Gladys Knight, the 82-Year-old R&b Powerhouse Known As the Empress of Soul, Is Cutting Back on Her Live Performances

Last month, she and Smokey Robinson performed at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. While Robinson appeared to have not lost a step, Knight was not her typical self, 's Paul Grein, who reported from the scene. She relied heavily on her three backup singers, who even took lead parts on occasion, and did not introduce them, her six musicians, or speak to the audience in any meaningful way beyond banalities.

She never mentioned Robinson. Grein noted that Knight "barely got through this show, and only by leaning heavily on her backup singers, adding that "artists need to know when it's time to bow out gracefully. As the leader of Gladys Knight And The Pips, the legendary singer helped shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s and 1970s. "Midnight Train to Georgia" was a No. 1 hit and instant classic, but the soul act's run extended long after that 1973 hit.

In recent years, Knight has been a regular on the awards circuit. She was saluted by the Recording Academy in 2024 with the Lifetime Achievement Award, and the previous year received the National Medals of Arts, the United States' highest award given to artists and their patrons. Kennedy Center Honors came in 2022. Knight, along with The Pips, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. In her post, Knight thanked her fans, writing: I'd like to take a moment, in advance, to thank all my fans over this last three quarters of a century for making a little girl's dream come true and supporting her every step of the way.