Gladys Knight & the Pips were an American R&B, soul, and funk family music group from Atlanta, Georgia, that remained active on the music charts and performing circuit for more than three decades starting from the early 1950s.
Starting out as simply the Pips in 1952, derived from a cousin's nickname, the founding members were Gladys Knight, brother Merald "Bubba" Knight, sister Brenda Knight and cousins Eleanor Guest and William Guest. After a couple of years performing in talent shows, the group signed with Brunswick Records in 1957, recording a couple of singles that failed to chart. Brenda Knight and Eleanor Guest eventually left the group and were replaced by another cousin, Edward Patten, and a non-relative, Langston George in 1959. This lineup produced the group's first hit single, "Every Beat of My Heart". After the single was released on three different labels, they changed their name to Gladys Knight & the Pips in 1961. Langston George left the same year and Gladys Knight left in 1962 to start a family with musician Jimmy Newman. Knight rejoined in 1964 and this lineup continued until the group's disbandment in 1989.
The group reached commercial success after signing with Motown Records in 1966. After a year and a half, the group recorded the first hit single version of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" in 1967, which led to several hit singles for Motown's Soul Records label, including "Nitty Gritty", "Friendship Train", "If I Were Your Woman", "I Don't Want to Do Wrong" and the Grammy-winning "Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)", before leaving the label for Buddah Records in 1973. At Buddah, they recorded the hits "Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me", "I've Got to Use My Imagination", "I Feel a Song (In My Heart)" and their Grammy-winning and number-one hit single, "Midnight Train to Georgia". In 1974, they recorded the soundtrack to the successful film Claudine with producer Curtis Mayfield, which included the songs "On and On", "The Makings of You" and "Make Yours a Happy Home". Contractual difficulties with their labels forced the group to record side projects from 1977 until 1980 when they signed with Columbia Records. Later hits included "Landlord", "Save the Overtime (For Me)" and the Grammy-winning single "Love Overboard". In 1989, the group disbanded with the Pips retiring and Knight embarking on a successful solo career.
Gladys Knight & the Pips are multiple Grammy and American Music Award winners and are inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1996 and 2001 respectively.
History
Early years (1952–1961)
Gladys Knight performed on Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour in 1952 at the age of eight, winning first prize. On September 4, 1952, Gladys, Bubba, sister Brenda and their cousins William and Eleanor Guest began performing together during Bubba's tenth birthday party after a record player malfunctioned. Shortly afterwards, the quintet agreed to form a group under the insistence of Gladys' mother Elizabeth Knight. They settled on the name The Pips, inspired by the nickname of their cousin James "Pip" Woods. By 1955, the group began performing on the talent show circuit in their hometown of Atlanta, winning each talent show they entered. This success allowed them to get a record contract with Brunswick Records in 1957. Later in 1961, the newly christened quintet released the single, "Letter Full of Tears", which became another top 40 hit in early 1962.
The group's success was halted by Gladys Knight's sudden departure in 1962 to start a family with husband Jimmy Newman, a musician. Knight gave birth to the couple's son James Gaston Newman III in August 1962. A daughter, Kenya Maria Newman, was born in November 1963. During this period, the Pips kept performing and recording to little fanfare, and eventually each Pip took odd jobs while Gladys Knight began performing solo with Newman, now her musical director. Eventually Gladys reunited with the Pips and signed with a local New York label, Maxx Records, that year.
Gladys Knight & the Pips join Motown Records (1966–1973)
By the end of 1965, Berry Gordy was scouting to get the group signed to his Motown label. Knight initially refused to sign due to her fears that the label would overlook them for the more popular artists on his roster, but she was outvoted by the Pips. They would sign with Motown in 1966, being assigned to Motown's Soul Records label, a label which featured acts who had more of an R&B flavor than a pop one. Their first Motown single, "Just Walk in My Shoes", was a hit in the UK, but the group was disappointed in Motown having The Andantes sing over the Pips' signature harmony in the song, resulting in the group demanding that the Andantes not be featured on any more of the group's recordings. They also were one of the few Motown acts that did not regularly perform on the label's Motortown Revues, with an exception being a Christmas showcase at the Fox Theater in Detroit, recorded for the album, Motortown Revue Live. A second single, "Take Me in Your Arms and Love Me", also reached the charts in the UK.
thumb|left|[[Cashbox (magazine)|Cashbox advertisement, November 4, 1967]]
Their third single, "Everybody Needs Love", became the group's first American charted single in two years, reaching number 39 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number three R&B after its release in 1967. On the A&E Network television program Biography, Knight stated that she and the Pips were regarded as a second-string act, and that "Diana (Ross) & the Supremes, The Temptations, and Marvin Gaye were given all the hits, while we took the leftovers." In Knight's autobiography, Between Each Line of Pain and Glory: My Life Story, she stated that Diana Ross had the group removed from being The Supremes' opening act on a 1968 tour for, according to Knight, being 'too good'. The group finally scored a career breakthrough with their fourth Motown single, "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", which reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the R&B chart. Marvin Gaye's version of the song, released in 1968, outsold the group's version, selling four million copies and reaching number one on the Hot 100. While at Motown in 1968, Knight was the first person to suggest that Berry Gordy sign the up-and-coming group called The Jackson Five (though Bobby Taylor of the Vancouvers also had a role), after appearing with them on a concert held in Gary, Indiana, to help elect Mayor Richard Hatcher, despite the claim that Diana Ross discovered them.
Following the success of "Grapevine", the group worked frequently with Norman Whitfield. "Neither One of Us" became their biggest selling single at Motown, reaching number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and winning the group a Grammy for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.
Taking the "Midnight Train" to Buddah Records (1973–1980)
thumb|Gladys Knight (1974)
Following the signing with Buddah Records, the label issued another Weatherly ballad, "Where Peaceful Waters Flow", released around the same time "Neither One of Us" and a Motown single, "Daddy Could Swear, I Declare", was charting. The song became a modest success as a result. The group reached its popular and critical peak soon afterwards, starting with the release of another Weatherly song, "Midnight Train to Georgia", in August 1973. Two years prior, Guest and his sister, Dame Dhyana Ziegler, PhD, released his autobiography, Midnight Train FROM Georgia: A Pip's Journey (Branden Books, Boston, MA, USA), about his life and career. In 2007, Bubba Knight and Guest, along with a third man, Neil Taffe (one of Gladys Knight's background singers), appeared in a commercial for Geico. On August 23, 1997, original Pips member Eleanor Guest died of heart failure. Langston George died on March 19, 2007, from congestive heart failure.
{| class="wikitable"
!Year
!Song title
!US Pop Charts
!US R&B Charts
!UK Singles Chart
!Canada<br><small>CHUM/RPM</small>
|-
| rowspan="2" |1961
|"Every Beat of My Heart"
| style="text-align:center;" |6
| style="text-align:center;" |1
| style="text-align:center;" |–
| style="text-align:center;" |20
|-
|"Letter Full of Tears"
| style="text-align:center;" |19
| style="text-align:center;" |3
| style="text-align:center;" |–
| style="text-align:center;" |–
|-
| rowspan="2" |1967
|"Take Me in Your Arms and Love Me"
| style="text-align:center;" |98
| style="text-align:center;" |–
| style="text-align:center;" |13
| style="text-align:center;" |–
|-
|"I Heard It Through the Grapevine"
| style="text-align:center;" |2
| style="text-align:center;" |1
| style="text-align:center;" |47
| style="text-align:center;" |5
|-
|1968
|"The End of Our Road"
| style="text-align:center;" |15
| style="text-align:center;" |5
| style="text-align:center;" |–
| style="text-align:center;" |12
|-
| rowspan="2" |1969
|"The Nitty Gritty"
| style="text-align:center;" |19
| style="text-align:center;" |2
| style="text-align:center;" |–
| style="text-align:center;" |27
|-
|"Friendship Train"
| style="text-align:center;" |17
| style="text-align:center;" |2
| style="text-align:center;" |–
| style="text-align:center;" |29
|-
|1970
|"If I Were Your Woman"
| style="text-align:center;" |9
| style="text-align:center;" |1
| style="text-align:center;" |–
| style="text-align:center;" |23
|-
|1971
|"I Don't Want to Do Wrong"
| style="text-align:center;" |17
| style="text-align:center;" |2
| style="text-align:center;" |–
| style="text-align:center;" |30
|-
|1972
|"Help Me Make It Through the Night"
| style="text-align:center;" |33
| style="text-align:center;" |13
| style="text-align:center;" |11
| style="text-align:center;" |64
|-
| rowspan="4" |1973
|"Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)"
| style="text-align:center;" |2
| style="text-align:center;" |1
| style="text-align:center;" |31
| style="text-align:center;" |16
|-
|"Daddy Could Swear, I Declare"
| style="text-align:center;" |19
| style="text-align:center;" |2
| style="text-align:center;" |–
|-
|"Midnight Train to Georgia"
| style="text-align:center;" |1
| style="text-align:center;" |1
| style="text-align:center;" |10 <small>(1976 reissue)</small>
| style="text-align:center;" |5
|-
|"I've Got to Use My Imagination"
| style="text-align:center;" |4
| style="text-align:center;" |1
| style="text-align:center;" |–
| style="text-align:center;" |25
|-
| rowspan="3" |1974
|"Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me"
| style="text-align:center;" |3
| style="text-align:center;" |1
| style="text-align:center;" |7
| style="text-align:center;" |6
|-
|"On and On"
| style="text-align:center;" |5
| style="text-align:center;" |2
| style="text-align:center;" |–
| style="text-align:center;" |13
|-
|"I Feel a Song (In My Heart)"
| style="text-align:center;" |21
| style="text-align:center;" |–
| style="text-align:center;" |–
| style="text-align:center;" |13
|-
|1975
|"The Way We Were/Try to Remember"
| style="text-align:center;" |11
| style="text-align:center;" |6
| style="text-align:center;" |4
| style="text-align:center;" |29
|-
|1976
|"So Sad the Song"
| style="text-align:center;" |47
| style="text-align:center;" |12
| style="text-align:center;" |20
| style="text-align:center;" |–
|-
|1977
|"Baby, Don't Change Your Mind"
| style="text-align:center;" |52
| style="text-align:center;" |10
| style="text-align:center;" |4
| style="text-align:center;" |58
|-
|1978
|"Come Back and Finish What You Started"
| style="text-align:center;" |–
| style="text-align:center;" |–
| style="text-align:center;" |15
| style="text-align:center;" |–
|-
|1987
|"Love Overboard"
| style="text-align:center;" |13
| style="text-align:center;" |1
| style="text-align:center;" |42
| style="text-align:center;" |59
|}
Studio albums
- Letter Full of Tears (1962)
- Gladys Knight and the Pips (1965)
- Everybody Needs Love (1967)
- Feelin' Bluesy (1968)
- Silk 'n' Soul (1968)
- All In A Knight's Work (1968)
- Nitty Gritty (1969)
- All The Greatest Hits (1970)
- If I Were Your Woman (1971)
- Standing Ovation (1971)
- Neither One of Us (1973)
- Anthology (1973)
- All I Need Is Time (1973)
- Imagination (1973)
- Claudine (1974)
- I Feel a Song (1974)
- Presenting Gladys Knight and the Pips (1974)
- Bless This House (1975)
- 2nd Anniversary (1975)
- Original Soundtrack for the Motion Picture Pipe Dreams (1976)
- Still Together (1977)
- The One and Only (1978)
- About Love (1980)
- Touch (1981)
- That Special Time of Year (1982)
- Visions (1983)
- Life (1985)
- All Our Love (1987)
Filmography
Concert
- 1977: Gladys Knight & the Pips feat. Ray Charles: Live at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles
- 2021: Summer of Soul
Compilations
- 1973: Burt Sugarman's Midnight Special – Legendary Performances 1973
- 2004: Kenny Rogers Rollin' Vol. 1
- 2006: Flashbacks: Soul Sensation
Awards and achievements
American Music Awards
|-
|rowspan="4"|1975
|rowspan="2"|Gladys Knight & the Pips
|Favorite Pop/Rock Band/Duo/Group
|
|-
|Favorite Soul/R&B Band/Duo/Group
|
|-
||"Midnight Train to Georgia"
|Favorite Soul/R&B Single
|
|-
||Imagination
|Favorite Soul/R&B Album
|
|-
||1976
||Gladys Knight & the Pips
|Favorite Soul/R&B Band/Duo/Group
|
|-
||1984
||Gladys Knight & the Pips
|Favorite Soul/R&B Band/Duo/Group
|
|-
||1989
||Gladys Knight & the Pips
|Favorite Soul/R&B Band/Duo/Group
|
|-
Grammy Awards
|-
||1969
||"Friendship Train"
|Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group
|
|-
||1971
||"If I Were Your Woman"
|Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Group
|
|-
||1972
||"Help Me Make It Through the Night"
|Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus
|
|-
|rowspan="2"|1973
||"Midnight Train to Georgia"
|Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus
|
|-
||"Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)"
|Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus
|
|-
||1974
||"I Feel a Song (In My Heart)"
|Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus
|
|-
| 1975
||"The Way We Were"/"Try to Remember"
|Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus
|
|-
||1977
||"Baby Don't Change Your Mind"
|Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus
|
|-
||1980
||"About Love"
|Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal
|
|-
||1988
||"Love Overboard"
|Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal
|
|-
Gladys Knight has received an additional four Grammy Awards as a solo artist/collaborator.
Other awards and inductions
- 1988 Gladys Knight & the Pips received the Heritage Award (Later renamed the Quincy Jones Award for Career Achievement) at the Soul Train Music Awards.
- 1989 Gladys Knight & the Pips inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame.
- 1996 Gladys Knight & the Pips inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
- 1998 Gladys Knight & the Pips received Lifetime Achievement Award from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation.
- 1999 Gladys Knight & the Pips inducted into the GRAMMY Hall of Fame ("Midnight Train to Georgia").
- 2001 Gladys Knight & the Pips inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame.
- 2006 Gladys Knight & the Pips inducted into the Apollo Theater's Hall of Fame.
- 2009 Gladys Knight & the Pips inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.
- 2018 Gladys Knight & The Pips are again inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame ("I Heard It Through The Grapevine")
References
Notes
External links
- 'Gladys Knight and The Pips' Vocal Group Hall of Fame Page