Stephanie Mills is talking about her sisters in song, Patti LaBelle, Chaka Khan, and Gladys Knight, with whom she’s performing on a tour titled The Queens: 4 Legends 1 Stage.
Queens, and especially ones as legendary as these four stars of R&B, pop and rock and roll, often have big personalities, and sisters sometimes clash, you suggest.
Mills just laughs.
Stephanie Mills is joined by Gladys Knight, Patti LaBelle and Chaka Khan for The Queens: 4 Legends 1 Stage tour which plays the Kia Forum on Sunday, May 11, 2025. She’s see here during the DesignCare 2022 Gala to benefit the HollyRod Foundation on June 18, 2022 in Los Angeles. (Photo by Tiffany Rose/Getty Images for HollyRod Foundation) Gladys Knight, Chaka Khan, Patti LaBelle and Stephanie Mills come to the Kia Forum in Inglewood on Sunday, May 11, 2025 as part of The Queens: 4 Legends 1 Stage tour. (Image courtesy of The Queens) Stephanie Mills is joined by Gladys Knight, Patti LaBelle and Chaka Khan for The Queens: 4 Legends 1 Stage tour which plays the Kia Forum in Inglewood on Sunday, May 11, 2025. She’s seen here at the 43rd Annual BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival in Sept. 2021 in New York City. (Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images) Stephanie Mills is joined by Chaka Khan, Patti LaBelle and Gladys Knight on The Queens: 4 Legends 1 Stage tour which comes to the Kia Forum on Sunday, May 11, 2025. She’s seen here performing at the 2022 Essence Festival of Culture at the Louisiana Superdome on July 2, 2022 in New Orleans. (Photo by Bennett Raglin/Getty Images for Essence) Stephanie Mills is joined by Chaka Khan, Patti LaBelle and Gladys Knight on The Queens: 4 Legends 1 Stage tour which comes to the Kia Forum on Sunday, May 11, 2025. She’s seen here performing at the 2022 Essence Festival of Culture at the Louisiana Superdome on July 2, 2022 in New Orleans. (Photo by Bennett Raglin/Getty Images for Essence) Show Caption1 of 5Stephanie Mills is joined by Gladys Knight, Patti LaBelle and Chaka Khan for The Queens: 4 Legends 1 Stage tour which plays the Kia Forum on Sunday, May 11, 2025. She’s see here during the DesignCare 2022 Gala to benefit the HollyRod Foundation on June 18, 2022 in Los Angeles. (Photo by Tiffany Rose/Getty Images for HollyRod Foundation) Expand“I think it’ll be fine,” she says of the tour that brings The Queens to the Oakland Arena on Saturday, May 10. “I think people are hoping we have catfights and all that, but I can promise you I don’t have a big ego. And neither does Gladys.
“I don’t think we’re going to fight,” Mills says. “I don’t see that happening because we’re grown women. We have our careers. We all have had our successes.
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Mills, Knight, LaBelle and Khan truly have had their successes with chart hits and Grammy wins in commercially successful and critically acclaimed careers stretching back into the ’60s.
Mills, at 68 the youngest of the quartet, made her Broadway debut as a child before returning a few years later to originate the role of Dorothy in “The Wiz,” after which she had pop and R&B hits such as “What Cha Gonna Do With My Lovin’” and “Never Knew Love Like This Before.”
Khan, 72, got her start in the early ’70s as a singer with the funk band Rufus and songs such as “Tell Me Something Good” and “Sweet Thing” before launching a solo career dotted with indelible songs including “I’m Every Woman” and “I Feel For You.”
At 80, LaBelle’s career began in the early ’60s with the girl group that became Labelle in the ’70s and topped the charts with “Lady Marmalade.” Her solo career includes such hits as “New Attitude” from the soundtrack to “Beverly Hills Cop” and “On My Own,” a duet with Michael McDonald.
Knight, also 80, came out of Motown in the ’60s with classics, such as “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” and “Midnight Train to Georgia,” recorded with the Pips. As a solo artist, her best-known songs included “Licence To Kill” from the James Bond film of the same name and “That’s What Friends Are For” in which she was joined by Dionne Warwick, Elton John and Stevie Wonder.
In an interview edited for length and clarity, Mills shared her favorite songs by each of her tourmates, talked about the launch of her career as a child at Amateur Night at the Apollo Theater, and described how “The Wiz” has remained an important part of her entire adult life.
Q: Let’s start with how The Queens came together.
A: I’ve always wanted to do a tour with my sisters. That’s what I call them, my sisters. I worked with Patti and Gladys a couple of years ago, and then I did [the web series] “Verzuz” with Chaka. But I wanted to tour.
So I think I just kind of spoke and spiritually made this happen. They came to us and said we’d like to do this tour with you guys, and we all said yes. So I’m very excited. This is the first time that we have all four together been on the road.
Q: How is the show structured?
A: We’re all doing our individual shows. Gladys comes on first, then I’m second. Patti is third and Chaka will be closing.
Q: So no duets or group performances?
A: We were trying to work that out, but it didn’t work out so far. Maybe, because we’re doing 22 cities, down the line we will do something. But it hasn’t worked out yet.
Q: I’m curious how long you’ve known Gladys, Patti and Chaka, and what you remember of the first times you met them?
A: I was signed to Motown, but Gladys wasn’t at Motown when I joined. I met Gladys doing the Soul Train Awards or something like that. And Chaka and I did a tribute to Gladys at the Soul Train Awards. It was myself, Ron Isley, and Angela Winbush and Chaka.
Patti, I’ve known forever. I used to go to all of Patti’s shows back in the day. I’ve been over to Patti’s house to eat and everything. So Patti, I’m probably the closest to on a personal level.
Q: Let’s talk about the start of your career. When you were 11 or 12, you were on Broadway in “Maggie Flynn” in 1968 and also a winner of the Amateur Night at the Apollo Theater.
A: I won six weeks in a row at the Apollo, and they gave me a booking there with the Isley Brothers. But while I was there, during those six weeks, I got a chance to meet James Brown, Roberta Flack, and all these different people.
Q: What was that like?
A: I don’t know if I was kind of awed by it because I was in entertainment, and there was a lot of singing and everything going on in my house. But I was honored to meet them. You know, who’s bigger than James Brown at that time?
So I don’t know. I guess I had a grown-up childhood. But I think that’s why I’m still a little girl at heart, because I wasn’t able to be a little girl. I had to be mature and learn my lines and learn my songs and all of that.
Q: What did you sing at the Apollo shows?
A: “Who’s Loving You” by the Jackson 5 and “For Once In My Life” by Stevie Wonder.
Q: “The Wiz,” of course, is the Broadway musical that really launched you. How’d that happen for you?
A: Every year at Easter, “The Wizard of Oz” comes on television, and that was my favorite. I loved watching Dorothy and the Cowardly Lion and the Tin Man. Judy Garland singing “Over The Rainbow.” I love it. But never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would play that role.
In fact, when they wanted me to come down and audition, I didn’t want to go because I had gone to a lot of auditions and didn’t get it. My mother was with me that day, and I sang for Ken Harper, who was the producer, and some other people that were sitting in the audience. I sang “Danny Boy.” And then they called me back a second time, and I went back a third time. That’s when they told me I got the role as Dorothy.
Q: What do you remember feeling in that moment?
A: I was excited. I couldn’t believe it. And then we started rehearsing, the cast. André De Shields, who’s still doing fabulously right now, was our Wiz. And Dee Dee Bridgewater was our Glinda. Ted Ross was our Lion. Tiger Haynes was our Tin Man, and Hinton Battle was our Scarecrow.
Q: And how soon did you realize that “The Wiz” had become a huge hit?
A: Probably in the second year. In the second year, I could relax and really get into the role. We were there for four and a half years, going into our fifth season, when we closed. In my second year, I realized, “Oh, people like this. They like the show.” Because you never know. I had a great time doing “The Wiz.” And then I reprised the role two times after that.
Q: And you even did Auntie Em for the NBC live version in 2015.
A: Yes, I did! They called me and said, ‘Do you want to be a part of this? I said, ‘Sure, but I don’t want to play Dorothy.’ They said, ‘OK, you could play Aunt Em,’ and I said fine. I had a good time.
Q: When the show closed in 1979, how did you segue into a solo music career?
A: Well, in the last year of my stint on Broadway, I signed with 20th Century Fox and they paired me with the most fabulous producers, [James] Mtume and [Reggie] Lucas. And during that time, I would record during the day, do the show, and then go back to the studio at night to finish.
I knew I wanted to do something else. Usually, it’s a strange place for people to come from Broadway and do R&B or pop. They don’t usually think that Broadway singers can be commercial. But it was an easy transition for me.
Q: Did you have a say over what kind of material you were recording at the start?
A: I didn’t have that much control at that time. My family managed me. They had most of the control. The producers would present songs, but I didn’t want to sing a whole bunch of love songs. Because at that time, I didn’t even know what love was. But they would convince me. There were certain words I didn’t like. Tawatha [Agee], who sang with Luther [Vandross] would sing my demos for me, and that’s how I could learn my songs.
Q: What was your first big hit? “I Never Knew Love” was an early one, I know.
A: “I Never Knew Love” was the pop hit, but “What Cha Gonna Do” and “Feel The Fire” and “Put Your Body In It” were all urban.
Q: How did you adapt to live concert stages after Broadway?
A: You know what, I’m always amazed. I’m amazed that people pay their hard-earned money to come see us perform, and when we walk out there, they’re so excited. To this day, I never take that for granted. I am so amazed how they just love on us. That’s why I sing every day and I work out and walk on the treadmill so that I can sound somewhat like my records in the past.
Q: It must be difficult picking songs for a shorter set like you’ll have on The Queens tour.
A: I can’t do all my hits, but I’ll do the ones that I think they really want to see. Because we only have a certain amount of time. I’m really glad, because, like, you’re on for 30 or 40 minutes and then you’re off. I can go back to the hotel and watch “Law & Order,” which happens to be one of my favorite things. But you know what show I really love? “Godfather Of Harlem” with Forest Whitaker. That’s really, really good.
Q: And after this tour?
A: I have a single coming out this month. “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.” I did a house version of that Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson song. And I’ve learned through the years to just enjoy the space I’m in. I think a lot of entertainers, a lot of people are always looking to the next thing, whereas I really enjoy the space. Of course, I would love to go back to Broadway, but I’m enjoying right where I am.
Q: Since you know Gladys and Chaka and Patti and their music so well, is there a song of each of them you particularly enjoy?
A: I love the way Gladys sings “I Feel a Song (In My Heart).” I love the melody, I love the lyrics. I love the way Patti sings “You Are My Friend.” I just love the lyrics of those songs, they’re just soulful. And “Sweet Thing,” it’s just sassy. It’s so Chaka. Chaka’s very sassy and rock and roll, you know.
Q: It sounds like it will be a really great show.
A: I hope people come out and see us because I don’t think they’ll ever see anything like this again. And I’m so honored to be with Patti and Gladys and Chaka. You know, I’m the baby of the group, so I bow down to the other three queens. Because they paved the way for me.
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