One of the great soul singers, Gladys Knight was a performer from her childhood years, forming the Pips with her brother Merald and a couple cousins. They made the Top Ten in 1961 with the heavily doo wop-influenced "Every Beat of My Heart," and recorded some fine, nowadays overlooked pop-soul sides for the Fury and Maxx labels 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. Steeped in the gospel tradition, like so many soul singers, Knight & the Pips developed into one of Motown's most dependable acts, although they never quite scaled the commercial or artistic heights of fellow stars on the label like the Supremes, Marvin Gaye, and the Temptations. With Norman Whitfield providing the production and much of the songwriting, 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 midtempo soul ("It Should Have Been Me" and "The End of Our Road"), and smooth ballads like "If I Were Your Woman."
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Hi Gladys! Thank you so much for the "Add" - God bless you! I finally got to see you in concert on Fri. night at RodeoHouston - loved every minute of it, except when it came time for you to say Goodbye - didn't want it to end. I absolutely LOVE the sound of your voice - always have - always will. There's just something about the quality of your voice - unlike any other. I love you! May God grant you many, many more years of favor & success!!
Blessed Luv an Greetings Gladys Knight an The Pips, thank you for being my friend, Sista Levii passing thru ur page sending Luv & Light, keep up the brillience as u have played a very important part of my life an thruout the years. Luv u always!! Have a beautiful day..an don't be a stranger.
I love your Band and your Music and Sound.. I've been a fan ever since my Momma would play your music in the car, when I was a baby.. I'm serious.. Jesse
