Amid a slew of concerning concert videos of Gladys Knight seeming dazed and confused while performing land on the net (some even reaching viral status), the legendary Empress of Soul has taken to social media to announce she is heeding fan calls to scale back on touring.
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Taking to Instagram on Thursday night (August 27), the 82-year-old issued a statement regarding her future on the live circuit.
“After much soul searching I’ve decided that I will be easing into fewer performances while focusing on transitioning into the next stage of my career and life moving forward. I’ll be spending more time on projects with my husband and visiting with my grandbabies and am looking forward to this new era,” she told her 540,000 followers on the platform.“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.”
She did clarify, however, the intent to scale back was not an official retirement announcement.
“I hope to see your smiling faces out and about and on the road. God bless all of you and hope to see you soon,” she shared.
The announcement came just hours after TMZ shared a story about Knight’s fans and even members of her staff expressing outrage over her seemingly being “forced” to tour despite being “dazed and confused” during live shows.
Their sentiment echoes that of her son, Shanga Hankerson, who – just this time last year – alleged his R&B icon mom was suffering from cognitive declined and was touring against her will.
She later denied the accusations.
Can we normalize entertainers retiring at a reasonable age, and the fans being ok with that? People in their eighties shouldn’t have to explain why they’re not ripping up the stage like they did in the 1990s.
Agreed. I went to see her chaka and Patti on the Queens tour and I was so confused on why they had to perform still at such an elderly age after all these years. It was a great show and I enjoyed myself but they all looked tired besides Stephanie Mills who was also there. The only thing Gladys should be doing is enjoying life now and cherry picking her shows. She earned the right to do so.
If an artist enjoys touring and performing, then they should be able to do it until they decide it’s enough. Aretha Franklin sat on stage and performed in a chair while secretly undergoing chemo treatments. Fame, performing, and being appreciated by fans is different from a 9 to 5 job.
Gladys kept her voice intact, honey! Shiiid, she’s more engaging on stage than Mary and Mariah combined.