Patti LaBelle & Gladys Knight’s Verzuz felt like a warm hug from talented aunties

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Two weeks ago there was an epic Verzuz live stream between 90s darlings Monica and Brandy which had the largest streaming audience Verzuz has seen. This past weekend, Verzuz enlisted veteran divas Patti LaBelle and Gladys Knight to battle their hits out.

In true diva fashion, Patti and Gladys started in on each other early. Gladys released a video of her making banana pudding throwing down the gauntlet. And in true Gemini style, Patti responded with a video of her baking her famous sweet potato pie and a whole damn feast. You can tell the two are good friends but extremely competitive. To be fair Gladys started it but Patti finished and won that part of the battle.

For the Black community these two women are like everyone’s very talented aunties. Both Gladys and Patti have had very prolific careers dating back to the sixties when Gladys was the front woman for Gladys Knight and the Pips and Patti fronted Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles. So it is amazing that this went down.

I made myself some southern style cheesy grits and shrimp and a virgin mixed drink. Don’t at me, I don’t need the extra calories of alcohol. Anyhoo, the show was amazing and I wanted to share a few highlights and reactions that were hilarious and heartwarming.

First of all, Gladys and Patti’s energy felt like a warm hug turning the night into a love fest. There wasn’t any bad energy, just a whole lot of love and two musical queens supporting and uplifting each other.

Of course Auntie Patti wouldn’t be Patti without several shoe changes and a gold mirror to check her hair and makeup. The gold mirror was a moment along with her bright yellow nails. Gabrielle Union said she wanted one of the mirrors too.

Kelly Rowland from Destiny’s Child noted the several shoe changes and asked in the chat how many times Patti changed shoes. Someone commented, “As many times as Destiny’s Child changed members.” I hollered.

Gladys aka Auntie Gladys was giving some fantastic pep talks throughout, encouraging the youth to follow their dreams while staying out of trouble. At one point she went into full auntie mode when she heard some of the people in the studio giggling in the background. I cackled when she asked, “Whatcha’ll doing back there? I hear you.”

At one point when Forever First Lady, Michelle Obama, popped into the chat, Gladys and Patti started talking about how much they love Michelle and Barack and how Michelle had the best husband in the world. They went on to say how proud of Michelle they were and the work she was doing with getting people to vote.

Gladys and Patti also gave a shout out to Swizz Beatz a co-creator of the Verzuz platform who was in the chat on his birthday. Of course he received a lot of birthday love from everyone’s aunties. They thanked him and Timbaland for starting Verzuz and thanked Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, whom Patti hilariously called Tim Coo Coo. Mariah Carey, Oprah Winfrey, Missy Elliot, Gabrielle Union, and Brandy were just a few of the celebrities in the chat.

The teleprompter, sound and microphone kept glitching throughout and several people tweeted that it was Aretha Franklin’s ghost being salty.

I was thoroughly entertained by Patti’s dance moves and joy throughout the night.

One of the best moments of the two hour evening was when Dionne Warwick showed up to sing “That’s What Friends are For” with Patti and Gladys. I literally teared up because it dawned on me that these women, along with Stevie Wonder and Chaka Khan, were the only musicians living from my childhood. All the rest have since passed. It was also noted that you can feel Whitney’s presence missing from the moment.

I still can’t believe that Dionne is 80 and both Patti and Gladys are 76 years old. It is as if they haven’t truly aged as they had such a youthful energy throughout the night. All in all, Patti vs Gladys was a night to remember. It was uplifting and joyous and a reminder of how great the music was. Great music evokea emotions and that is exactly what happened last night. We were transported by these legends.

Note by CB: The official Verzuz video isn’t up yet but here’s a good segment of the it and you can see the part where Dionne Warwick comes on at about an hour in!

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11 Responses to “Patti LaBelle & Gladys Knight’s Verzuz felt like a warm hug from talented aunties”

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  1. Edna says:

    Patti and Gladys showed the youngins how it’s done. Living legends. Grew up on their music and still play it on repeat. So glad to get a chance to see them together this way.

  2. True talent. Icons. IJS 😍

  3. OnceUponA says:

    Beautiful lifting up, not tearing down. Saddened by the “jokes” that Aretha was cursing them from above. Why must accomplished women always be pitted against each other?

    Wonderful to honor these amazing talents.

  4. ethy says:

    It was so much FUN! And they sang the house down!!

  5. Lindy says:

    Saving this to watch when I need some joy and hope this week.

    I loved the write-up– Oya, you make it seem like you were there hanging out with them!

    These women have so much talent.

  6. ChillyWilly says:

    Legends! 💕 There will NEVER be another Patti or Gladys. Or Dionne or Chaka or Aretha. So much talent and star quality.
    Also this post made me really hungry!

  7. Blairski says:

    Thanks for covering this – I’ll have to check it out! Love both Patti and Gladys!

  8. lynzyloo says:

    I need that recipe!!

  9. Barbiem says:

    YES, love them both.
    I started watching some you tube reality diva show with them years ago. Can’t remember the name but loved the shade.