They Truly Don’t Make Live Vocalists Like Evelyn Champagne King Anymore
Image: BMI
Miss legend herself, Evelyn “Champagne” King, strutted straight into the 2026 BMI R&B/Hip-Hop Awards and reminded the room what a real live vocalist sounds like.
And we mean live live. Voice out front. Personality intact. Movement, command, musicality and that effortless ability to make a room feel like it belongs to her within seconds. King remains one of those performers who does not need spectacle piled on top of the song because the voice and the performer are already the spectacle.
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King took the stage on August 26 at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles as part of BMI’s tribute to Nas, who received the organization’s 2026 BMI Icon Award. Her appearance was not just a nostalgia detour, either: there is a direct musical line between King’s catalog and Nas’ world.
She performed both “I’m in Love” and “Love Come Down,” the latter famously sampled on Capone-N-Noreaga’s 1997 track “Calm Down” featuring Nas. BMI said King’s performance brought the crowd to its feet before Babyface and Large Professor continued the tribute.
Images: BMI
But what lands hardest watching King now is not simply that the songs have endured. It is how much performance craft still comes through. She sings with strength, works the stage, plays with the rhythm and carries herself like somebody who understands that a great live performance is supposed to feel alive — not clinically reconstructed.
There is a reason “Love Come Down” has survived beyond its original 1982 chart run and become one of those records that keeps finding new audiences through clubs, radio, samples and generations of artists who grew up hearing it. The record has bounce, melody, musicianship and a singer who can actually take the thing onto a stage and make it hit again decades later.
They really do not make them like this anymore. Evelyn “Champagne” King is not merely a legacy act performing a legacy hit. She remains a formidable vocalist and a strong performer who knows how to take possession of a song the moment the band kicks in.
And perhaps the best endorsement of the night came from Nas himself. During his Icon Award remarks, he thanked King and Babyface for music that had been an incredible source of inspiration to him — a full-circle moment for a singer whose records have been living inside hip-hop for decades.
Watch Evelyn “Champagne” King Perform “Love Come Down” at the 2026 BMI R&B/Hip-Hop Awards
King performs her 1982 classic during BMI’s August 26 tribute to Nas, whose musical lineage connects directly back to the track through Capone-N-Noreaga’s “Calm Down.”
Source: BMI.
