Knight has scored No. 1 hits on the pop, R&B and adult contemporary music charts. She’s toured and performed most of her life. But it’s her show at the Tropicana that has this icon reflecting on how far she’s come in her career. Knight said, “I have been playing Las Vegas since 1966. That’s before most of these hotels were built. And when tumbleweeds were rolling down the boulevard. Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Joey Bishop, Peter Lawford, all of them. You know. So they kind of made us honorary members with them. And after all that time, I’m glad to see us progress.” When she first played Vegas nearly 50 years ago, at the height of the civil rights era, black entertainers had to enter through the back door. Today, she not only headlines – the theater she performs in is named for her. Knight said, “All of those fantastic, awesome, wonderful entertainers that have come through this city … (who) are of color, nobody’s ever had a room named after them. I mean — Grammys and all of those things are wonderful, but it’s a different kind of honor and representation.” Knight said backstage of her show in the theater, “It’s fantastic, it’s amazing, it’s amazing. And when I go out there, you know, I feel like they’re really coming to my house.” Six decades after taking a stage for the first time, the Empress of Soul finally has one to call her own. On “The Early Show,” Brown recalled that Knight is “the most down-to-earth” person she’s ever met. Knight took Brown to a pita restaurant in Las Vegas. “I would have assumed it would be this hoity-toity restaurant, but it’s not.” Brown said. “She likes a chicken kabob.”