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Gladys Knight, 82, Cuts Back on Performing to Spend More Time With Family

The ‘Midnight Train to Georgia’ singer is not retiring, but she is changing how she spends her time

Donna Freydkin,

AARP

Published August 28, 2026

Gladys Knight emoting during a stage performance, holding a microphone

Gladys Knight, seen here in September 2025, said she is stepping back from touring to spend more time with her “grandbabies.”

Aaron J. Thornton/Getty Images

Key takeaways

Gladys Knight says she plans to perform less as she focuses on family life and projects with her husband.
Knight has won seven Grammys from 22 nominations and was inducted with the Pips into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.
AARP calls Knight’s decision phased retirement, which often means working less to spend more time on other pursuits.

Gladys Knight, 82, says she is ready to spend less time onstage and more time with the people and projects waiting for her at home.

“After much soul searching I’ve decided that I will be easing into fewer performances while focusing on transitioning into the next stage of my career and life moving forward,” the singer wrote on Instagram. “I’ll be spending more time on projects with my husband and visiting with my grandbabies and am looking forward to this new era.”

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Knight has three children from earlier marriages, and more than two dozen grandkids and great-grandkids, according to People and Parade. She has been married to her fourth husband, William McDowell, since 2001.

She is scaling back after a career that stretches back more than six decades. She began singing in her church choir and remains best known as the unmistakable voice of Gladys Knight & the Pips, whose recordings included “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” “Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)” and the 1973 number one hit “Midnight Train to Georgia.”

The group was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. Knight received a Kennedy Center Honor for lifetime artistic achievement in 2022.

Her Grammy record spans R&B, pop and gospel. Knight has earned 22 nominations and seven wins, including awards for “Midnight Train to Georgia,” “Love Overboard” and her recording of “At Last,” according to the Recording Academy.

Knight made clear that she is not disappearing from public life. In her Instagram message, she thanked the listeners who have followed her since childhood.

“I’d like to take a moment, in advance, to thank all my fans over this last three quarters of a century for making a little girl’s dream come true and supporting her every step of the way,” she wrote. “I am immensely grateful to all of you and send my eternal love back to you. I hope to see your smiling faces out and about and on the road. God bless all of you and hope to see you soon.”

Retirement next steps

If you are, however, ready to retire, AARP has tips to help you prepare.

Knight’s decision to perform less rather than stop altogether reflects what AARP describes as a phased approach to retirement. Instead of leaving work all at once, people may reduce their workload while making more room for family, personal interests and other priorities.

To decide whether that approach is right for you, career and retirement coaches suggest starting with your interests and values and thinking about how you want to spend your time outside of work. Also consider which responsibilities you want to keep, how many hours you want to work and how a reduced workload could affect your salary, health insurance and other benefits.

These experts also advise thinking about what you are moving toward, not just what you are leaving behind, and discussing the transition with a spouse or other trusted people. Depending on your finances and interests, that next phase might include part-time work, consulting, volunteering or other projects.

The key takeaways were created with the assistance of generative AI. An AARP editor reviewed and refined the content for accuracy and clarity.

Donna Freydkin has spent 10-plus years interviewing celebrities for major publications, and has written for a variety of outlets such as USA Today, Allure, Yahoo! and CNN covering topics such as films, family and favorite meals.