Ravinia 2026 Issue 3

HUNTERPAVILION 7:30 PM WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 12 , 2026 JOE BONAMASSA † † Ravinia debut GLADYS KNIGHT A ectionately known as the “Empress of Soul,” Gladys Knight has been in the music business for more than years. She began singing in a church choir at age , and three years later she won the grand prize of television’s Ted Mack’s Amateur Hour , a er which her mother swi ly brought other family members together to form a backing group known as e Pips. Gladys Knight and e Pips began recording in the ear- ly ’ s, before Knight was even out of her teens, scoring a handful of hits with songs like “Every Beat of My Heart,” “Letter Full of Tears,” and “Giving Up.” e group made its big break later that decade when it released its rst album on the burgeoning Motown label in , immedi- ately making waves with “I Heard It rough the Grapevine” and riding that success forward to the top- hits “If I Were Your Woman” and the Grammy-winning “Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye).” Knight and e Pips rmly established themselves as one of the top R&B groups of the day with their rst album on the Buddah label, Imagination ( ), which featured the number-one hit “Midnight Train to Georgia” as well as the top- ve singles “I’ve Got to Use My Imagination” and “Best ing at Ever Happened to Me.” Shortly before be- ginning her solo career in earnest in the ear- ly ’ s, Knight joined Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, and Elton John to record the Gram- my-winning, crossover number-one hit “ at’s What Friends Are For” in and contributed the title song to the James Bond lm Li- cense to Kill . Knight made two solo albums in the late ’ s, but ’s Good Woman signaled the true start of the new phase of her career, topping the R&B chart and adding “Men” to her catalog of hits. She received a star on the Holly- wood Walk of Fame in , and the following year Knight and e Pips were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In she was presented BET’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and recently Knight received several top laurels: the National Medal of Arts ( ), the Kennedy Center Honors ( ), and the Grammy Life- time Achievement Award ( ). Gladys Knight rst played Ravinia in and tonight makes her h appearance. BRIANMcKNIGHT Brian McKnight has gained international and domestic recognition that has long since earned him a spot in contemporary music history as a singer and multi-instrumentalist playing piano, guitar, bass, drums, percussion, trombone, tuba, ugelhorn, and trumpet. With now records to his name and over million albums sold worldwide, he has a still-growing legacy of Grammy Award nominations and dozens of top- hits, among them several chart-toppers. His rst album, Brian McKnight , was released in and spent weeks on Billboard ’s top albums chart, paving the way for his third disc, Anytime , to hold that ground for over a year, go- ing double platinum while climbing into the top and hitting number one on the R&B chart. e title track from that set was nominated for Best Male Video at the MTV Video Music Awards. Between those discs, McKnight scored a major mainstream hit in with “Love Is,” a duet with Vanessa Williams featured on the soundtracks of Beverly Hills, and Melrose Place . He would eclipse that number-three hit with the title track to ’s Back at One —the gold-selling single that led the charge on the album going triple platinum and kicking o his string of four top- discs, stretching through gold-sellers Superhero ( ) and U Turn ( ) plus ’s Gemini , all on the Motown label. Outside the recording studio and concert stage, he also found success starring as Billy Flynn in Chicago on Broadway in and parlaying his vast music business knowledge and experience as a red carpet host for the Extra! TV series. McKnight’s most recent music has been released by the SoNo Recording Group. Genesis ( ) led o with the top- R&B single “Forever,” fol- lowed by “I Want You,” which he introduced live on Steve Harvey . Exodus followed in , pre- ceded by another top- hit, “When I’m Gone.” He returned to the top with the album’s sin- gle “Nobody.” His latest album, McKnighttime Lullabies —a collection of originals and covers, inspired by the birth of his youngest son—was released in . Brian McKnight made his Ra- vinia debut in and is making his rst return to the festival. RAVINIAMAGAZINE • AUGUST 3 – AUGUST 16 , 2026 90