Songfacts®:

• This song is about a strong woman who takes very good care of her man, supporting him and making him a better person. It was written by the husband and wife team of Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson, who as Ashford & Simpson, had a hit in 1984 with "Solid."
  
  Surprisingly, it was Nick Ashford who wrote the lyric. "The whole woman thing took a long time to come through," he explained in the Billboard Book of #1 Hits. "It's hard when you have to assume the role of the woman."
• Whitney Houston recorded the song in 1992, taking it to #4 in the US and introducing the song to a new audience. Houston pays tribute by yelling "Chaka" a few times near the end. Whitney's mother, Cissy Houston, sang backing vocals on Chaka Khan's original version.
  
  Whitney's version appears on the soundtrack to the movie The Bodyguard, where she stars as a singer under the protection of Kevin Costner. The soundtrack is one of the best selling albums of all time, thanks mainly to Houston's rendition of "I Will Always Love You," which is also a cover. That song was written and originally recorded by Dolly Parton.
• "I'm Every Woman" was Chaka Khan's first single as a solo artist, appearing on her debut album, Chaka, in 1978. She was well known for her work in the band Rufus, who had hits with "Tell Me Something Good" and "Sweet Thing," and was still technically a member of the group when she made the album. To fulfill her contract, she made two more albums with Rufus that got little attention, but her solo career took off, catching fire with the 1984 hit "I Feel For You."
• The song is a great showcase for Chaka's powerhouse vocals. The chords on the song were copied over from the ones Valerie Simpson came up with and put on the demo, but Chaka put her own spin on the vocal, stretching out the title line in the chorus to really make it resound. It's one of her signature songs, a favorite among the Chakaholics.
• This song and the rest of the Chaka album was produced by Arif Mardin, who has also produced Aretha Franklin, The Bee Gees and Norah Jones. Chaka was based in Los Angeles but came to New York to record it with Martin, who used top-tier session musicians.
• This song features in the 2001 film Bridget Jones' Diary, and also in these movies:
  
  Poms (2019)
  Girls Trip (2017)
  Blended (2014)
  The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005)
  
  It also shows up in these TV shows:
  
  Quantum Leap ("Fellow Travelers" - 2023)
  RuPaul's Drag Race ("Shade: The Rusical" - 2014)
  Scandal ("Baby Made a Mess" - 2014)
  Transparent ("The Symbolic Exemplar" - 2014)
  King of the Hill ("The Peggy Horror Picture Show" - 2007)
• Aretha Franklin covered this for her 2014 album, Aretha Franklin Sings the Great Diva Classics. Her version mixes in verses of "Respect."
• Chaka Khan re-recorded the song in 2021 as a duet with Idina Menzel in honor of International Women's Day. Produced by Tena Clark, the remake supports international humanitarian agency CARE's #IMEVERYWOMAN international Women's Day campaign, celebrating the strength, resilience and leadership of women worldwide.
  
  "I think it's about women supporting women," said Menzel during an interview on NBC's Today show. "I think it's about sisterhood. Often society tries to get us to compete and tear each other down. It's about holding each other up and giving each other an opportunity to be heard and to be seen."