From:   "Dik de Heer"  
Date:  Wed May 28, 2003  1:17 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Gladys Knight
 
GLADYS KNIGHT

Born 28 May 1944, Atlanta, Georgia

One of the great soul singers, Gladys Knight was a performer from her
childhood years, forming the Pips with her brother Merald and a couple
cousins. They first recorded for Brunswick Records in 1958 and had a 
# 6 pop hit (# 1 R&B) in 1961 with the heavily doo wop-influenced "Every
Beat of My Heart" (written by Johnny Otis), originally recorded for the 
small Huntom label, then leased to Vee-Jay and then re-recorded for Fury,
which version also charted, peaking at # 45. Next they recorded some 
fine pop-soul sides for the Fury and Maxx labels in the early and mid-'60s,
sometimes under the direction of songwriter Van McCoy. A few singles
from this period, "Letter Full of Tears" and "Giving Up," made the Top 40, but
Knight didn't hit her commercial stride until she moved to Motown in 1966.
Steeped in the gospel tradition, like so many soul singers, Knight & the
Pips developed into one of Motown's most dependable acts, although they
never quite scaled the commercial or artistic heights of fellow stars on the
label like the Supremes, Marvin Gaye, and the Temptations. With Norman
Whitfield providing the production and much of the songwriting, the Pips fit
into the mainstream of Motown's machine well, scoring big hits with some
rabble-rousers (like "Friendship Train" and the original version of "I Heard
It Through the Grapevine"), mainstream mid-tempo soul ("It Should Have
Been Me" and "The End of Our Road"), and smooth ballads like "If I Were
Your Woman."

In 1973, Knight had her biggest Motown hit with "Neither One of Us," which
made number two; shortly afterwards, she and the Pips left Motown for
Buddah. The group members were briefly superstars in 1973-1974, reeling 
off the smashes "Midnight Train to Georgia" (their only number one), "I've
Got to Use My Imagination," and "Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me." 
This ranked as some of their best material, but Knight soon moved toward 
an easy listening, adult contemporary direction, one that she's maintained 
to this day. Now performing separately from the Pips (who have retired), 
her days as a high-charting star ended after the mid-'70s, although she 
remains fairly popular, and maintained an active recording career into the
new millennium. 

(Adapted from All Music Guide.)

More info: http://www.geocities.com/solmes.geo/gladysknight.html
Compilations: The Ultimate Collection (Motown, 1997, 22 tracks)
or Essential Collection (Hip-O, 1999), drawn from all periods of her career.
Early recordings: The Early Times (Park South, 2002, 15 tracks).