Two of the true residing legends of common music squared off reside from Philadelphia within the newest installment of Verzuz final night time (Sept. 13), in a matchup about as extremely anticipated as any NFL sport on this season-opening Sunday.
Gladys Knight and Patti LaBelle, iconic soul voices, personalities and hitmakers whose careers stretch again to the early ’60s, bought collectively for probably the most generation-spanning Verzuz but, to the delight of over half one million followers watching over Instagram Reside, and untold extra by way of Apple Music — and for the primary time, hundreds extra by way of the collection’ official YouTube account as effectively.
“We’re so glad to be collectively,” LaBelle kicked off the occasion by saying. “We have been collectively for a lot of, many, a few years.” The 2 then recounted their lengthy historical past collectively, sharing reminiscences of the varied methods their careers had intersected through the years, and expressing loads of mutual affection — about one another’s musical artistry, in addition to about their respective households and even their well-known culinary exploits.
The battle was positive to be one of the crucial memorable but within the Swizz Beatz- and Timbaland-curated collection, and the showdown between the 2 greats didn’t disappoint. Here is how Billboard scored their matchup.
Spherical 1: Patti LaBelle’s “All Proper Now” vs. Gladys Knight and the Pips’ “You are the Greatest Factor That Ever Occurred to Me”
Patti goes pretty deep for her leadoff lower, with the high-energy early ’90s lower ‘All Proper Now.” (“I solely made 4 movies in my life, and that was one of them!” she feedback.) Gladys goes traditional, singing over an instrumental of her Pips-backed ’70s Billboard Scorching 100 prime 5 hit “You are the Greatest Factor That Ever Occurred to Me.” Good begin for each, however slight early benefit to Gladys.
WINNER: Gladys Knight
Spherical 2: Patti LaBelle’s “If You Requested Me To” vs. Gladys Knight and the Pips’ “Make Yours a Comfortable Dwelling”
“Céline did this after I did!” Patti remarks. Certainly, whereas Céline Dion went to the Scorching 100’s prime 5 within the early ’90s with “If You Requested Me To,” the Philly soul icon reminds why her immaculate 1989 unique from the Licence to Kill soundtrack stays definitive, whereas additionally explaining the tragic circumstances that impacted her emotional efficiency in the song’s video. Knight declines to counter along with her personal Licence to Kill theme, as an alternative going with the Claudine soundtrack jam “Make Yours a Comfortable Dwelling” — a nice alternative, however arduous to compete with Patti’s powerhouse efficiency.
WINNER: Patti LaBelle
Spherical 3: Patti LaBelle’s “Stir It Up” vs. Gladys Knight and the Pips’ “Each Beat of My Coronary heart”
“It is kinda corny however I find it irresistible!” Patti admits of her second-best-remembered Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack single. “Stir It Up” is actually a enjoyable flashback, however not as enjoyable as Gladys going all the way in which again to the start — to 1961, when her group was merely often known as The Pips, and so they hit the Scorching 100’s prime 10 for the primary of many instances to come back with the Johnny Otis-penned ballad “Each Beat of My Coronary heart.” Nonetheless impossibly easy almost 60 years later.
WINNER: Gladys Knight
Spherical 4: Patti LaBelle’s “When You have Been Blessed (Feels Like Heaven)” vs. Gladys Knight and the Pips’ “On and On”
An edited-for-time model of Patti’s early-’90s superballad “When You have Been Blessed” throws her for a loop barely, however she picks it up in time to stun with a cappella vocals over the music’s fade out. Knight dips again into the Claudine soundtrack with the supremely funky “On & On,” written (like the entire OST) by the equally legendary Curtis Mayfield. “We gotta [keep going],” Knight feedback after. “Lengthy as he retains giving us the breath, the love, the spirit, and the expertise!”
WINNER: Gladys Knight
Spherical 5: Patti LaBelle’s “If You Do not Know Me By Now (Reside)” vs. Gladys Knight’s “Licence to Kill”
After it was initially written for her group Labelle — they by no means recorded it, and it turned a large hit for fellow Philly stars Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes — Patti made the all-timer ballad “If You Do not Know Me By Now” her personal throughout her reside present within the Nineteen Eighties. Right here, Patti and Gladys each harmonize gorgeously over the reside recording of the previous’s rendition, one of many night’s most goosebump-inducing moments. Gladys chooses now to drag out her Bond theme, and it nonetheless sounds mighty, however she’s already helped safe this spherical for Patti.
WINNER: Patti LaBelle
Spherical 6: Patti LaBelle’s ‘My Love, Candy Love” vs. Gladys Knight and the Pips’ “Midnight Practice to Georgia”
Whereas the blockbuster Ready to Exhale soundtrack was largely a showcase for the largest R&B stars of the ’90s, it made room for a few of the unique legends, as effectively — together with Patti’s stirring ballad “My Love, Candy Love,” which Patti ends by shouting out the music and soundtrack’s musical architect, fellow Verzuz alum Babyface. The feed briefly cuts out from there, and when it returns, Gladys Knight is already halfway by belting her signature hit with the Pips, “Midnight Practice to Georgia.” Irritating to have the second compromised, although any quantity of “Midnight Practice to Georgia” remains to be unattainable to argue with.
WINNER: Gladys Knight
Spherical 7: Patti LaBelle’s “Love, Want and Need You” vs. Gladys Knight’s “Somebody to Watch Over Me”
“That is not my proper music!… Put my proper music on the teleprompter!” It is not fairly “Where are my background singers?” however it’s nonetheless a traditional Patti second as she sings her approach by a Verzuz technical snafu, with Gladys even pitching in backing vocals on her beloved (and oft–revived) early ’80s ballad “Love, Want and Need You.” Gladys responds along with her chic spin on the George and Ira Gershwin vocal customary “Somebody to Watch Over Me,” however the spherical’s been determined.
WINNER: Patti LaBelle
Spherical 8: Patti LaBelle’s “Proper Type of Lover” vs. Gladys Knight and the Pips’ “Friendship Practice”
Nonetheless no lyrics on the teleprompter for Patti as her 1994 hit “Proper Type of Lover” performs, so it is simply vibing for her and Gladys on this one — which is okay, because the Beverly Hills Cop III soundtrack single nonetheless sounds impressively contemporary. Then, it is time for the 2 to get on board with Gladys’ topical “Friendship Practice” from a half-century in the past, a piercing Norman Whitfield manufacturing which Gladys rightly factors out is “nonetheless [true] for right this moment.”
WINNER: Gladys Knight
Spherical 9: Patti LaBelle’s “Over the Rainbow” vs. Gladys Knight and the Pips’ “Neither Certainly one of Us (Desires to Be the First to Say Goodbye)”
Patti punctuates the high-note climax of her fan-favorite rendition of The Wizard of Oz customary “Over the Rainbow” by kicking off her footwear and leaping out of her seat. (“Ooh, my knee is hurting!” she proclaims afterwards, with each girls cracking up.) Gladys provides a message of political hopefulness, earlier than the the cool breeze of the opening bars of “Neither Certainly one of Us” comes blowing by the set, and Gladys loses herself singing alongside to one among her all-time best hits, finally getting out of her seat as effectively. Cannot select towards both of those.
WINNER: Tie
Spherical 10: Patti LaBelle’s “Anyone Loves You Child (You Know Who It Is)” vs. Gladys Knight and the Pips’ “You are Quantity One (In My E book)”
“That is my primary favourite of yours!” Gladys proclaims because the opening piano riff from Patti’s early-’90s show-stopper “Anyone Loves You Child” twinkles from the audio system — with the latter’s gigantic vocals, each on file and reside from the Verzuz studio, making it clear why. Talking of quantity ones, although, right here comes Gladys with the silky 1983 R&B prime 5 hit “You are Quantity One (In My E book).” An underrated one, however even Gladys would most likely give this spherical to her competitor.
WINNER: Patti LaBelle
Spherical 11: Patti LaBelle’s “Kiss Away the Ache” vs. Gladys Knight and the Pips’ “I’ve Bought to Use My Creativeness”
Each singers return to some respective candy spots — Patti with a single from her Billboard 200-topping Winner in You album, and Gladys with a single from her early-’70s run of 4 consecutive Scorching 100 prime 5 hits. Slight edge to Gladys and the Pips and their merely incomparable 1973-1974 groove.
WINNER: Gladys Knight
Spherical 12: Patti LaBelle’s “New Angle”https://information.google.com/”On My Personal” (with Michael McDonald) vs. Gladys Knight and the Pips’ “Midnight Practice to Georgia” (Encore)
A bit formatting strangeness right here, as Patti squeezes in two stone ’80s classics (together with her different Beverly Hills Cop smash) for the worth of 1, whereas Gladys responds by operating again an instrumental model of “Midnight Practice to Georgia” for her to sing over. Good to get “Georgia” extra in full after Gladys’ first play of it was interrupted by IG outages, however no query that this spherical goes to Patti’s one-two punch.
WINNER: Patti LaBelle
Spherical 13: Patti LaBelle’s “New Day”https://information.google.com/”Feels Like One other One” (feat. Massive Daddy Kane) / “ABCs”https://information.google.com/”Girl Marmalade” (w/ Labelle) vs. Gladys Knight’s “Love Overboard”
Patti’s DJ is now in free-associative medley mode, mixing in her 2004 Scorching 100 hit “New Day” along with her slamming ’90s hit “Feels Like One other One,” her look singing the alphabet on Sesame Avenue, and her timeless No. 1 hit with eponymous ’70s group Labelle, “Girl Marmalade.” Patti appears as confused as anybody as to what’s occurring with the musical rapid-fire, however she rolls with it, explaining that her group “did not know what” the French refrain of “Girl Marmalade” meant after they initially recorded it — “we simply knew it seemed like a success.” Gladys responds with a sole music in her late-’80s smash “Love Overboard,” and it sounds phenomenal. A bit too bizarre to even rating this one, actually, however since we gave Patti the final one, we’ll give this one to Gladys for merely going 1 for 1.
WINNER: Gladys Knight
Spherical 14: Patti LaBelle’s “You Are My Buddy”https://information.google.com/”If Solely You Knew” vs. Gladys Knight, Dionne Warwick, Elton John & Stevie Marvel’s ‘That is What Associates Are For”
“Gladys, that is devoted to you,” Patti intros one among her signature numbers, “You Are My Buddy,” from her 1977 self-titled debut solo LP. Her sound combine remains to be slightly low — “What y’all doin’ over there? Y’all within the nook doin’ one thing over there,” she asks offscreen earlier than the music begins — however she gives the reside vocals to fill it out, then does the identical along with her 1983 gem “If Solely You Knew,” her first solo No. 1 on the R&B Songs chart. Ought to be unattainable to beat that combo, however then Gladys Knight brings none apart from legendary peer Dionne Warwick out of the shadows to assist out on Scorching 100-topping ’80s charity single “That is What Associates Are For,” with the three girls harmonizing collectively at heart stage. The whole spherical makes for a lovely tribute to friendship basically.
Then, after the three girls provide yet one more powerhouse efficiency collectively — of their early-’90s superteam cowl of Karyn White’s “Superwoman” — Dionne bids them adieu, after which Patti and Gladys name it an evening themselves. It is the primary time because the official Verzuz format was set within the early days {that a} match would not go 20 full rounds, however the performances with Dionne can be unattainable to comply with anyway, and nobody watching might say they did not greater than get their cash’s price already.
WINNER: Tie
BONUS ROUNDS
Wider Catalog: Tie
The 2 girls just about cut up the distinction chronologically — Gladys reached again earlier in her discography, whereas Patti was snug pulling from more moderen materials — and each confirmed the complete vary of what made their respective catalogs singular.
Greatest Snub: Gladys Knight and the Pips’ “If I Were Your Woman” (Level: Patti LaBelle)
Perhaps we’d’ve heard it if the match had gone 20 rounds, however not getting to listen to Gladys’ lush, heart-rending early ’70s ballad — which Patti particularly shouted out as one among her favorites earlier than the match — was a uncommon disappointment on the night.
Greatest Banter: Tie
Cannot probably separate the 2 right here, as their easygoing dynamic with each other and with their respective songs being performed would not have labored with out the over-half-century-long rapport they’d constructed collectively.
Greatest Ok.O.: Patti LaBelle
Despite the fact that it was the beginning of the night going off the rails slightly structurally, that back-to-back of “New Angle” and “On My Personal” from Patti was such an amazing and joyous mid-’80s rush that anybody watching would’ve gladly seemed the opposite approach on the principles being bent slightly.
Individuals’s Champ: Tie
Once more, this was simply probably the most evenly cut up and positively vibed Verzuz since at the very least Erykah Badu and Jill Scott — to the purpose the place it did not even look like anybody watching within the feedback or on social media was bothering to play favorites or preserve rating between them. Applicable, then, that this needs to be the primary Verzuz battle we have scored right here at Billboard to not finish with both participant as a transparent winner.
FINAL SCORE: 7-7-5, Tie
