Gladys Knight Taking Break From Stage Amid Health Concerns And Worrying Performance Videos

The great Gladys Knight will take a step back from the relentless touring that’s marked her 75 years in show business. In a new Instagram post – see it below – the 82-year-old “Midnight Train to Georgia” singer writes, “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,” her statement reads. “I’ll be spending more time on projects with my husband and visiting with my grandbabies and am looking forward to this new era.” The announcement last night came as Knight was in the midst of a 2026 solo tour and a year after she participated in The Queens Tour with Chaka Khan, Patti LaBelle and Stephanie Mills. It was during the Queens Tour that her son Shanga Hankerson publicly expressed concern for his mother’s well-being, telling People magazine that the busy road schedule, encouraged by her husband William McDowell, was “detrimental” to her health. Watch on Deadline Knight refuted Hankerson’s claims, saying that her health and her performances had been “misrepresented” by her son. A spokesperson told People at the time that Knight’s attorneys were exploring “any and all legal remedies due to Shanga’s defamatory comments.” But more recently, cell phone videos taken by audience members at Knight performances, including one from a July 25 Hollywood Bowl concert, show the singer wandering the stage, her back to the audience and seeming to miss singing cues. Backup singers appear to be performing the vocals traditionally handled by Knight. Knight concludes her Instagram post by saying, “I’d like to take a moment in advance to thank all my fans over these last three quarters of a century for making a little girls’s dream come true and supporting her every stop of the way. I am immensely grateful to all of you and send my eternal love back to you. “I hope to see your smiling faces out and about and on the road,” she continues. “God bless all of you and hope to see you soon.” The Instagram post was greeted with a steady stream of praise and thanks from such artists as Busta Rhymes (“God Bless you and thank you Queen”), Jackee Harry (“We love you, Gladys!!!”), Andy Cohen (“You have given us so much!”), Kelly Rowland (“You have given us your ALL, Thank You a million times over! I love you Ms. Gladys”) and Holly Robinson Peete (“I love you @msgladysknight”). Knight is generally acknowledged to be one of the most powerful and poignant vocalists of the rock-and-R&B era with hits spanning decades, from her work with her siblings and cousins the Pips (“Midnight Train to Georgia,” “Neither One of Us Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye,” “Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me,” “I’ve Got to Use My Imagination,” “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” and “Love Overboard” to her later solo work. Among her hits without the Pips was “That’s What Friends Are For,” the 1985 #1 smash with Dionne Warwick, Elton John and Stevie Wonder that raised money and awareness for AIDS research and prevention.