Gladys Knight

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Gladys Maria Knight (born May 28, 1944), also known as the "Empress of Soul," is an American singer, singer, actress, businesswoman, and author.

Knight, a seven-time Grammy Award-winning singer, is best known for the hits she recorded during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s with her group Gladys Knight & the Pips, which also included her brother Merald "Bubba" Knight and cousins Edward Patten and William Guest. Knight has released two top-one Billboard Hot 100 singles ("Midnight Train to Georgia" and "That's What Friends Are For"), eleven number-one R&B singles, and six number-one R&B albums ("Midnight Train to Georgia" and "That's What Friends Are For"), as well as six number-one R&B singles.

She has received seven Grammy Awards (four as a solo artist and three with the Pips) and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame alongside The Pips.

She also performed the theme song for the 1989 James Bond film Licence to Kill.

Knight has also been voted one of Rolling Stone magazine's 100 Greatest Singers of All Time.

Early life

Knight was born in Atlanta and is the niece of Merald Woodlow Knight Sr., a postal worker, and Sarah Elizabeth (née Woods). Brenda, Brenda's older sister, one living brother, Merald "Bubba" Jr., and one deceased brother, David. She would perform in the church choir during the late 1940s and early 1950s. She first rose to national prominence in 1952 after winning Ted Mack's The Original Amateur Hour TV show contest at the age of eight. During Bubba's tenth birthday party, Gladys, her brother Bubba, sister Brenda, and their cousins Eleanor and William Guest began performing together. The quintet agreed to form a group under the insistence of Gladys' mother Elizabeth Knight. They settled on the name The Pips, based on their cousin James "Pip" Woods' nickname. The group debuted on the talent show circuit in Atlanta, winning every talent competition they entered by 1955. Because of their success, they were able to sign a historic deal with Brunswick Records in 1957. The group at Brunswick also released two albums that didn't chart. Despite this, the club was now open to top-selling artists like Jackie Wilson and Sam Cooke. Brunswick had been defunct by 1959, and Brenda Knight and Eleanor Guest, as well as Glen Knight, departed the company to start families. Edward Patten, their cousin, and Langston George were recalled, and they were both replaced by a friend, Langston George.

They sang "Every Beat of My Heart" in 1961. Huntom Records, a local Atlanta company, was pushed for the single by a distribution agreement with Vee-Jay Records, which released the single as a result of a record label. During this time, the group travelled to New York, where they auditioned for Bobby Robinson's Fury Records. Robinson discovered that "Every Beat of My Heart" was already a hit and putting the company out of money, so the group re-recorded the song and re-released it on Fury Records. Both versions made the Billboard charts, with the Huntom/Vee-Jay version landing at number six on the Billboard Hot 100. The group changed to Gladys Knight & the Pips ahead of its re-election on Fury Records. The quintet released the single "Letter Full of Tears" in 1961, which was another top-40 hit in early 1962. Langston George left the company in 1962 after a string of single launches on Fury Records. Knight and his partner, Jimmy Newman, stayed with the organization in 2005 to start a family. She returned to the company in 1964, and the Maxwell brothers purchased several minor hits from Larry Maxwell, including "Lovers Always Forgive" and the original version of "Giving Up." "There Will Never Be" Another Love," "Either Way I Lose," "Get ahold of Myself," "Maybe It Could Be Away," "I Want To Know You," "Who Knows" and "If I Should Ever Fall in Love" were among Maxx's most popular songs.

Personal life

Knight has been married four times and has three children. At 16 years old, she became pregnant and married Atlanta artist and classmate James "Jimmy" Newman in 1960. She had a miscarriage and the couple soon had two children. When Knight was 20 years old, he became a heroin addict and divorced the family. They were married for more than 12 years before 1973. James "Jimmy" Gaston Newman III, their son, was born on August 13, 1962. While the Pips toured on their own, she took the road to raise their children. Kenya Maria Newman, Knight's only daughter, was born in November 1963. Later, she returned to Pips in order to help her family.

Gladys, James, and the Pips immigrated to Detroit in the early 1960s. Knight and her family lived on Sherbourne Road in Sherwood Forest, an upscale neighborhood on Detroit's West Side. She also lived on LaSalle Avenue for a time. Her children attended Gesu Catholic Grade School. Knight divorced Newman in 1973, and he died a few years later. In 1974, Knight married Barry Hankerson (who founded Blackground Records, the company that signed his niece, Aaliyah, to a record contract) in Detroit. Shanga Ali Hankerson, the couple's one son, was born on August 1, 1976. Around 1977, the couple immigrated to Atlanta. The Pips remained in Detroit. Their marriage came to an end in 1979 with a prolonged custody conflict over their son. Since being kidnapped, the knight spent more than a million dollars looking for her son.

In 1995, Knight married motivational speaker Les Brown, but the pair divorced and divorced in 1997.

Knight suffered from a heroin use for more than a decade. She joined Gamblers Anonymous in the late 1980s, after losing $60,000 in one night at the baccarat table.

She was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1997, despite her son and daughter's departure from Catholicism to join. She had occasionally teased LDS president Gordon B. Hinckley, claiming that his flock needed to have some "pep" into their music. He agreed, which resulted in the formation of the Grammy Award-winning Saints Unified Voices gospel music choir. At "Be One 40th Anniversary Celebration of the Revelation on the Priesthood," Knight later led the Be One Choir.

Jimmy Newman, the Knight's son, followed her career through Newman Management Inc. until his death from heart disease on July 10, 1999, at the age of 36. Michelene, the husband; daughters Nastasia and Gabrielle; and sons Rishawn, Stefan, and Sterling were all saved by the former soldier.

In 2001, Knight married William McDowell. They have seventeen grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren between them. Knight and McDowell are residents of Asheville, North Carolina, near where they own a community center. McDowell attended Reynolds High School in Canton, where they studied by McDowell.

In 2017, Knight helped raise $400,000 for the Children's Learning Centers of Fairfield County. Carol Anne Riddell and Alan Kalter co-hosted the function at the Palace Theatre and was co-hosted by Carol Anne Riddell and Alan Kalter.

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Solo music career

While still with the Pips, Gladys Knight joined with Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, and Elton John on the 1985 AIDS benefit single, "That's What Friends Are For", a triple No. 1 mega-hit, which won a Grammy for Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal.

Knight shared a stage with Dionne Warwick and Patti LaBelle for the 1986 HBO special Sisters in the Name of Love. On March 27, 1988, Knight performed a rendition of "America the Beautiful" at Wrestlemania 4 in Atlantic City, NJ. In 1989, she recorded "Licence to Kill", the title track for James Bond film of the same name, a Top-10 hit in the UK and Germany.

Knight released her third and most successful solo LP, Good Woman, on MCA in 1991, which hit No. 1 on the R&B album chart, featured the No. 2 R&B hit "Men", and reached No. 45 on the main Billboard album chart—her all-time-highest showing. The album also featured "Superwoman", written by Babyface and featuring Dionne Warwick and Patti LaBelle; the track was nominated for a Grammy. Knight and LaBelle collaborated the same year on "I Don't Do Duets", for LaBelle's album Burnin'. Also in 1991, Knight performed the national anthem at Game 1 of the World Series.

Her fourth solo album, Just for You, went Gold and was nominated for the 1995 Grammy Award for Best R&B Album.

Knight created and now directs the Mormon-themed choir Saints Unified Voices. SUV has released a Grammy Award-winning CD titled One Voice, and occasionally performs at LDS church firesides.

In April 2004, Knight co-headlined the VH1's benefit concert Divas Live 2004 alongside Ashanti, Cyndi Lauper, Jessica Simpson, Joss Stone, Debbie Harry, and Patti LaBelle, in support of the Save the Music Foundation.

In 2005 a duet between Knight and Ray Charles of "You Were There" was released on Charles' duets album Genius & Friends.

In the spring of 2008, Knight appeared alongside Chaka Khan, Patti LaBelle and Diana Ross at the 'Divas with Heart' concert in aid of cardiac research, at New York's Radio City Hall. Also in 2008 Gladys, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr. and Ben Stiller performed on American Idol to raise money for charity.

In 2009 Knight sang "His Eye Is On The Sparrow" and "The Lord's Prayer" at the funeral service for Michael Jackson.

In March 2010, Randy Jackson mentioned on a new episode of the same show that he is back in the studio with Gladys Knight working on a new album. In December 2010, Knight released the single "Settle".

In September 2011, a new, updated recording of Shirley Bassey's 1960s classic "I (Who Have Nothing)" was released on iTunes and Amazon.

In 2013, Knight recorded the Lenny Kravitz–written and -produced song "You And I Ain't Nothin' No More" for the soundtrack from Lee Daniels' motion picture The Butler. The song was added to the movie's soundtrack of older songs with various artists so the producers could nominate it for Best Song from a Motion Picture category at the Academy Awards.

Where My Heart Belongs (2014) marked her 30th top-40 R&B album, including work by Gladys Knight & the Pips. In a 2014 interview, she expressed a hope that women would "Stand Up" and stop selling sex in the music/entertainment industry. She commented that the growing trend saddened her heart and that she had been taught to dress respectfully for her audiences ... "not take it off, put it on." Knight is ranked number eighteen on VH1 network's list of the 100 Greatest Women of Rock.

In 2019, Knight accepted an invitation to sing the national anthem at Super Bowl LIII. She faced criticism for agreeing to perform due to the alleged blacklisting of Colin Kaepernick by the National Football League after he began protesting police brutality during pre-game anthem ceremonies. Similar criticism was expressed against the half-time show performers, Maroon 5, Travis Scott, and Big Boi. Knight defended her decision to sing, claiming to understand Kaepernick's reasons for protesting but criticizing him for kneeling during the national anthem.

In 2019, Knight was invited to play at the 100th Anniversary of Delaware State Fair, located in Harrington, Delaware.

In October 2009, Knight started her farewell tour of the United Kingdom which featured Tito Jackson as her supporting act and special appearances by Dionne Warwick.

The UK Farewell Tour featured higher production values than previous "Gladys Knight, a mic and a light" appearances by Knight in the UK. A glossy program was available and the show featured pre-produced animation on large on-stage screens. The tour was promoted by an appearance on the TV program Later... with Jools Holland where Knight performed "If I Were Your Woman" and "Help Me Make It Through the Night".

At select performances on the UK Farewell Tour recordings of the concerts were made available for sale on USB flash drives.

In spite of her "farewell", Knight started touring the UK again a few years later, playing gigs in Scotland and England in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019 and 2022.

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