Queens Tour unites four iconic voices and their music

By Derrel Johnson

Iconic soul singers Patti LaBelle and Gladys Knight have countless things in common. Born just four days apart, chart-topping Grammy Award winners both started in groups: Cindy Birdsong, Nona Hendryx, and Sarah Dash joined LaBelle to form the group of the same name, and Knight by siblings and other family members to form Gladys Knight in the Pips.

The two songbirds, who have catalogs that go back to the early 1960s, had the enviable task of determining what songs to perform during a tour across America. 

Listening to their September 2020 Verzuz is the perfect appetizer to the show, as the pair performed many of the songs they performed that night, albeit in separate sets.

Queens in Brooklyn

The woman nicknamed the “Empress of Soul” opened the evening at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center and performed several of her biggest hits, including “Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye),” “Midnight Train to Georgia,” “Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me,” and “Love Overboard.”

The Atlanta native, who celebrated her 81st birthday on May 28, also performed her collaboration with fellow icons Dionne Warwick, Elton John, and Stevie Wonder, “That’s What Friends Are For,” and even took the crowd to church by performing the Donnie McClurkin classic “Stand.”

LaBelle’s birthday four days before Knight’s

LaBelle, who also celebrated her 81st birthday on May 24, performed many of her biggest hits, including “Isn’t It a Shame,” “My Love, Sweet Love,” and “Love, Need, and Want You. ” She was joined by one of her male background vocalists, Aaron Marcellus, for Michael McDonald’s verse for the duet “On My Own.”

The Philadelphia native left the stage for a wardrobe change and returned to close out her set with “Somebody Loves You Baby (You Know Who It Is),” “If Only You Knew,” and “Lady Marmalade,” complete with crowd participation from men from the audience.

Stephanie Mills, the youngest woman on the tour at 68, performed between Knight and LaBelle and brought a lot of energy, powerhouse vocals, and hits to the stage. The Tony and Grammy Award winner performed “What Cha Gonna Do With My Lovin’,” (You’re Puttin’) a Rush on Me,” “Something in the Way You Make Me Feel,” “I Have Learned to Respect the Power of Love,” “Never Knew Love Like This Before,” and perhaps the hit she is best known for, “Home.”

Chaka Khan closed out the night.

The first leg of the Queens tour continued in Brooklyn on May 24, Chicago and Cincinnati at the end of May, and Indianapolis on June 1.

The second leg kicks off on Sept. 19 in Greensboro, N.C., and will stop in Atlanta, Atlantic City, Cleveland, Detroit, Memphis, Milwaukee, Newark, N.J., and Washington, D.C.