Destiny was Khan's follow-up to the platinum-selling I Feel for You and was as high tech as its predecessor—symptomatically and characteristically for its period with more producers and sound engineers credited in the liner notes than musicians—but was musically more geared towards rock and pop than soul and R&B, most prominently on tracks such as "So Close", the self-penned title track "My Destiny", "Who's It Gonna Be" and "Watching the World" featuring Phil Collins on drums and backing vocals.
The album spun off five single releases, the first being "Love of a Lifetime", co-written, co-produced and featuring backing vocals by Green Gartside of British band Scritti Politti (US Pop number 53, US R&B number 21, UK number 52). The second single "Tight Fit" was a midtempo R&B ballad, just like "Eye to Eye" from I Feel for You produced by Russ Titelman, which reached number 28 on the US R&B chart. The satirical "Earth to Mickey" (When are you going to land?), featuring Khan both singing and rapping (and keyboardist Reggie Griffin rapping in the role of 'Mickey'), was released as the third single in early 1987 and only just made the Top 100 of the R&B chart, peaking at number 93. The dramatic ballad "The Other Side of the World", written by Mike Rutherford of Genesis and B. A. Robertson and which had first been released as part of the White Nights soundtrack album in late 1985, reached number 81. The fifth single "Watching the World" never charted. The album itself fared slightly better, reaching number 25 on Billboard's R&B albums chart, but stalling at number 67 on Pop and number 77 in the UK. Destiny however gave Khan another Grammy nomination in 1987 for Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female. The track "My Destiny" was used as the theme song for Richard Pryor's motion picture Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling.
The closing track, the heavily edited one minute thirty-nine seconds "Coltrane Dreams", a tribute to John Coltrane, had a backing track mainly made up of samples of Khan's voice. The actual full-length version of the track (4:54) was only released as the B-side of the 12" single "Love of a Lifetime".
"Love of a Lifetime", "Tight Fit", "Earth to Mickey" and "Watching the World" were all released as 12" singles including extended remixes.
While the success of Khan's own single releases in 1986 was limited to the R&B charts, she appeared as featured vocalist/vocal arranger on two worldwide pop/rock chart hits that same year, Steve Winwood's "Higher Love" and Robert Palmer's "Addicted to Love"; on the latter she was only credited for 'vocal arrangement' in the liner notes. The song was originally recorded with Khan sharing lead vocals with Palmer but due to contractual problems between Warner Bros. Records and Island Records her own vocals were removed from the final mix.[3]
"Who's It Gonna Be" (Gary Goetzman, Mike Picirillo) – 4:37
"Coltrane Dreams" (Chaka Khan, Julie Mardin, Arif Mardin) – 1:39
Personnel
Track 1 “Love of a Lifetime”
Drums – Fred Maher
Bass, Guitar [Additional] – Marcus Miller
Guitar – Nick Moroch
Keyboards [Additional] – David Lebolt
Synthesizer Programmed By – David Gamson
Additional Synthesizer Programming – Jason Miles, Michael Colina
Backing Vocals – Chaka Khan, Mark Stevens, Green Gartside
Saxophone [Alto & Solo] – Bob Gay
Saxophone [Tenor] – Scott Gilman
Trumpet – Matthew Cornish
Track 2 “Earth to Mickey”
Synthesizer, Keyboards, Guitar, Rap [Mickey's Rap Performed By] – Reggie Griffin
Special Effects Editing – Arif Mardin
Backing Vocals – Chaka Khan, Mark Stevens, Sandra St. Victor
Track 3 “Watching the World”
Drums – Phil Collins
Additional Drum Sounds – David Rosenberg
Bass – Pino Palladino
Guitar – Dan Huff
Synthesizer [Additional], Sequenced By – Joe Mardin
Synthesizer, Programmed By – David Lebolt
Backing Vocals – Chaka Khan, Mark Stevens, Phil Collins
Saxophone [Tenor] – Michael Brecker
Trombone – Tom Malone
Trumpet – John Faddis, Marvin Stamm, Michael Mossman, Randy Brecker
Track 4 – “The Other Side of the World”
Producer, Synthesizer – Robbie Buchanan
Track 6 “I Can't Be Loved”
Keyboards, Programmed By [Synthesizer Programming], Guitar, Backing Vocals – Reggie Griffin
Keyboards, Programmed By [Synthesizer Programming], Percussion [Additional] – Joe Mardin
Drum Sounds – David Rosenberg
Guitar – Paul Pesco
Sequenced By [Additional Sequencing] – Glen Ballard, Randy Goodrum
Backing Vocals – Cindy Mizelle, Sandra St. Victor
String Arrangement – Arif Mardin
Concertmaster [Strings] – Gene Orloff
Track 7 “It's You”
Keyboards, Saxophone, Guitar, Programmed By – Reggie Griffin
Additional Keyboards – Tony Patler
Backing Vocals – Chaka Khan, Mark Stevens, Sandra St. Victor
Track 8 “So Close”
Drums – David Rosenberg
Synthesizer [Synthesizer Bass], Keyboards – Beau Hill
Guitar – Reb Beach
Backing Vocals – Chaka Khan, Sandra St. Victor
Track 9 “Tight Fit”
Drum Programming – Jimmy Bralower
Synthesizer [Synthesizer Bass] – Tony Patler
Guitar – Paul Pesco
Keyboards, Programmed By [Synthesizer Programming] – Joe Mardin
Backing Vocals – Chaka Khan, Mark Stevens, Sandra St. Victor
Saxophone [Alto] – Robert Gay
Track 10 “Who's It Gonna Be”
Drum Programming – Bob Riley
Guitar – Nick Moroch
Producer, Arranged By, Synthesizer, Programmed By – Joe Mardin
Synthesizer [Solo] – Reggie Griffin
Synthesizer, Programmed By – David Lebolt
Backing Vocals – Chaka Khan, Mark Stevens, Sandra St. Victor
Timbales, Cowbell – Chaka Khan
Track 11 “Coltrane Dreams”
Drums – Steve Ferrone
Drum Programming – Thomas Oldakowski
Keyboards – Cengiz Yaltkaya
Synclavier Programming – John Mahoney
Saxophone [Tenor Sax Solo] – Sam Rivers
