Some R&B royalty will reign over the Port City for one night this summer.
Widely proclaimed “Empress of Soul” Gladys Knight is set to perform at Cape Fear Community College’s newly named Allan and Laura Wilson Humanities and Fine Arts Center on Saturday, June 25. Tickets for the concert will go on sale at 2 p.m. Friday. The center was renamed for the Wilsons this week following their donation of $1.5 million to CFCC’s performing arts venue – the largest single donation in the college’s history.
Backed by The Pips, the Motown-borne diva rose to stardom in the 1960s and has gone on to record more than 38 albums and top the charts with now-classic heartbreaking ballads like “Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)” and “Midnight Train to Georgia.”
The seven-time Grammy winner earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1995 and went on the following year to be inducted with The Pips into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The Rhythm and Blues Hall of Fame gave the group a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1998, and she recently received the same recognition from BET.
In addition to her stellar singing career, Knight has dabbled in acting on the silver and small screens over the years, and is known as an active volunteer and philanthropist. She is a national spokeswoman for the American Diabetes Association and remains devoted to the American Cancer Society, The Boys and Girls Club and AIDS and HIV research and prevention.
Her entire body of professional and charitable work has been honored by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Congress of Racial Equality and B’Nai Brith, an international Jewish organization that, among other efforts, advocates on behalf of senior citizens and provides humanitarian aid and disaster relief.
Knight will take the stage at CFCC’s performing arts center at 7:30 p.m. on June 25. Tickets are $50 to $105 and can be purchased online, by calling (910) 362-7999, or in person at the center, 703 N. Third St. Opera boxes, which seat four to six guests, are available for the show. Tickets for the boxes are $205 per person and include butler service, beverages and a gourmet spread. Box seats can only be purchased by phone or in person.
