{"id":755761,"date":"2026-08-31T16:38:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T16:38:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/755761\/"},"modified":"2026-08-31T16:38:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T16:38:11","slug":"gladys-knight-says-she-will-play-fewer-shows-amid-concern-over-recent-performances","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/755761\/","title":{"rendered":"Gladys Knight says she will play fewer shows amid concern over recent performances"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gladys Knight<\/a>\u00a0has\u00a0said\u00a0she will play fewer\u00a0live\u00a0shows\u00a0as she transitions into \u201cthe next stage\u201d of her career and life.<\/p>\n

The soul singer, 82, shared a statement on Thursday (August 27),\u00a0in the midst of\u00a0renewed concern about footage from some of her recent\u00a0stage\u00a0performances.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter much soul\u00a0searching\u00a0I\u2019ve decided that I will be easing into fewer performances while focusing on transitioning into the next stage of my career and life moving forward,\u201d Knight wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll be spending more time on projects with my husband and visiting with my grandbabies and am looking forward to this new era.\u201d<\/p>\n

She went on to thank the fans who have supported her throughout her career, writing: \u201cI\u2019d 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\u2019s dream come true and supporting her every step of the way.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am immensely grateful to all of you and send my eternal love back to you. I hope to see your smiling faces\u00a0out and about\u00a0and on the road. God bless all of you and hope to see you soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fans have been sharing concern based on footage online from some recent concerts, including her July shows at the Hollywood Bowl with Smokey Robinson<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Clips have appeared to show Knight occasionally missing cues, stepping aside while her backing singers take lead vocals and receiving\u00a0assistance\u00a0as she moves around the stage.<\/p>\n

TMZ<\/a>\u00a0have reported that unnamed sources connected to her tour had raised concerns about her wellbeing, while her\u00a0husband and manager William McDowell told the outlet that she has \u201cgood days and bad\u201d,\u00a0but\u00a0maintained\u00a0that continuing to perform was her own choice.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one is ever\u00a0gonna\u00a0make me say, \u2018My wife is well,\u2019 but all she wants to do is sing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

McDowell denied that Knight had been diagnosed with dementia but did say she would undergo a medical evaluation in the near future. He added that he was building a performance venue close to their home in North Carolina, which would allow her to continue singing without having to travel extensively.<\/p>\n

The concern comes a year after Knight\u2019s son Shanga Hankerson\u00a0accused McDowell of mentally and financially abusing his mother<\/a>\u00a0through what he described as a \u201cdetrimental\u201d touring schedule.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want my mom out on a tour bus wondering where she\u2019s at,\u201d Hankerson said at the time. He also alleged that Knight had experienced memory problems and said he had filed a complaint with North Carolina\u2019s Department of Human Services.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Knight strongly denied the allegations and said that her health and\u00a0performances\u00a0had been \u201cmisrepresented\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want my fans and those concerned to rest assured I am doing very well for someone who has been on stage for three quarters of a century,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m healthy and happy and visiting friends and family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her publicist also described Hankerson\u2019s allegations as \u201cunfounded\u201d and claimed he had\u00a0maintained\u00a0\u201cno substantial contact\u201d with his mother. Knight\u2019s representatives said they were considering legal action over his comments.<\/p>\n

Known as the \u2018Empress Of Soul\u2019, Knight has won seven Grammy Awards across her solo career and her work with The Pips. Her best-known songs include \u2018Midnight Train To Georgia\u2019, \u2018I Heard It Through The Grapevine\u2019, \u2018Neither One Of Us (Wants To Be The First To Say Goodbye)\u2019 and the James Bond theme \u2018Licence To Kill\u2019.<\/p>\n

She\u00a0received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2024<\/a>, having been recognised with the Kennedy Center Honors<\/a>\u00a0two years earlier.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gladys Knight\u00a0has\u00a0said\u00a0she will play fewer\u00a0live\u00a0shows\u00a0as she transitions into \u201cthe next stage\u201d of her career and life. The soul…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":755762,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[6491,96,67191,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-755761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-soul","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/755761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=755761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/755761\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/755762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=755761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=755761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=755761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}