When you talk about the ladies of the ’80s — and the ladies of the ’70s, for that matter — no list is complete without Chaka Khan. The world discovered her in 1974 as the lead singer of a newly founded funk band named Rufus.

The group’s first album, recorded in 1973, didn’t do much, but in 1974 they hit big with two songs from their second album, “Rags to Rufus”: “Tell Me Something Good,” which won the group its first Grammy Award, and “You Got the Love,” which she had written. The album was certified platinum with sales of more that 1 million.

Two albums later the group’s billing was changed to Rufus featuring Chaka Khan. Several hits after that she was signed to a separate contract as a solo artist, and, as disc jockeys used to say on Top 40 radio, the hits just kept on coming. First with Rufus and then solo she racked up a string of them that included “Once You Get Started,” “Sweet Thing,” “I’m Every Woman,” “Ain’t Nobody,” “Through the Fire” and “I Feel for You,” which made music history in 1984 when Khan had Grandmaster Melle Mel do the opening rap. It was the first time that a hip-hop artist had been featured on an R&B song.

She’s bringing all that history, and some newer music, to Honolulu for four nights at Blue Note Hawaii early next month.

“If I don’t work for two weeks, I’m like, ‘What’s up?’” said Khan, 63, last week, calling from her home in Southern California. She’ll give two shows a night Wednesday and Thursday, has a night off, then returns for a second two-night run May 7 and 8.

Khan said two shows a night is a challenge.

“You keep in mind that people are paying to see (the) one show, and to be enthusiastic for every show, I have to get my mind set and be in good health,” she said. As for requests, she gets more than a few.

“I get a lot of requests that I don’t do,” she said laughing. “(But) I listen, and the ones that I hear them request the most, I incorporate them into the show. Sometimes I try to ‘unincorporate’ songs or phrase them in a different way, or do part of a song in a medley.”

People who know Khan only for her hits from the 1970s and 1980s will discover that she never stopped recording. Her work has received Grammy Awards in the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and the 2000s, and she’s working on her next album when not touring.

“Most of the songs we do are the older songs, but right now I’m doing a CD of my favorite Joni Mitchell songs. She’s got such a wealth of songs that I think people really need to hear — like ‘Man From Mars,’ ‘Two Grey Rooms,’ stuff like that. Of course I have to do a couple of her hits, so I’m going to do ‘All I Want’ and a couple of the others.”

The project is a reunion for Khan and producer Eve Nelson; they worked together on her beautiful “ClassiKhan” album in 2005. It will be released “sometime this summer” by Red Dot, an English label she describes as “an old-school label” that is supportive of artists who have unusual projects in mind.

“If I didn’t do things like that, I’d be done,” Khan said.

The biggest problem with the album is that she’s been touring so much that it’s hard to get back into the studio to finish it.

That said, this is one tour stop that Khan is looking forward to. She has family on Kauai and will be seeing them next week. She also plans to build a home on Kauai.

“We can’t call it a ‘retirement’ (home) ’cause people in this business don’t really retire, but I am looking forward to living there. I was on the land there for a couple of weeks earlier in the year, and I just fell in love with it.”

Back home in California, she recently moved into a new house in a quieter neighborhood in greater Los Angeles, and is enjoying raising her 15-year-old granddaughter, Daija Jade Holland.

“We were born on the same day, she and I, so it’s like raising myself in many ways,” Khan said. “It’s been a real journey.”

As part of their journey together, Khan wrote and recorded a song, “I Love Myself,” that she hopes will empower young women who have what Khan describes as “problems with their body image.”

“I’m singing to her and people her age who have problems with their body image. Everything is so visual these days. Their only communication is through a box. That’s worrisome. It worries me. No one’s ever happy anyway with their body image, and these kids are unhappy in a big, big way.”

Another project for her is reading for a role as Richard Pryor’s grandmother in a movie about the late comic. If she gets it, it would be a meaty role — Pryor’s grandmother ran the brothel where his mother worked, and is described as a tall and violent woman who beat Pryor and his siblings.

“She has an awfully potty mouth,” Khan says. Even so, she is enjoying acting.

“I’m finding it to be challenging and rewarding. You really get in touch with yourself.”