There are many singers who can rightly be described as ‘Stars’ but far fewer as ‘Superstars’. Gladys Knight fits firmly into the latter category and her tour de force of a show at the Riverside Theatre Perth Convention Centre on Tuesday night merely emphasized that. The title ‘Empress of Soul’ conferred on her is well deserved. With an oh so tight backing band and three excellent top rank back up singers how could the title ever be relinquished. Simply it can’t.
As a slice of her personal history Gladys career first took off with her winning a reputed $2000 first prize in ‘Ted Mack’s Amateur Hour’ at age seven with a version of Nat ‘King’ Coles ‘Too Young’ . By 13years in 1957 she went on her first tour with the ‘Pips’ as support for a Jackie Wilson and Sam Cooke tour and then throughout it is a seven time ‘Grammy’ winner. It’s hard to believe but to have remained so professional and relevant for that long merely emphasises how incredible she is.
Love, friendship and faith was the emphasis between tracks throughout the evening and Gladys even joked at one point that she loved us all so much that she got up that morning and ‘practised’!!
And so to the music primarily a journey through her sixties and seventies hits. Gladys voice ensures that all sound as relevant today as when first released from the first hit 1961’s ‘Every Beat Of My Heart’ through to 1989’s Bond single ‘Licence To Kill’.
‘Friendship Train’ opened it all off and then we were treated throughout the evening to fifteen great tracks from her phenomenal career including the ‘Nitty Gritty’, Best Thing that Ever Happened to Me’, ‘ I’ve Got To Use My Imagination’, the beautifully poignant ‘Neither One of Us (Wants To Be The First To Say Goodbye)’. The ‘stool’ came out front of stage for Gladys and introduced by saying she was always thinking of friends which is why she loved the track she was too sing namely ‘The Way We Were/ Try To Remember’ so much.
Safe to say we all loved it and especially Gladys too. A real tear jerker in the finest sense of the word. Gladys version of ‘ I heard It Through The Grapevine’ from 1967 and which was released some ten months before Marvin’s and which was the the definitive version for me. The night ended far too soon with her number one Stateside hit ‘Midnight Train To Georgia’ and there couldn’t have been a more fitting end.
How the ‘Empress Of Soul’ remains as relevant to day as in the fifties should be no surprise to anyone because she is that ‘Superstar’.
An artist and show certainly not to be missed.
An artist and show certainly not to be missed.
All Live images by MCH.
