![]() The group was named after their manager and cousin, James Woods, nicknamed Pips. The following year, in 1953, when she was about eight, she, her brother Merald “Bubba” Knight, her sister Brenda, and her cousins Eleanor and William Guest started a group called The Pips. When she was seven, she moved to a larger stage, winning the Ted Mack’s Original Amateur Hour contest on television. Her mother told her God had given her an amazing voice and that He meant for her to share it. ![]() Gladys’ extraordinary music career began at the age of four when she began singing in a Baptist Church choir. She is also ranked number 18 on VH1 network’s list of the 100 Greatest Women of Rock, and in 1995, Gladys Knight was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles. ![]() She is a seven-time Grammy Award winner (four as a solo artist and three with the Pips) and is currently ranked number eighteen in the 2005 Guinness Book of World Records’ list of the most successful female musical artists of all time. She was raised in a sound Christian home, and both of her parents were singers in the Wings Over Jordan Gospel Choir. She was born on, in Atlanta, Georgia, to Sarah Elizabeth (née Woods) and Merald Woodlow Knight, Sr., who was a postal worker. However, she returned to the group two years later and went on to critical success over the course of the next five decades.Gladys Maria Knight dubbed the “Empress of Soul ” is an American singer-songwriter, actress, businesswoman, humanitarian, and author. Knight left the group in 1962 after a string of successful releases such as "Letter Full of Tears" to start a family with her husband Jimmy Newman. The group's first record to chart was in fact a cover of Johnny Otis' "Every Beat of My Heart," which made it into the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. After a successful run in the local Atlanta music scene, the group received a record deal with Brunswick Records in 1957 and began opening for legends in the music scene and influences on their style such as Sam Cooke. Over the next few years, Knight and four of her family members (Bubba, Edward Patten, Langston George, and William Guest) formed a performing group to be called Gladys Knight & the Pips. She had her first breakthrough into the spotlight at the age of 8 when she won Ted Mack's The Original Amateur Hour contest. As a child and into her teens, Knight sang in her local church choir where she refined her Motown chops. She has a sister (Brenda) and two brothers (Merald "Bubba" Jr. Gladys Knight was born in Atlanta, Georgia to Merald Knight Sr. Her most recent appearances came when she played herself in Coming 2 America in 2021 and when she wore the bee costume on "The Masked Singer" in 2019. Off the stage, Knight has authored two books, including a biography titled Each Line of Pain and Glory: My Life Story, and made various appearances on television and the big screen. Knight was also included on Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Singers of All Time list. In 1996, her band Gladys Knight & the Pips was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Over her illustrious career, she has released 10 studio albums, with her debut album Miss Gladys Knight releasing in 1978, and her most recent work Where My Heart Belongs coming out in 2014. The seven-time Grammy award winner has won across three categories including Pop, R&B and Gospel, and has another 22 nominations spanning across five decades. Although she's perhaps best known for her original rendition of the R&B classic "I Heard it Through the Grapevine (1967)," Knight has remained in the limelight as one of the all-time greats for the last 60 years. One of Motown's most iconic acts, Gladys Knight, returns to the big stage in 25 cities across North America for her 2022 tour.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |