The great ones endure, and Gladys Knight has long been one of the greatest. Very few singers over the last 50 years have matched her unassailable artistry. The seven-time GRAMMY winner will perform live in concert March 22 at 7:30 p.m. at the Bologna Performing Arts Center on Delta State’s campus.
The concert is locally sponsored by Bolivar Medical Center.
Georgia-born, Knight began performing gospel music at age four. Three years later, she won the grand prize on television’s “Ted Mack’s Amateur Hour,” and the following year, her mother Elizabeth Knight created the group consisting of Gladys, her brother Bubba, her sister Brenda, and her cousins William and Elenor Guest. They called themselves The Pips in honor of their cousin and manager, James Pip Woods.
In 1959, Brenda and Elenor left the group, replaced by cousin Edward Patten and friend Langston George. The group was renamed Gladys Knight & The Pips, and following George’s departure in 1962, the classic lineup was in place.
The group debuted their first album in 1960, when Knight was just 16. With Knight singing lead and The Pips providing lush harmonies and graceful choreography, the group went on to achieve icon status, having recorded some of the most memorable songs of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. 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 No. 1 smash “Midnight Train to Georgia,” established Gladys Knight and The Pips as the premiere pop/R&B vocal ensemble in the world.
The party kept rolling with hits like “On and On” from the Academy Award-nominated soundtrack of Curtis Mayfield’s “Claudine,” the 1974 comedy about love in the inner city. Knight enjoyed another No. 1 hit in 1985 when she teamed with Stevie Wonder, Elton John and Dionne Warwick on “That’s What Friends are For.” She and Wonder sang together again for the successful “Frank Sinatra Duets II” album, joining his voice for the song “For Once in My Life” in 1994.
Rolling Stone magazine listed her among the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time, and she’s a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Knight has enjoyed No. 1 hits in pop, gospel, R&B and adult contemporary, and has triumphed in film, television and live performance. She loves to perform, beaming her trademark smile as she connects with audiences on an intimately emotional level.
Tickets to see Gladys Knight are on sale at www.bolognapac.com or by contacting the BPAC Ticket Office at 662-846-4626.
