Why Chaka Khan Didn't Hang Out with Gladys Knight, Patti LaBelle and Stephanie Mills During the Queens Tour (Exclusive)
Why Chaka Khan Didn't Hang Out with Gladys Knight, Patti LaBelle and Stephanie Mills During the Queens Tour (Exclusive)
Jack IrvinTue, June 2, 2026 at 6:05 PM UTC
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Gladys Knight; Chaka Khan; Patti Labelle; Stephanie Mills
Credit: Jason Kempin/Getty; Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic; Taylor Hill/Getty; Walter McBride/Getty
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Chaka Khan, Patti LaBelle, Gladys Knight and Stephanie Mills ended their Queens Tour in Jacksonville on May 31
Chaka Khan tells PEOPLE the tour was intense but praises the camaraderie and performances of her fellow music icons
Khan’s new album Chakzilla, featuring collaborations with Sia, comes out on Sept. 18
The monumental Queens Tour has come to an end.
Chaka Khan, Patti LaBelle, Gladys Knight and Stephanie Mills played their final Queens Tour show in Jacksonville, Fla. on May 31 after first hitting the road together more than a year ago. In a recent interview with PEOPLE, Khan jokes the best part of the lengthy run of shows was “when it was over.”
“It was tough. We haven’t toured like that in many years,” she tells PEOPLE. “It was a great show, and we had a great time working together. It was just a lot. We had a lot of intense traveling and intense work. So that's my only problem with the whole thing.”
Chaka Khan
Credit: Nick Nelson
The Queens Tour featured all four icons performing their biggest hits and marked a celebration of their respective careers. “I love the fact that we were all up there working together,” says Khan, 73.
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“We all just respect each other and love each other. I've known Patti for a long, long time. [We’ve] been friends for a very long time, so it was nice to get back with her. And also Gladys is lovely. She's up there singing beautifully, doing a great job,” adds the “Ain’t Nobody” singer. “And the audiences have been so great.”
Did the four superstars hang out off stage when they weren’t performing? “No, it was totally work,” says Khan. “It was one stage to the next.”
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame member recently dropped her new single, “Chakzilla,” from her upcoming album of the same name. "It's a really, really great album, a great CD with great songs. It's going to be on the pop dance side," she explains of the project, which comes out Sept. 18 and was created alongside Sia. "We've got lots of great people collaborating as well."
Chakzilla marks Khan’s first new album since 2019’s Hello Happiness and comes after she was inducted into the Rock Hall in 2025 and received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2026. "Anytime someone gives you kudos like that, it's a beautiful thing," says the “Sweet Thing” artist, whose mind is set on the future. "I'm very much a forward thinker," she adds. "I'm a real next girl."
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
