Gladys Knight

Gladys Knight was born to Merald Woodlow Knight and Sarah Elizabeth Woods on May 28, 1944. She 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 friend Langston George.

Knight discovered she was pregnant in 1960 and married her high school sweetheart James Newman. After a miscarriage, Knight returned to performing with the Pips. In 1961, Bobby Robinson produced the single 'Every Beat of My Heart' for the group, which became a number one R&B and number 6 pop hit when released on Vee-Jay Records. In 1962, Langston George left the group, which at that time renamed itself Gladys Knight & the Pips and continued as a quartet.

In 1962, after scoring a second hit, 'Letter Full of Tears', Knight became pregnant again and gave birth to a son, Jimmy III, that year. She retired from the road to raise her child while the Pips toured on their own. After giving birth to a daughter, Kenya, in 1963, Knight was forced to return to recording and the Pips in order to support her family.

Gladys Knight & the Pips joined the Motown roster in 1966 and although regarded as a second-string act, scored several hit singles including 'I Heard it Through the Grapevine' (also recorded by Marvin Gaye), 'Friendship Train' (1969), 'If I Were Your Woman' (1970), 'I Don't Want to Do Wrong' (1971), the Grammy Award-winning 'Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)' (1972) and 'Daddy Could Swear (I Declare)' (1973).

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 Grammy-winning 'Midnight Train to Georgia' (number one on the pop and R&B chart), 'I've Got to Use My Imagination' and '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.

During this period of greater recognition, Knight made her motion picture acting debut in the film Pipe Dreams, a romantic drama set in Alaska. The film failed at the box-office, but Knight did receive a Golden Globe Best New Actress nomination.

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. Having divorced James Newman II in 1973, Knight married Barry Hankerson (future uncle of R&B singer Aaliyah), then Detroit mayor Coleman Young's executive aide. Knight and Hankerson remained married for three years, during which time they had a son, Shanga Ali.

In the early 1980s, Johnny Mathis invited Gladys to record two duets – 'When a Child Is Born' (previously a hit for Mathis) and 'The Lord's Prayer'. 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).

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 successful hit and won a second Grammy for the act as well. After a successful 1988 tour, the Pips retired and Knight began her solo career. Gladys Knight & the Pips were inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 1989 and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.

While still with the Pips, Knight joined with Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder and Elton John on the 1986 AIDS benefit single, 'That's What Friends Are For' which won a Grammy for Best Pop Performance By a Duo or Group with Vocal. In 1989, Gladys Knight recorded the title track for the James Bond movie Licence to Kill, a Top Ten hit both in the UK and Germany.

Knight's third solo LP, Good Woman, was released by MCA in 1991. It rose to number one on the R&B album chart and featured the number two R&B hit 'Men'. The album also featured 'Superwoman', written by Babyface and featuring Dionne Warwick and Patti LaBelle. Knight and LaBelle would collaborate the same year on 'I Don't Do Duets', a duet with Patti LaBelle from LaBelle's album Burnin'.

Her fourth solo LP, Just for You, went Gold and was nominated for the 1995 Grammy Award for Best R&B Album. During this period, Knight was briefly married to motivational speaker Les Brown. It was also during this period that her eldest son, Jimmy III, died in his sleep at the age of 36.

Now married to William McDowell, Knight joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in 1997. She had occasionally teased LDS Church president, the late Gordon B Hinckley, that his flock needs to inject some "pep" into their music. Knight created and now directs the LDS-themed choir Saints Unified Voices. Saints Unified Voices has released a Grammy Award-winning CD titled One Voice and occasionally performs at LDS Church firesides.

In 2008, a duet between Gladys Knight and Johnny Mathis was released on Mathis' album A Night to Remember. Knight was ranked number 18 on VH1 network's list of the 100 Greatest Women of Rock.