Chaka Khan tells the next generation of stars to never be afraid!

On Monday’s episode of “The Jennifer Hudson Show,” Jennifer Hudson interviewed the icon, who offered some advice to aspiring singers.

To start, Chaka said that “if you have a calling... [it] can’t be denied.”

“Either you answer that calling in any way possible, or you’re going to spontaneously combust,” the legend said.

However, Chaka also said that it’s always good to have a backup plan.

“Have your heart’s desire and the calling that you know come to a higher place. But then find the next best thing to that,” she added. “So that you have some choices in life. It’s always good to have a what-if.”

“I call it leaving room for ifs and maybes,” Jennifer added.

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Overall, Chaka told budding artists, “Don’t be afraid.”

“There’s no such thing as fear. This is not a competition,” she said.

Chaka told Jennifer that both her mother and father were singers and painters.

“We had murals on every wall in our apartment,” she said about growing up in Chicago, which is also JHud's hometown. “We were living like we were in a castle. It was really sweet.”

Chaka’s mother was also a talented fashion designer who created several of her daughter’s stage outfits.

“I would draw them out and then she would sew them,” Chaka said.

Chaka said she began singing in bands at the age of 11.

She added that she ran away from home at 16 and quit school because she “knew what I wanted to do.”

In addition to Shades of Black, a group that sang African songs, Chaka was in a band called the Crystalettes, which frequently competed against soul group the Emotions at talent shows.

Instead of writing original songs, Chaka and the Crystalettes performed covers.

In 1972, Chaka joined Rufus and reached worldwide success with songs such as “Tell Me Something Good.”

In 1978, Chaka released her solo debut album and left Rufus in 1983.

Although she dropped out of school, Chaka told Jennifer that if she wasn’t a singer, she would be a teacher.

“I would teach children. I love children,” she said. “I’d rather be in a room full of kids.”

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While with Rufus, Chaka told Jennifer that Stevie Wonder came to their studio session “with some offerings.”

“First couple of offerings he played, I didn’t like and told him,” Chaka recalled. “‘You got anything else?’”

Stevie played a second tune, which Chaka didn’t like either.

Stevie then asked Chaka for her birth sign — “Aries, Pisces,” she said — to which he replied, “Oh, I got your song.”

After Stevie played a riff, which would become Rufus’ 1974 hit song “Tell Me Something Good,” Chaka said, “This will work.”

And the rest is history!

When Jennifer asked Chaka if she knew she was creating “something timeless” when she recorded 1978’s “I’m Every Woman,” Chaka responded, “I knew I was creating something.”

However, Chaka explained that it “took me a long, long time to find some kind of comfort singing something like, ‘I’m every woman.’”

“I was taking it literally, which is wrong,” she added. “I was reading it from an insecure place.”

Once she got comfortable singing the tune, Chaka realized that the song was about everyone “collectively” feeling that they are “every woman.”

“[The song is] talking about it in a collective way, a plural way. We are all every woman and it’s all in us.”

“I’m Every Woman” was later covered in 1992 by Chaka’s colleague Whitney Houston.

When JHud asked about any big projects she turned down, Chaka said the iconic 1985 film “The Color Purple.”

“[Director Steven Spielberg] came to me and said he wanted me to do this movie. I was about 22,” she said.

However, Chaka admitted she “was afraid” to participate in a scripted project.

“I was like, ‘Oh God, a movie?’ I detested school and tests and studying. [I thought to myself,] ‘That means I have to learn a script.’”

Chaka also said that she would have played the character of Celie, a role that was eventually given to Whoopi Goldberg.

“We need that, y’all,” Jenn said about the movie that could’ve been.

Jennifer also appeared in “The Color Purple” when the classic story appeared on Broadway in 2015. In addition to this role being her Broadway debut, Jennifer won the 2017 Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album for providing vocals as the character of Shug Avery.

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