In the court of R&B royalty with Chaka, Patti, Gladys and Stephanie

Los Angeles Times

12-05-2025

Near the end of an evening ruled by queens, a king was keeping Chaka Khan waiting.
'Stevie Wonder's in the house tonight,' Khan said late Sunday as she stood in the spotlight at Inglewood's Kia Forum. 'I don't know where he is.' The veteran soul-music star wandered over to the edge of the stage, the black fringe of her bedazzled cape swaying with every step, and peered out into the crowd. 'Steve, you over there?'
Khan was in the middle of her set to close Sunday's installment of a traveling R&B revue called 'The Queens' that launched last week in Las Vegas and has her on the road through the fall with three fellow lifers in Patti LaBelle, Gladys Knight and Stephanie Mills. (One longs to have been in the room when they decided who plays last.) She'd come out singing 'I Feel for You' — saucy, casual, effortlessly funky — then glided through 'Do You Love What You Feel' and 'What Cha' Gonna Do for Me.' Now her would-be special guest was nowhere to be found.
'Stevie Wonder!' she said again, attempting to summon him to the stage. 'We go back a long, long way. I remember once we did a tour, he and I — must have been back in the '80s, the '70s or something. It was that long ago. We were on tour for dang near two years. Two friggin' frack years.' Khan went on for a minute about a vexing old record deal then seemed wisely to think better of that. 'Call him,' she instructed the crowd, which started up a 'Stevie' chant.
'What?' boomed a voice at last over the sound system. It was Wonder, shuffling out from the wings wearing his signature shades and beret to join his old friend for — well, for what? Khan had set up Wonder's cameo by saying they should do 'I Feel for You' again since Wonder played harmonica on the original record in 1984. But Wonder didn't appear to have gotten that note: After clasping hands with Khan, he started telling the story of writing 'Tell Me Something Good' a decade earlier for her group Rufus, which led Khan to cue her backing band on that number instead.
And what a number it was. That slinky up-and-down riff still a marvel of rhythmic ingenuity that inspired Khan and Wonder to go off in a volley of ad libs like the seasoned pros they are.
Signs of life such as that one are precisely the reason to go to a concert like 'The Queens,' in which the vast experience of the performers — Mills was the youngest at 68, LaBelle the oldest at 80 — serves not as a safeguard against the unexpected but as a guarantee that whatever might happen is fully roll-with-able.
Mills got up there Sunday and discovered an unwelcome climate situation — 'I wish they would cut that air off,' she said, 'it's blowing so cold on me' — but went ahead and sang the bejesus out of 'Home,' from 'The Wiz.' LaBelle put out a call for willing men from the audience — 'Black, white, straight, gay,' she made clear — then presided over an impromptu talent show as each guy did a bit of 'Lady Marmalade' for her. And then there was Knight's handler, who seemed to show up a few beats early to guide her offstage after 'Midnight Train to Georgia.' No biggie: He could just stand there holding her arm gently for a minute while she traded 'I've got to go's' with her background singers.
Another reason to go to 'The Queens,' especially on Mother's Day, was to behold the finery displayed onstage (and in the crowd). Knight wore a crisp red pantsuit with glittering figure-eight earrings, Mills an off-the-shoulder mermaid gown. LaBelle showed off two outfits, emerging in a silky blue suit before changing into a long tunic-style dress. During 'On My Own,' she kicked off her heels, sending them hurtling across the stage; later, she spritzed herself from a bottle of fragrance then spritzed the front row for good measure.
As a three-hour program — Knight opened at 7 p.m. on the dot — Sunday's show moved quickly, with a rotating stage that whirred to life after each woman's set. And of course nobody stuck around long enough to offer up anything but hits. The musical pleasures were the ripples of detail in all those familiar tunes: a little ha-ha-ha Knight used to punctuate 'That's What Friends Are For'; LaBelle's frisky vocal runs in 'When You Talk About Love,' which she sang as a stagehand came out to help put her in-ear monitor back in; the way Khan toyed with her phrasing in 'Through the Fire,' slowing down when you thought she'd speed up and vice versa. (Nobody wants to start a fight here, but Khan was undoubtedly the night's best singer.)
After bringing the Mother's Day audience to its feet with 'I'm Every Woman' — somewhere out there was Khan's own 91-year-old mom, she said — she started to make for the exit when her band revved up the throbbing synth lick from 'Ain't Nobody.'
'Oh, one more?' she said to no one in particular. 'S—. One more!'