on that midnight train to georgia reporter: after more than 50 years in show business and nearly 40 albums under her belt, r&b legend gladys knight still has it. the seven-time grammy winner into new york city last week. rode her famous midnight train into new york city last week. headlining a concert for amtrak s national train day to benefit the boys and girls club of america. it s national train day. and the train has been so intertwined in my life, all my life. i ve been singing since i was 4. and that was our mode of travel in the early days. reporter: the empress of soul is now nearly 70 years old but that train has not slowed down. her latest album fusion is due out in a few weeks and since march she s had a standing gig in vegas. i m at the tropicana. and guess what? reporter: having fun? i have a theater named after me. history! reporter: yes, indeed. in this age of youtube and reality tv, fame has become a low-hanging fruit. so gladys, who s also an au
boys and girls club of america which it encourages you to work with. while it s easy to look at it and say it is just a beauty pageant it is so much more than that. i have dummies. come on. what else do you want? can i just ask you another thing about, can we, can i see her? you may. i don t want to touch her. i mean, can she come to the interview? yes. does she have a name? this is rosie. rosie. how long have you had rosie? i ve had rosie since i was in high school. i had her made specially just for me. really. yeah. she s blinking at me. ah! do you get people having a scary reaction? like some people with clowns and ventriloquists are some things people decide are scary instead of neat? it s happened. like the movies that come out with the scary chucky dolls that doesn t help but most people are pretty accepting. i was trying so hard not to say chucky. i m glad you did. i just threw that out there. one last question for you. you were the first runner-u
when i was a little girl. when shaquille o neal came along and others they joined. we have a special relationship. it goes way back. along with mothers of professional basketball playser, most of our sons and daughters have come through the boys and girls club. that s interesting to know. what about the decisions parents make in how they feed their children and do those decisions carry overinto adulthood? they can. it kind of grows along with us. we try to teach our children to eat the right way, but right now we re battling so many childhood disea diseases. if we can impact them on the best way to eat it will have a major impact on their adult lives. you find it helps educate the kids on the best way to eat? it s not just providing gold fish crackers and oreo cookies. oh, absolutely not. it s important that they know o what to eat, how to eat, and
joining me now, she happens to be the mother of basketball star shaquille o neal, the shaq. she s the author of walk like you have somewhere to go. good morning to you. good morning, how are you? i m fine. some folks are lucky enough to have food to eat. there are so many that don t. when you look at the numbers who live in food-insecure homes. really? is it pockets of the country? tell me about this. we found out this is nationwide. those of us that are able to do something to help eradicate this problem we re happy to do that. i m so grateful to the walmart foundation because they ve taken an initiative to institute a healthy servings program with the boys and girls club. it s so wonderful. of all the things you can be involved in, you are joining this because you have a personal interest. we have a history with the boys and girls club. i m a native of northern new jersey and i attended the group
it s important that they know the junk food that they re putting in their bodies is not the best thing for them right now. so we have to continue to educate them. and walmart and the boys and girls club is doing that. is there a special push this holiday season with christmas just around the corner? anything special they re doing for that? well, the boys and girls club is always having a it is a posi place for kids, the programs are in place. always there. and moms, i want to say this, moms can rest assured that had they go to the boys & girls club the people there are very caring people. you know from personal experience. your new book walk like you have somewhere to go qutd . what s the inspiration. my children inspired notice write that. dreams do come true. my book is written over the span of 40 years, so it covers my life. i wanted to share my life with the rest of the world. i have to tell people shaquille