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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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