Gladys Knight

Gladys Knight

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 devout member of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.[1] [2]

Biography

Gladys Knight & the Pips

Main article: 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, (named after another cousin, James "Pip" Woods). 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.

Annie Lennox & SING

Annie Lennox has joined forces with Gladys Knight and 22 other female artists to raise the awareness of the transmission of HIV to unborn children in Africa. The single "Sing" will be released on World Aids Day on December 1st 2007, when Annie Lennox appears at the next Nelson Mandela 46664 concert in South Africa. To find out more visit http://www.annielennoxsing.com or http://www.myspace.com/annielennoxsing.

Published works

Knight, Gladys. At Home With Gladys Knight, McGraw-Hill, 2001 - ISBN 1580400752
Knight, Gladys. Between Each Line of Pain and Glory: My Life Story, Hyperion Press, 1998 - ISBN 0786883715

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 GRAMMY Awards
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.

CableACE AWARDS

• In 1986 Gladys Knight produced and starred in the CableACE Award (earlier known as the ACE Awards; ACE was an acronym for Award for Cable Excellence) winning "Sisters In The Name Of Love," an HBO special co-starring Dionne Warwick and Patti LaBelle.

SOUL TRAIN AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS

• In 1988 Gladys Knight with the Pips received the 2nd Annual Heritage Award (Later Renamed To Quincy Jones Award for Career Achievement).

GEORGIA MUSIC HALL OF FAME

• 1989

ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME

• 1996

VOCAL GROUP HALL OF FAME

• 2001

BET AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS

In 2005 Gladys Knight received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the BET cable network.

In 2006, Knight was honored with a Legendary Award by the Las Vegas Music Awards.

The ELLA AWARD

She was also among the 25 African-American women honored for their accomplishments and influence by daytime television star Oprah Winfrey at a "Legends Ball."

Trivia

• Knight is Aaliyah's aunt.
• Knight is ranked number eighteen in the 2005 Guinness Book of World Records' list of the most successful female musical artists of all time.
• Knight is ranked number eighteen on VH1 network's list of the 100 Greatest Women of Rock.
• In 1995, Knight was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles.
• Knight owns a chain of chicken and waffles restaurants based in Atlanta. The Gladys Knight & Ron Winans' Chicken & Waffles currently have three locations: two in the Atlanta area and one in Largo, Maryland, near Washington, D.C., in The Boulevard at the Capital Centre.
• Knight joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1997. She has occasionally teased the LDS Church president, Gordon B. Hinckley, that his flock needs to inject some "pep" into their music. Knight created and now directs the LDS-themed choir Saints Unified Voices [3]. SUV has released a Grammy Award-winning CD titled One Voice, and occasionally performs at LDS Church firesides.
• Knight is an honorary member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.
• Following a turn as a celebrity guest-judge on the popular TV talent show American Idol, Knight served as one of three regular judges on the spin-off American Juniors for the Fox television network in the summer of 2003.
• From February 2002 until November 2005, Knight performed five nights per week as headliner of her own showroom at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas. The show was voted Best Show on the Las Vegas Strip in 2003 by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
• In 2005, Gladys Knight performed a set of 4 songs on the famous Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway, honoring the prize winner that year, Mr. Mohamed ElBaradei and the International Atomic Energy Agency ( IAEA ). Gladys Knight performed "Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me," "I’ve Got to Use My Imagination," "Midnight Train to Georgia," and "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" with Bubba Knight.

Solo discography

Singles

• 1978: "It's A Better Than Good Time"
• 1979: "Am I Too Late"
• 1979: "I Just Want To Be With You"
• 1985: "That's What Friends Are For" (with Dionne Warwick, Elton John & Stevie Wonder) (US #1 Pop, R&B and AC, UK #16)
• 1989: "License to Kill" (#6 UK, #18 US AC)
• 1990: "If I Knew Then What I Know Now" (with Kenny Rogers) (#9 US AC)
• 1991: "Meet Me in the Middle"
• 1991: "Men" (R&B #2)
• 1992: "Where Would I Be"
• 1994: "End of the Road" Medley: "If You Don't Know Me by Now"/"Love Don't Love Nobody"
• 1994: "I Don't Want to Know" (R&B #32)
• 1995: "Next Time" (R&B #30)
• 2003: "Feelin' Good (Vacilon)" (Jazz/Salsa/R&B)

Albums

• 1978: Miss Gladys Knight
• 1979: Gladys Knight
• 1991: Good Woman
• 1994: Just For You
• 1998: Many Different Roads
• 2001: At Last
• 2005: One Voice (with Saints Unified Voices)
• 2006: Before Me
• 2006: A Christmas Celebration (with Saints Unified Voices)

Filmography

• 1973 - Save the Children (documentary)
• 1973 - Brothers and Sisters in Concert

Sounds of the Seventies: Kenny Rogers and the First Edition with Ike and Tina Turner and Gladys King

• 1976 - Pipe Dreams
• 1978 - Gladys Knight and the Pips and Ray Charles in Concert
• 1983 - The Jeffersons: The Good Life
• 1985 - Charlie & Co. [TV Series]
• 1986 - B.B. King and Friends: A Night of Red Hot Blues
• 1987 - Desperado
• 1990 - Kenny Rogers & the First Edition, Vol. 1: With Ike and Tina Turner Revue and Gladys Knight and the Pips
• 1993 - Twenty Bucks
• 1999 - Ally McBeal: Seeing Green
• 2003 - Hollywood Homicide
• 2003 - Intimate Portrait: Gladys Knight
• 2005 - Unbeatable Harold (still without distributor)
• 2006 - The Young Messiah - Messiah XXI (DVD)
• 2008 - 30 Rock: "Season 2, Episode 10"

External links

• Official website
• Gladys Knight at IMDb
• Saints Unified Voices
• Article explaining the creation of Saints Unified Voices
• Sharing the Gospel Through Music

Preceded by —

James Bond music Gladys Knight License to Kill, 1989

Succeeded by Tina Turner GoldenEye (song), 1995