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Gladys Knight
May 28, 1944
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Artistfacts:
| Knight made her singing debut (at the age of 4) in church. Three years later, she won a $2000 first prize singing Nat "King" Cole's "Too Young" on Ted Mack's Original AmateurHour. |
| Her backing group, The Pips, were originally brother Merald "Bubba" Knight, sister Brenda Knight, and cousins William and Eleanor Guest. They got their name from another cousin, James "Pip" Wood, who became their manager. The two women were replaced by cousins Edwards Patten and Langston George in 1959. George left in 1962, Gladys Knight and the Pips stayed a quartet for the rest of its existence. |
| In 1965, they signed with Motown and recorded for the Soul label. After "Just Walk in My Shoes," #98 "Take Me in Your Arms and Love Me," and #39 "Everybody Needs Love" came the group's breakthrough, the #2 "I Heard It Through the Grapevine." |
| Knight started the #33 "Help Me Make It Through the Night" with a spoken introduction, a style she "borrowed" from Ike and Tina Turner's "Proud Mary." Knight would use this motif as her signature in many of her later recordings. |
| As their Motown contract was expiring (in 1973), Knight and the Pips released "Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)" as their kiss-off single. It became their second #2 hit as they signed a lucrative contract with Buddha Records. |
| Motown/Soul released one final Gladys Knight and the Pips single, #28 "Daddy Could Swear, I Declare," before their first Buddha LP, Imagination, featuring songs by Jim Weatherly, propel them into superstardom. |
| The hits stopped coming in 1977, after their Buddha contract ended. As legal problems prevented Knight from recording with the Pips (1977-80), she started her acting career (Pipe Dreams movie), she recorded two solo LPs for Columbia, and The Pips recorded one LP for Casablanca. |
| Knight and the Pips finally reunited on record in 1980, recording for Columbia ("Love Overboard was their sole Top 40 hit in the '80s, peaking at #13 in 1988), while they settled down to perform in Las Vegas and Knight indulging the acting bug (she was in the short-lived TV sitcom Charlie And Company). |
| After moving to MCA, the group drifted apart by the end of the Twentieth Century. Knight continues to record the occasional album for MCA Records. |
| In 1996, the group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. (thanks, Brad Wind - Miami, FL, for all above) |
| Gladys Knight is a Mormon. She has been married 4 times. |
| They left Motown for the Buddah label in 1973. |
| The Pips retired in 1989, but Knight continued as a solo act, branching into Gospel and Jazz. (thanks, Bertrand - Paris, France, for above 3) |
Get Songfacts for Gladys Knight
Comments:
| While at Motown, Gladys wrote lyrics for the Jr. Walker single "Way Back Home" and the popular Jr. Walker album cut "Right On, Brothers and Sisters". - John, Nashville, TN |
| Gladys Knight has a great voice, and I really like the Pimps. - Ken, Dupont, PA |
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