Gladys Knight was a performer from her childhood years, forming the Pips with her brother Merald and a couple of cousins. They made the Top Ten in 1961 with the heavily doo wop-influenced “Every Beat of My Heart,” and recorded some fine, pop-soul sides in the early and mid-’60s, sometimes under the direction of songwriter Van McCoy. A couple 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, where Knight & the Pips developed into one of Motown’s most dependable acts. 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. The group members were 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. In 2011, she released “I (Who Have Nothing).” Knight continues to captivate audiences around the world.
