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Gladys Maria Knight (born May 28, 1944 in Atlanta, Georgia) is an American
R&B/soul singer, actress and author. She is best known for the hits she
recorded during the 1960s and 1970s, for both the Motown and Buddah Records labels,
with her group Gladys Knight & the Pips, the most famous incarnation of which
also included her brother Merald "Bubba" Knight and her cousins Edward Patten and
William Guest. Gladys is also a member of the The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints, the Mormons.
 Gladys Knight &
the Pips
Gladys Knight was born to Merald Woodlow Knight and Sarah Elizabeth Woods. She
first achieved minor fame by winning Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour TV show
contest at the age of 7 in 1952, due to her powerful singing voice. The following
year, she, her brother Merald, sister Brenda, and cousins William and Elenor Guest
formed a musical group called The Pips. By the end of the decade, the act had begun
to tour, and had replaced Brenda Knight and Eleanor Guest with Gladys Knight's
cousin Edward Patten and friend Langston George.
Gladys Knight discovered she was pregnant in 1960, and married her high school
sweetheart James Newman. After a miscarriage, Knight returned to performing with
the Pips. In 1961, Bobby Robinson produced the single "Every Beat of My Heart" for
the group, which became a #1 R&B and #6 pop hit when released on Vee-Jay
Records. In 1962, Langston George left the group, which at that time renamed itself
Gladys Knight & the Pips and continued as a quartet.
In 1962, after scoring a second hit, "Letter Full of Tears", Knight became pregnant
again, and gave birth to a son, Jimmy,III , that year. She retired from the road to
raise a family while The Pips toured on their own. After giving birth to a
daughter, Kenya, in 1963, Knight was forced to return to recording and the Pips in
order to support her family.
Gladys Knight & the Pips joined the Motown roster in 1966, and, although
regarded as a second-string act, scored several hit singles, including "I Heard It
Through the Grapevine" (1967), "The Nitty Gritty" (1969),"Friendship Train" (1969),
"If I Were Your Woman" (1970), "I Don't Want To Do Wrong" (1971), the Grammy winner
and Motown swan song "Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)"
(1972), and "Daddy Could Swear (I Declare)" (1973).
The act left Motown for a better deal with Buddah Records in 1973, and achieved
full-fledged success that year with hits such as the Grammy-winning "Midnight Train
to Georgia" (their only #1 pop hit), "I've Got to Use My Imagination," and "Best
Thing That Ever Happened to Me."
During this period of greater recognition, Gladys Knight made her motion picture
acting debut in the film "Pipe Dreams," a romantic drama set in Alaska. The film
failed at the box-office, but Knight did receive a Golden Globes Best New Actress
nomination.
Knight and the Pips continued to have hits until the late 1970s, when they were
forced to record separately due to legal issues, resulting in Knight's first solo
LP recordings--Miss Gladys Knight (1978) on Buddah and Gladys Knight (1979) on
Columbia. Having divorced James Newman, II in 1973, Knight married then Detroit
mayor Coleman Young Executive Aide Barry Hankerson (future uncle of R&B singer
Aaliyah). Knight and Hankerson remained married for three years, during which time
they had a son, Shanga Ali. Upon their divorce, Hankerson and Knight had a heated
custody battle over Shanga Ali.
In the early 1980s, Johnny Mathis invited Gladys to record two duets – "When A
Child Is Born" (previously a mega hit for Mathis) and "The Lord's Prayer" which
have become Christmas chestnuts.
Signing with Columbia Records in 1979 (with The Pips joining her the following
year) and restored to its familiar quartet form, Gladys Knight & the Pips began
releasing new material. Teaming up with stellar songwriting husband/wife duo
Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson (Ashford & Simpson), Knight & The Pips
released the sleeper "About Love" in 1980. The album featured some the quartets
best recordings in gems such as "Landlord" and "Taste Of Bitter Love". Being
pleased with the result of "About Love", GKTP enlisted Ashford & Simpson for
the 1981 follow-up "Touch" which contained the frenetic "I Will Fight" as well as
one of the best covers of "I Will Survive", which contains a spoken excerpt from
Barbra Streisand's "Free Again". After an extensive international tour, they
returned to the charts with the #1 R&B hits "Save the Overtime (For Me)"
(1983). And in 1987 the group released another Grammy winner--"Love Overboard".
During this period, Knight kicked a gambling habit, where she fancied the game
baccarat.
After a successful 1988 tour, the Pips retired and Knight began a career as a solo
artist. Gladys Knight & the Pips were later inducted into the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame in 1996.
Solo
career
While still with The Pips, Knight also joined with Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder,
and Elton John on the 1986 AIDS benefit single, "That's What Friends Are For" which
won a Grammy for Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal. In 1989, Gladys
Knight recorded the title track for the James Bond movie Licence to Kill, a top 10
hit both in the UK and Germany.
Knight made guest-starring television appearances throughout the eighties and
nineties with roles on Benson, The Jeffersons, A Different World, Living Single,
The Jamie Foxx Show and New York Undercover. In 1985, she co-starred on the CBS
sitcom Charlie and Co. with comedian Flip Wilson. It lasted for one season.
Gladys Knight's third solo LP, Good Woman, was released in 1991. It rose to #1 on
the R&B album chart and featured the #2 R&B hit "Men". Her fourth solo LP,
Just for You, went gold and was nominated for the 1995 Grammy Award for Best
R&B Album. During this period, Knight was briefly married to motivational
speaker Les Brown. It was also during this period that tragedy struck: in 1999, her
eldest son, Jimmy, Jr., died in his sleep at the age of 36.
Gladys Knight now directs the Grammy-award winning choir Saints Unified Voices and
is married to William McDowell. She, her husband and the choir gives presentations
at church buildings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints throughout
the United States.
Awards and
Achievements
Grammy Awards and
Nominations
Gladys Knight alone and/or with the Pips and/or others has won seven (7) Grammy
Awards.
1973 Gladys Knight And The Pips, artist. R&B Best R&B Vocal Performance By
A Duo, Group Or
Chorus - 16th Annual Grammy Awards Midnight Train To Georgia Gladys Knight
& The Pips.
1973 Gladys Knight And The Pips (William Guest, Bubba Knight, Gladys Knight, Harold
Knight,
Edward Patten), artist. Pop Best Pop Vocal Performance By A Duo, Group Or Chorus -
16th Annual
Grammy Awards Neither One Of Us (Wants To Be The First To Say Goodbye) Gladys
Knight & The
Pips.
1986 Dionne Warwick, Elton John, Gladys Knight & Stevie Wonder, artists. Pop
Best Pop
Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal - 29th Annual GRAMMY Awards That's What
Friends Are
For Dionne Warwick, Elton John, Gladys Knight & Stevie Wonder.
1988 Gladys Knight And The Pips (William Guest, Bubba Knight, Gladys Knight, Harold
Knight,
Edward Patten), artist. R&B Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With
Vocal - 31st Annual
Grammy Awards Love Overboard Gladys Knight & The Pips.
2001 Gladys Knight, artist. R&B Best Traditional R&B Vocal Album - 44th
Annual GrammyAwards
At Last Gladys Knight.
2004 Gladys Knight & Ray Charles, artists. Gospel Best Gospel Performance -
47th Annual
Grammy Awards Heaven Help Us All Ray Charles & Gladys Knight.
2005 Gladys Knight, choir director. Elliot Peters, engineer/mixer. Gospel Best
Gospel Choir
Or Chorus Album - 48th Annual GRAMMY Awards One Voice Gladys Knight & The
Saints Unified
Voices.
American Music Awards
and Nominations
Gladys Knight with the Pips has won a total of seven (7) American Music Awards and
received a total of nine (9) nominations, and are tied with Earth, Wind and Fire
for the most wins in the Category Soul/R&B, Sub-category Favorite Soul/R&B
Band, Duo or Group with four (4) each.
1975 Category Best Pop/Rock , Sub-category Favorite Pop/Rock Band, Duo or
Group.
1975 Category Soul/R&B, Sub-category Favorite Soul/R&B Single - Midnight
Train To Georgia.
1975 Category Soul/R&B, Sub-category Favorite Soul/R&B Album -
Imagination.
1975 Category Soul/R&B, Sub-category Favorite Soul/R&B Band, Duo or
Group.
1976 Category Soul/R&B, Sub-category Favorite Soul/R&B Band, Duo or
Group.
1984 Category Soul/R&B, Sub-category Favorite Soul/R&B Band, Duo or
Group.
* Nominated in Category Soul/R&B, Sub-category Favorite Soul/R&B Album -
Visions.
1989 Category Soul/R&B, Sub-category Favorite Soul/R&B Band, Duo or
Group.
* Nominated in Category Soul/R&B, Sub-category Favorite Soul/R&B Album -
All Our Love.
Source : Some of the information on this page came
from a Wikipedia article and is licensed under the GNU Documentation
License. ©2008 www.geneticmatrix.com.
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