Gladys Maria Knight (born May 28, 1944), known as the “Empress of Soul”, is an American singer. A ten-time Grammy Award-winner, Knight recorded hits through the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s with her family group Gladys Knight & the Pips, which included her brother Merald “Bubba” Knight and cousins William Guest and Edward Patten.
Knight has recorded two number-one Billboard Hot 100 singles (“Midnight Train to Georgia” and “That’s What Friends Are For” which she did with Dionne Warwick, Sir Elton John and Stevie Wonder), eleven number-one R&B singles and six number-one R&B albums. She has won seven Grammy Awards (four as a solo artist and three with the Pips) and is an inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Vocal Group Hall of Fame along with The Pips. Two of her songs (“I Heard It Through the Grapevine” and “Midnight Train to Georgia”) were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for “historical, artistic and significant” value. She also recorded the theme song for the 1989 James Bond film License to Kill. Rolling Stone magazine ranked Knight among the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time. She is also a recipient of the National Medal of Arts and Kennedy Center Honors.
Gladys Knight was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on May 28, 1944, to Sarah Elizabeth (née Woods), a nurse’s aide, and Merald Woodlow Knight Sr., a postal worker. Her parents were members of the church choir and a local choir group. She has a sister, Brenda, and two brothers, Merald “Bubba” Jr. and David “Billy.”
Knight was raised Baptist and began singing gospel music at age four at the Mount Moriah Baptist Church in Atlanta. She won Ted Mack’s The Original Amateur Hour TV show contest singing Nat King Cole’s “Too Young” at age eight in 1952. That same year, Knight along with her brother Bubba, sister Brenda, and cousins Eleanor and William Guest performed together during Bubba’s tenth birthday party after a record player malfunctioned. The quintet later formed a group at the encouragement of Knight’s mother. The group settled on the name The Pips, inspired by the nickname of their cousin, James “Pip” Woods. They performed at church in the morning and at local clubs at night.
In 1961, the group released the single “Letter Full of Tears”, which became another top-40 hit in early 1962. After releasing a string of singles on Fury Records, Knight left to start a family with musician and husband Jimmy Newman, but later returned.
Knight attended Booker T. Washington High School before transferring to her alma mater, Archer High School.
Gladys Knight & the Pips joined the Motown Records roster in 1966 (with only three hits to their credit – “Every Beat of My Heart”, “Giving Up” and “Letter Full of Tears”), and, although initially regarded as a second-string act by the label, scored several major hit singles, including “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” (1967) (released later by Marvin Gaye), “The Nitty Gritty” (1969), “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). In their early Motown career, Gladys Knight and the Pips toured as the opening act for Diana Ross and the Supremes. Gladys Knight stated in her memoirs that Ross kicked her off the tour because the audience’s reception to Knight’s soulful performance overshadowed her. Berry Gordy later told Knight that she was giving his act a hard time.
The act left Motown for a better deal with Buddah Records in 1973 and achieved even greater mainstream success that year with hits such as the Grammy-winning “Midnight Train to Georgia” (#1 on the pop and R&B chart), “I’ve Got to Use My Imagination”, “The Way We Were/Try To Remember” and “Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me”. In the summer of 1974, Knight and the Pips recorded the soundtrack to the film Claudine with producer Curtis Mayfield, which included the songs “On and On”, “The Makings of You” and “Make Yours a Happy Home”.
The act was particularly successful in Europe, and especially the United Kingdom. A number of the Buddah singles became hits in the UK several years after their release in the US. For example, “Midnight Train to Georgia” hit the Top 5 of the UK singles charts in the summer of 1976, a full three years after its success in the U.S.
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. After divorcing James Newman II in 1973, Knight married Barry Hankerson, then Detroit mayor Coleman Young’s executive aide. Knight and Hankerson remained married for four years, during which time they had a son, Shanga Ali. Hankerson and Knight became embroiled in a heated custody battle over Shanga Ali. In 1980, Johnny Mathis invited Knight 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 Nicholas Ashford and Valerie Simpson for their first two albums: About Love (1980), which included the hit “Landlord” and Touch (1981).
In 1983, Gladys Knight and the Pips scored again with the hit “Save the Overtime (For Me)”. The song, under the artistic direction of Leon Sylvers III (known for collaborating on Shalamar hits), was done in a soulful boogie style. The single was released from their LP “Visions” and reached number sixty-six on the Hot 100 but was more successful on the R&B where it hit number one for a single week in mid 1983. The single was the first time the group hit number one on the R&B chart since 1974. The video accompanying the song became among the earliest R&B videos to incorporate elements of hip hop culture. The album also included the R&B hit “You’re Number One (In My Book)”.
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 infectious lead single, “Love Overboard”, was a number-one R&B hit and won another 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, into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2001.
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 “License 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 directed 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 1960, Knight married Atlanta musician and high school sweetheart James “Jimmy” Newman. The couple had a miscarriage and went on to have two children. Their son, James “Jimmy” Gaston Newman III, was born in 1962, and their daughter, Kenya Maria Newman, was born in 1963. In the early 1960s, Knight’s family and the Pips moved to Detroit. The family lived in Sherwood Forest, an upscale neighborhood on Detroit’s West Side. Knight retired from the road to raise their children while the Pips toured on their own, later returning with Newman as the group’s musical director. Newman later became addicted to drugs and left the family when Knight was 20. They remained married for over 12 years and were separated for 7 years until their divorce in 1973. Newman died a few years later.
In 1974, Knight married Barry Hankerson, founder of Blackground Records, in Detroit. The couple had a son, Shanga Ali Hankerson, born on August 1, 1976. Around 1977, they relocated to Atlanta. Their marriage ended in 1979 with a prolonged custody battle over their son. Knight spent over a million dollars searching for her son after he was kidnapped. In 1995, Knight married motivational speaker Les Brown,[58] divorcing in 1997.
Knight was raised a Baptist, later was a Catholic, and became a Mormon in 1997 when she was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, inspired by her daughter and son who had left Catholicism to join. She had occasionally teased LDS president Gordon B. Hinckley, saying they needed to inject some “pep” into their music. He agreed, which resulted in the founding of the Saints Unified Voices gospel choir directed by Knight. In 2018, Knight led the Be One Choir at the “Be One” event in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Knight is a graduate of Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Knight’s son Jimmy Newman III managed her career through his Newman Management Inc. until his death from heart failure on July 10, 1999, at age 36. Newman was survived by his wife, Michelene; daughters Nastasia and Gabrielle; and sons Rishawn, Stefan, and Sterling.
Knight married William McDowell in 2001. They have seventeen grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren between them. Knight and McDowell reside in Fairview, North Carolina, near where they own a community center, the former Reynolds High School in Canton attended by McDowell.
In 2017, Knight helped raise $400,000 for the Children’s Learning Centers of Fairfield County. The event was held at the Palace Theatre and was co-hosted by Carol Anne Riddell and Alan Kalter.
Knight had a gambling addiction that lasted more than a decade. In the late 1980s, after losing $60,000 in one night at the baccarat table, she joined Gamblers Anonymous, which helped her quit the habit.
In 1996, Gladys Knight & the Pips were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. One year before, Knight had received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2007, Knight received the Society of Singers ELLA Award at which time she was declared the “Empress of Soul”. She is listed on Rolling Stone’s list of the Greatest Singers of All Time. In 2021, Knight received the National Medal of Arts. And, in 2022, Knight received a Kennedy Center Honor. In 2023, Knight received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
Written by Dianne Washington