The Beauty of Song, Part Five: Gladys Knight

Without question, Gladys Knight is the greatest female soul singer to come out of the South.

Originally from Georgia, Gladys Knight began singing at an early age and appeared on a radio talent show when she was still a little girl.  She formed her backing group the Pips, which, included her brother Merald Knight, Jr., in the early sixties. Gladys Knight and the Pips had a few regional successes with a couple of small labels before joining Motown in 1966. 

At Motown, Gladys Knight and the Pips became the first act to release "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", (Marvin Gaye's version, recorded first, was released second; the song has been covered by numerous artists since then).  Gaye's version became the definitive one, but that didn't bother Ms. Kinght, who with the Pips had several Motown hits such as 1967's "Take Me in Your Arms and Love Me," 1970's "If I Were Your Woman," and 1972's "Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)."  But she had to deal with jealousy from Diana Ross, who had dropped her and the Pips from a tour with the Supremes because Ms. Knight was outclassing her. 

Eventually, Ms. Knight and her Pips left Motown and signed with Buddah Records, and that's when she established herself as the soul singer of the seventies.  Their 1973 single "Midnight Train to Georgia" topped both the Billboard pop and R&B singles chart, and it led to equally impressive hits - "I've Got to Use My Imagination," a medley of "The Way We Were" and "Try To Remember" and "You're the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me."

Gladys Knight eventually went solo, continuing to perform through the 1980s and 1990s.  She sang on the 1985 AIDS charity song "That's What Friends Are For" with Stevie Wonder, Dionne Warwick, and Elton John, and in 1996 the Georgia native performed a wonderful version of Hoagy Carmichael's "Georgia On My Mind" at the opening ceremony of the Atlanta Olympics, the only memorable moment from that ceremony that had nothing to do with Muhammad Ali.  In the twenty-first century, she continues to perform regularly.

And she still has that high-wattage smile. :-) 

Fun fact:  When Paul McCartney was once asked what female recording artist he'd like to sing with apart from his wife Linda,  he scarcely hesitated in answering, "Gladys Knight." :-)   (One wonders why that still hasn't happened.)