Gladys Knight is a singer from the United States who has won seven Grammy Awards. She had hits with her family band The Pips in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. These songs helped her become famous.
She co-produced the hit singles “Midnight Train to Georgia” and “That’s What Friends Are For” with Sir Elton John, Dionne Warwick and Stevie Wonder. She also made eleven other Top R&B singles and six Top R&B albums.
Knight and The Pips have both been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame. She also sang the music for the 1989 James Bond film License to Kill.
In October 2009 she embarked on her final tour of the UK. Dionne Warwick was a special guest and Tito Jackson was her opening act.
What’s up with Gladys Knight? Is she sick?
Gladys Knight, a famous soul singer, said she had pancreatic cancer. This is the same disease that killed her friend and soul icon Aretha Franklin.
But the singer’s rep denied the report a few hours after she opened up about her health. “Gladys doesn’t have pancreatic cancer,” Jay Schwartz, who works for Knight, later said. “She is fine!”
According to WDIV, a local television station in Detroit, Michigan, Knight told people at the Queen of Soul’s service at the Greater Grace Temple that he had “the same illness” as Franklin.
In a statement sent by Schwartz to Rolling Stone, Knight made it clear what went wrong. She wanted to clarify that she and Aretha had discussed having cancer and that Gladys had stage 1 breast cancer and Aretha had pancreatic cancer.
At the moment she seems to be in good spirits and at 78 she is still actively making music.
Where is Gladys Knight at this time?
Gladys Knight was at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York City today for the 2022 US Open. The crowd cheered loudly as they took the stage.
Knight is currently touring in one country with eight more shows to come. On August 14, 2022, she hosted a show at Chrysler Hall in Norfolk.
The next stop on their tour is the Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton on September 17th.
Afterwards she will perform at the Rollins Center Bally’s Dover in Dover, DE, USA. On December 17, 2022, their final show of 2022 will be held at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, California.
Gladys Knight is a singer who has won seven Grammy Awards
American singer and actress Gladys Knight’s net worth as of September 2022 is $28 million, according to Celebritynetworth.com.
In 1952, when she was eight, she won a competition on Ted Mack’s TV show The Original Amateur Hour. This brought her into the public eye.
Shortly after, Knight, her brother Brenda, and their cousins Eleanor and William Guest form a group with Glady’s mother, Mrs. Elizabeth, and call themselves “The Pips”.
In 1955, the group began going to talent shows in Atlanta, where they won every competition they entered.
After Brunswick dropped the group in 1959, Eleanor Guest and Brenda Knight left to start families. Langston George, a friend, and Edward Patten, another cousin, took their places.
Gladys decided to start her own business in 1987 and she and the Pips recorded their last album together, All Our Love for MC Records (1987).
She founded and directed the Mormon choir Saints Unified Voices. SUV has a CD called One Voice that won a Grammy Award and is sometimes played at LDS Church Masses.
Gladys, who was born in Atlanta, began starring in the 1976 film Pipe Dreams. This film earned her a Golden Globe nomination for New Star of the Year – Actress.
Knight sang the song “The Need To Be” in Tyler Perry’s I Can Do Bad All by Myself (2009), based on a play he wrote.
Fans have been wowed by Gladys Knight’s weight loss journey
People who liked Gladys Knight were surprised at how she changed after being on the reality show Dancing with the Stars (2012).
She was able to lose 60 pounds while preparing for the reality competition show.
To get ready, she enrolled in Freshology’s Getslim with the Stars program, which got her moving and controlling what she ate.
She then worked out with Tristan MacManus, who was her dance partner on the show, and lost a lot of weight.
Knight is pleased that her health is improving, although she may have entered the competition more to lose weight than to improve her health.
early years
Knight was born in Atlanta. Her parents, Merald Woodlow Knight Sr., a postman, and Sarah Elizabeth (née Woods), are her mother and father. She has one living brother, Merald “Bubba” Jr., and one deceased brother, David. In the late 1940s and early 1950s she sang in the church choir. In 1952, when she was eight, she won a competition on Ted Mack’s TV show The Original Amateur Hour. This brought her a little fame. At Bubba’s 10th birthday party that same year, a broken record player prompted Gladys, her brother Bubba, sister Brenda and their cousins Eleanor and William Guest to sing together. Elizabeth Knight, Gladys’ mother, soon got the five to agree to a band. They chose the name The Pips because it was the name of their cousin James “Pip” Woods. In 1955 the group began performing at talent shows in Atlanta, where they were from. They won every talent show they entered. Due to their success, Brunswick Records signed them to a record deal in 1957. In Brunswick, the group released two songs that failed to chart. Despite this, the band now opened up to big names in music like Jackie Wilson and Sam Cooke. In 1959, Brunswick stopped working with the group and Brenda Knight and Eleanor Guest left to start families. Edward Patten, another cousin, and Langston George, a friend, took her place.
In 1961 they recorded Every Beat of My Heart, written by Johnny Otis. The group didn’t have a record label, so a local Atlanta label called Huntom Records promoted the single and worked out a deal with Vee-Jay Records to release it. During this time the group relocated to New York and tried their hand at Fury Records, run by Bobby Robinson. Robinson urged the group to re-record and re-release “Every Beat of My Heart” on Fury Records when he found out the song was already a hit. This was because the group was not paid for it. Both versions charted on Billboard, with the Huntom/Vee-Jay version peaking at number six on the Billboard Hot 100. Before re-issuing on Fury Records, the group changed their name to Gladys Knight & the Pips. Later in 1961 the group released the single “Letter Full of Tears” which became another Top 40 hit in early 1962. Langston George left the group in 1962 after a string of singles were released on Fury Records. That same year, Knight left the band to start a family with her husband, musician Jimmy Newman. In 1964 she rejoined the group and they signed to Larry Maxwell’s Maxx label. Van McCoy produced a few songs, such as “Lovers Always Forgive” and the first version of “Giving Up,” which had modest success. (There Will Never Be) Another Love, Either Way I Lose, Go Away, Stay Away, Maybe Maybe Baby, Stop and Get a Hold of Myself, Who Knows, and If I Should Ever Fall in Love” are some other great songs they released on Maxx.
Knight 1974
Gladys Knight & the Pips joined Motown Records in 1966 despite not having a “sure hit”. The label initially thought them a second-tier act, but they went on to have a string of big hits, including “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” (1967), “Take Me in Your Arms and Love Me” (1967), “The Nitty Gritty (1969), Friendship Train (1969), If I Were Your Woman (1970 (1973). Early in her Motown tenure, Gladys Knight and the Pips toured with Diana Ross and The Supremes. Gladys Knight wrote in her memoir that Ross kicked her out of the tour because audiences loved her soulful performance more than Ross Berry Gordy later told Knight that she didn’t like his performance.
In 1973 the group left Motown for a better deal with Buddah Records. That same year they had hits like “Midnight Train to Georgia,” which won a Grammy and hit number one on the pop and R&B charts, “I’ve Got to Use My Imagination,” “The Way We Were/Try to Remember”. ‘ and ‘The best thing that ever happened to me’. In the summer of 1974, Knight and the Pips worked with producer Curtis Mayfield to record the music for the film Claudine. The songs “On and On”, “The Makings of You” and “Make Yours a Happy Home” were all on the soundtrack. The act was particularly popular in Europe and particularly in the UK. But some of Buddah’s singles became hits in the UK years after their US release. For example, “Midnight Train to Georgia” reached the top five in the UK singles chart in the summer of 1976, three years after it had been a hit in the US
During this time, of which Knight was well known, he starred in the Alaska-based romantic drama Pipe Dreams. The film did not do well at the box office, but Knight was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best New Actress.
Knight and the Pips had hits until the late 1970s when legal troubles forced them to record separately. This led to Knight’s first solo LPs, Miss Gladys Knight (1978) on Buddah and Gladys Knight (1979) on Columbia Records. After divorcing James Newman II in 1973, Knight married Barry Hankerson, who was then working for Detroit Mayor Coleman Young. Hankerson was the uncle of future hip-hop and R&B singer Aaliyah. Knight and Hankerson were married for four years during which time they had a son, Shanga Ali. Hankerson and Knight get into a heated argument over who should take care of Shanga Ali.
In 1980, Johnny Mathis asked Gladys Knight to sing “When a Child is Born” and “The Lord’s Prayer” with him. Both songs were hits for Mathis.
On November 1, 1981, Knight and the Pips played on the aircraft carrier USS Ranger.
Gladys Knight & the Pips began releasing new music after signing with Columbia Records in 1980 and reverted to a quartet. Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson, formerly of Motown, produced the band’s first two albums, About Love (1980), which had the hit “Landlord,” and Touch (1981). (1981).
“Save the Overtime (For Me)” was another 1983 hit for Gladys Knight and the Pips. The song was done in a soulful boogie style. Leon Sylvers III, who has worked on hits with Shalamar, was responsible for the music. The single comes from their album “Visions”. It peaked at number 66 on the Hot 100 but fared better on the R&B chart, where it was number one for a week in mid-1983. With this single, the group topped the R&B chart for the first time since 1974. The music video for the song was one of the first R&B videos to use elements from hip-hop culture. The R&B hit “You’re Number One (In My Book)” was also on the album. During this time, Knight gave up his addiction to the game of baccarat.
Knight decided to start her own business in 1987 and she and the Pips recorded their last album together entitled All Our Love for MCA Records. The catchy first single “Love Overboard” was an R&B number one hit and earned the group another Grammy. After a successful tour in 1988, the Pips went their separate ways and Knight launched her own career. Gladys Knight & the Pips were inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 1989, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996, and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2001.