She had us wondering for weeks about her true identity, but iconic singer Gladys Knight was revealed as the bee during The Masked Singer finale. Gladys had us questioning our theories with her clever clues, and many believed the bee was actually Patti LaBelle. In the end, the “Empress of Soul” was behind the bee costume. While still masked, the 74-year-old admitted that she had been entertaining for “almost” 70 years and had won a singing competition before the panelists were even born. That competition was The Original Amateur Hour in 1952!
For her final masked performance, Gladys performed a stunning rendition of Bonnie Raitt’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me.” The panelists thought the performance was perfect. Kenan Thompson and the other panelists remained certain that the bee was Gladys. However, Ken Jeong guessed Anita Baker. The bee came in third place, so Gladys was the first celebrity to be unmasked on the finale. The peacock came in second place and was revealed as Donny Osmond. The monster was named the winner, and T-Pain was underneath the costume!
Her clues are so obvious now! One of the biggest hints was that she revealed she started singing in the ’50s, so that narrowed down the list of potential celebrities down. She also baked peach cobbler in a previous intro video, and her physical clue was bakeware. She admitted that baking was her “second favorite thing to do.”
Gladys, as the bee, noted that she was good friends with the late of Aretha Franklin. She performed a gorgeous rendition of Aretha’s “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” in the next to last episode. When asked if she had any Grammys, Gladys said she had 10! Gladys has 7 solo wins and 3 wins with the Pips. Gladys, what an incredible run on The Masked Singer!