Chaka Kahn + Ron Isley + Stephanie Mills + Angela Winbush - Gladys Knight and the Pips Tribute - Live American Music Awards - 1989
  • há 3 anos
Dionne Warwick Presents Awards

Gladys Maria Knight (born May 28, 1944), known as the "Empress of Soul",[1][2] is an American singer, songwriter, actress, businesswoman, and author. A seven-time Grammy Award-winner,[3] Knight is known for the hits she recorded during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s with her group Gladys Knight & the Pips, which also included her brother Merald "Bubba" Knight and cousins William Guest and Edward Patten.

Knight has recorded two number-one Billboard Hot 100 singles ("Midnight Train to Georgia" and "That's What Friends Are For"), eleven number-one R&B singles, and six number-one R&B albums. She has won seven Grammy Awards (four as a solo artist and three with the Pips) and is an inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Vocal Group Hall of Fame along with The Pips. 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.[4][5] She also recorded the theme song for the 1989 James Bond film Licence to Kill. Rolling Stone magazine ranked Knight among the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time.
Knight suffered through a gambling addiction that lasted more than a decade. In the late 1980s, after losing $60,000 in one night at the baccarat table, she joined Gamblers Anonymous, which helped her quit the habit.[41]

Previously a Baptist, in 1997 she was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, following her son and daughter joining the LDS church.[43] She had occasionally teased LDS president, the late Gordon B. Hinckley, saying his flock needed to inject some "pep" into their music.[44] He agreed, which resulted in the Grammy Award-winning Saints Unified Voices gospel music choir being formed. Knight later led the Be One Choir at "Be One 40th Anniversary Celebration of the Revelation on the Priesthood."[45]

Knight's son Jimmy Newman managed her career through his Newman Management Inc. until his death from heart failure on July 10, 1999 at age 36.[46] Newman was survived by his wife, Michelene; daughters Nastasia and Gabrielle; and sons Rishawn, Stefan and Sterling.[38]

Knight married William McDowell in 2001.[47] They have seventeen grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren between them.[48] Knight and McDowell reside in North Carolina, where they own a community center that was formerly a school attended by McDowell.[49]

In 2017, Knight helped raise $400,000 for the Children's Learning Centers of Fairfield County. The event was held at the Palace Theatre and was co-hosted by Carol Anne Riddell and Alan Kalter.[50] In September 2020, on Instagram Live , Gladys appeared alongside Patti Labelle on the latest Verzuz battle produced by Swizz Beatz and Timbaland, Knight revealed that she is actually 77 years old and that she is one year older than 76 year old Patti Labelle.
Recomendado