Gladys Knight and the Pips, 1973
Gladys Knight is 78 years old today.
Known as the "Empress of Soul," Knight is a singer-songwriter, actress, businesswoman, humanitarian 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 “The Pips” also included her brother, Merald "Bubba" Knight, and her cousins, Edward Patten and William Guest.
Born in Oglethorpe, Georgia, Knight first achieved minor fame by winning Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour TV show contest at the age of seven in 1952. 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 a friend. Gladys Knight & the Pips joined the Motown roster in 1966, and, although regarded as a second-string act, scored several hit singles.
They included "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" (recorded first by Marvin Gaye but released a year later), "Friendship Train" (1969), "If I Were Your Woman" (1970), "I Don't Want To Do Wrong" (1971), "Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)" (1972) and "Daddy Could Swear (I Declare)" (1973).
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 Gladys that she was giving his act a hard time.
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 "Midnight Train to Georgia" (#1 on the pop and R&B chart), "I've Got to Use My Imagination" and "You're the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me."
In the summer of 1974, Knight and the Pips recorded the soundtrack to the successful film, Claudine, with producer Curtis Mayfield. The act was particularly successful in Europe, and especially the United Kingdom.
However, a number of the Buddah singles became hits in the UK long after their success in the U.S. For example, "Midnight Train to Georgia" hit the UK pop charts Top 5 in the summer of 1976, a full three years after its success in the U.S.
During this period of greater recognition, Knight made her motion picture acting debut in the film, Pipe Dreams, a romantic drama set in Alaska.
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 Records.
Signing with Columbia Records in 1980 and restored to its familiar quartet form, Gladys Knight & the Pips began releasing new material. The act enlisted former Motown producers, Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson, for their first two LPs — About Love (1980) and Touch (1981). During this period, Knight kicked a gambling addiction to the game baccarat.
In 1987, Knight decided to pursue a solo career, and she and the Pips recorded their final LP together, All Our Love (1987), for MCA Records. Its lead single, "Love Overboard," was a hit. After a successful 1988 tour, the Pips retired and Knight began her solo career.
Here, Knight and the Pips perform “Midnight Train to Georgia”