About Gladys Knight
Gladys Maria Knight , known as the "Empress of Soul", is an American singer. A ten-time Grammy Award-winner, Knight recorded hits through the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s with her family group Gladys Knight & the Pips, which included her brother Merald "Bubba" Knight and cousins William Guest and Edward Patten.
Knight has recorded two number-one Billboard Hot 100 singles , eleven number-one R&B singles and six number-one R&B albums. She has won seven Grammy Awards and is an inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Vocal Group Hall of Fame along with The Pips. Two of her songs were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for "historical, artistic and significant" value. She also recorded the theme song for the 1989 James Bond film Licence to Kill. Rolling Stone magazine ranked Knight among the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time. She is also a recipient of the National Medal of Arts and Kennedy Center Honors.
Knight was born in Atlanta to Merald Woodlow Knight Sr., a postal worker, and Sarah Elizabeth . She has a sister, Brenda, one living brother, Merald "Bubba" Knight, Jr., and one deceased brother, David "Billy" Knight. She won Ted Mack's The Original Amateur Hour TV show contest on July 1, 1952 at the age of eight. That same year, Gladys, her brother Bubba, sister Brenda, and their cousins Eleanor and William Guest began performing together during Bubba's tenth birthday party after a record player malfunctioned. Soon, the quintet agreed to form a group at the urging of Gladys' mother Elizabeth Knight.
The group settled on the name The Pips, inspired by the nickname of their cousin James "Pip" Woods. Later on, Brenda and Eleanor left.
Later in 1961, the quintet released the single "Letter Full of Tears", which became another top-40 hit in early 1962. After releasing a string of singles on Fury Records, Langston George left the group in 1962. That same year, Knight left the group to start a family with musician and husband Jimmy Newman.
Gladys Knight & the Pips joined the Motown Records roster in 1966 , and, although initially regarded as a second-string act by the label, scored several major hit singles, including "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" , "The Nitty Gritty" , "Friendship Train" , "If I Were Your Woman" , "I Don't Want To Do Wrong" , the Grammy Award–winning "Neither One of Us " , and "Daddy Could Swear " . In their early Motown career, Gladys Knight and the Pips toured as the opening act for Diana Ross and the Supremes. Gladys Knight stated in her memoirs that Ross kicked her off the tour because the audience's reception to Knight's soulful performance overshadowed her. Berry Gordy later told Knight that she was giving his act a hard time.
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