Gladys Knight

Gladys Maria Knight (born May 28, 1944) is an American singer and actress. 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. She has won seven Grammy Awards (four as a solo artist and three with the Pips), and is often referred to as the "Empress of Soul".

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, Elton John and Stevie Wonder), eleven number-one R&B singles and six number-one R&B albums. In 1989, Knight recorded the theme song for the James Bond film Licence to Kill.

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 is an inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Vocal Group Hall of Fame along with The Pips. Rolling Stone magazine ranked Knight among the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time (2010). 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 both 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. At the age of eight, she won Ted Mack's The Original Amateur Hour TV show contest singing Nat King Cole's "Too Young." Shortly after, 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 and manager, James "Pip" Woods.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.