Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Gladys Knight on an important title change and why her show is so ‘raw’

Gladys Knight

John Katsilometes

Gladys Knight, during her informal news conference announcing her residency at Tropicana.

Gladys Knight tells a story about the biggest hit she recorded with her familial backing vocalists, the Pips. The song is “Midnight Train to Georgia,” but the song was nearly an ode to a different means of transportation and a different city.

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  • Gladys Knight, Claire Sinclair
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Gladys Knight

“When the song came to us, ‘Midnight Plane to Houston,’ ” Knight said during an interview on “Kats With the Dish” that aired Friday on KUNV 91.5-FM. The show is linked in this blog. The song’s tune was changed because Knight and the Pips were far more accustomed to taking the train to Georgia than a plane to Houston. “We said, 'Can we change this a little? We're from Georgia. Why not Georgia? And when I was coming up, I loved the train. So I said, 'Why not a train?' So we tried it that way.”

And it worked.

Knight is well into her run at the newly named Gladys Knight Theatre at Tropicana, the showroom where “Folies Bergere” once performed. The show is called, simply, “A Mic and a Light.”

More from the legendary artist:

On the theater being named for her: Tropicana is tradition. It has been here forever. It’s an ‘if these walls could talk’ kinda thing. But sometimes we get a little carried away with progress when there is something still great left in certain things, or certain people. I am just honored to be part of a great, great, traditional place.

On discussions with performing at another hotel: We were talking to other places, too. … (But) we just wanted the feel of a home, a home base. For me, I’m just kind of country (laughs). I don’t need the glitz and glamour some people do. Some people come here, and the first thing they see are the great, big, plush, beautiful hotels, and that’s what establishes their status. I just believe a little bit differently. So, in looking at those places and talking to those places -- the places were beautiful -- but I didn’t get a sense of warmth, you know?

On how she fits into the Tropicana’s South Beach makeover, which is a way of moving the hotel beyond its classic Vegas image: Lemme tell you, I think it’s awesome, because that’s what I’ve had to do all my life, and all of my career: Be flexible enough to remain who I am, but change. Listen, see, appreciate, respect, and do all of those things and to move with the new but still maintain what you have to be wonderful. And that is what this hotel is doing.

On the ebbing of the camaraderie among entertainers in Las Vegas: I think the entertainers outgrew it. It’s like, somewhere along the way when you have that maturing thing going on, it’s just like a parent and kid. They don’t want to hear from you, but they should hear from you, because I know what I’m talking about. But they don’t want to hear. They want to do their own thing.

On appearing on “Ted Mack’s Amateur Hour” at age 7: They didn’t give you anything on a silver platter. They took amateurs, for real. If you had potential, like they do on “American Idol,” they took you on the show. I was able to break through. My mom and my auntie wrote them -- and I still have this -- wrote them a letter talking about their little girl, and how they felt I would really be an asset on the show. So I won that, and when you came off, you had to work. … No record deal, no, none of that. You just won the show, and back then, $2,000 was a lot of money.

On the stripped-down nature of her show: I think some entertainers are afraid to be raw. You’re going, “Where are you in all of this?” I mean, you’ve got 8,000 people onstage, they’ve got all this sound and everything all over the place, and the lights going off. Well, where are you in all of this? Our mentors taught us how to connect with an audience. But we’ve had fires and explosions going off all over the place and props and stuff and people dancing all over the stage everywhere. So I said, “How do you satisfy an audience who has become used to that?” And that’s with something that’s raw. I thought about getting dancers, but when it really got down to it, to be honest with you, I didn’t have that kind of money. I didn’t have that budget. That stuff is very expensive.

On using her brother Merle “Bubba” Knight in the show as a comic interlude: Oh, he’s a big hit (laughs). We’ve always had this relationship -- my mom said to him, “You’ve missed your calling,” because he would keep her laughing, all the time, until she cried with all these silly antics. And I’d look at him and say, “Can you cool down or something (laughs)?” … I wanted to go everywhere he went, and do everything he did. I was a tomboy. He was always trying to get me to go home, but he was also trying to take care of me. … Even in the Pips, in a way, he always stood out, and we were always trying to calm him down (laughs).

Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at twitter.com/JohnnyKats. Also, follow "Kats With the Dish" at twitter.com/KatsWithTheDish.

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