However, he did know he would give back in some way. He says when he was a boy growing up in Canton, he could never have envisioned this $5 million project. “We want to go across the country and make it known what we’re doing and have fundraising concerts in larger venues.” “We’re going to do a lot of different things,” McDowell says. Likewise, they hope the mission of this local community center will extend far past its base in Canton and be a help and beacon of hope to many people. Known as the “Empress of Soul,” the seven-time Grammy winner is best known for songs such as “Midnight Train to Georgia” and “You’re the Best Thing that Ever Happened to Me.”Įfforts by Knight and McDowell to promote the community center won’t stop in WNC. 29, the 73-year-old Knight will headline a concert at the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium to raise money for the community center, along with country band Little Big Town, popular Asheville singer Lyric and other guest performers. “Then she’ll have concerts in Columbia and Durham before arriving back in Asheville.” I’ll be home 48 hours then back to California, where we have a real estate company, and she’ll be doing a concert in Houston,” McDowell continues. My wife will be home (in Fairview) for one day. We’ve done award shows, executive produced a Christmas TV show and now headed back to Vegas,” where the couple also have a house. In the past few weeks, McDowell says, they’ve traveled “by ship, plane and bus. The 20,000-square-foot building was constructed in 1930 and operational until 1966. It was once the only African-American high school in WNC west of Asheville. They have a home in Fairview, but their sights are often set on Canton, where they are moving forward with plans to transform the old Reynolds High School into the Reynolds Community Center. They’ve been traveling the country for concerts and other ventures, but their hearts remain in Western North Carolina. Famed singer Gladys Knight and husband William “Billy” McDowell have few moments for rest these days.
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