

She had her first breakthrough into the spotlight at the age of 8 when she won Ted Mack's The Original Amateur Hour contest. As a child and into her teens, Knight sang in her local church choir where she refined her Motown chops. She has a sister (Brenda) and two brothers (Merald "Bubba" Jr. Gladys Knight was born in Atlanta, Georgia to Merald Knight Sr. Her most recent appearances came when she played herself in Coming 2 America in 2021 and when she wore the bee costume on "The Masked Singer" in 2019. Off the stage, Knight has authored two books, including a biography titled Each Line of Pain and Glory: My Life Story, and made various appearances on television and the big screen. Knight was also included on Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Singers of All Time list. In 1996, her band Gladys Knight & the Pips was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Over her illustrious career, she has released 10 studio albums, with her debut album Miss Gladys Knight releasing in 1978, and her most recent work Where My Heart Belongs coming out in 2014. The seven-time Grammy award winner has won across three categories including Pop, R&B and Gospel, and has another 22 nominations spanning across five decades. Although she's perhaps best known for her original rendition of the R&B classic "I Heard it Through the Grapevine (1967)," Knight has remained in the limelight as one of the all-time greats for the last 60 years. One of Motown's most iconic acts, Gladys Knight, returns to the big stage in 25 cities across North America for her 2022 tour. She has been honored by numerous organizations as well, including the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Congress of Racial Equality, B’Nai Brith, and is a recent recipient of BET’s Lifetime Achievement Award.The "Empress of Soul" is back. Knight cameoed on the Emmy-winning NBC hit comedy 30 Rock, starred as Jamie Foxx’s mother on The Jamie Foxx Show, and appeared as a guest judge on American Idol.Ī humanitarian and philanthropist, Knight has devoted to various worthy causes, including the American Diabetes Association, the American Cancer Society, the Minority AIDS Project, amFAR and Crisis Intervention, and The Boys and Girls Club. A tireless performer who still wows audiences around the country and the world, Knight also finds the time to make forays into film and television. Knight, known worldwide as the “Empress of Soul,” has recorded more than 38 albums throughout her career.
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Top-20 hits, like Every Beat of My Heart, Letter Full of Tears, I Heard it Through the Grapevine, and If I Were Your Woman set the stage for an amazing run in the mid-1970s, with top-10 gold-certified singles like Neither One of Us (Wants to be the First to Say Goodbye), I’ve Got to Use My Imagination, Best Thing to Ever Happen to Me, and the #1 smash Midnight Train to Georgia established Gladys Knight and The Pips as the premiere pop/R&B vocal ensemble in the world. With Knight singing lead, and The Pips providing lush harmonies and graceful choreography, the group went on to achieve icon status, recoding some of the most memorable songs of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.

The group debuted their first album in 1960, when Knight was just sixteen. Just a few years later, Gladys and her siblings and cousins formed a group and started making a name for themselves. Georgia-born, Knight began performing gospel music at age four. This seven-time Grammy winner has enjoyed #1 hits in pop, gospel, R&B, and adult contemporary, and has triumphed in film, television, and live performance.

Very few singers over the last fifty years have matched her unassailable artistry. The great ones endure, and Gladys Knight has long been one of the greatest.
