annual Grammy Awards, “Ain’t Nobody” won for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. It has become one of Khan’s signature songs.
Rufus keyboardist David “Hawk” Wolinski wrote the song around a repeating synthesizer loop backed by a Linn LM-1 drum computer; however, John “JR” Robinson, the band’s drummer, played real drums for the recording session. The band held a democratic vote, and they decided to include the song in their album repertoire. Once the song was recorded, Warner executives wanted to issue another song as the album’s first single.[citation needed] Wolinski threatened to give the song to singer Michael Jackson and producer Quincy Jones for Jackson’s album Thriller if the song was not the lead-off single. The label relented and “Ain’t Nobody” was issued and hit number one on the R&B chart for the week ending October 15, 1983.
The song was included on the soundtrack album to the 1984 film Breakin’. In 2021, “Ain’t Nobody” was ranked number 403 on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The song was adopted in the United Kingdom by fans of some of the country’s football clubs, with the words: Ain’t nobody loves (player), makes me happy, makes me feel this way.
