Photos courtesy of CAA
A seven-time Grammy winner and one of Rolling Stone Magazine’s 100 Greatest Singers of All Time, Gladys Knight has enjoyed #1 hits in pop, gospel, R&B, and adult contemporary, including “Midnight Train to Georgia,” “That’s What Friends Are For,” and “Love Overboard.”
The McCoy Marquee Series presents Gladys Knight at the Jeanne B. McCoy Community Center for the Arts on Tuesday, February 12, at 7:30 pm.
Tickets are $51.50-$100 and can be purchased in-person at the CAPA Ticket Center (39 E. State St.), online at www.mccoycenter.org, or by phone at (614) 469-0939 or (800) 745-3000.
About Gladys Knight
Georgia-born, Knight began performing gospel music at age four in the Mount Mariah Baptist Church and sang as a guest soloist with the Morris Brown College Choir. Three years later, she won the grand prize on television’s “Ted Mack’s Amateur Hour,” and the following year, her mother 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/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 line-up 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 #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 #1 hit in 1985 when she teamed with Stevie Wonder, Elton John, and Dionne Warwick on “That’s What Friends are For.” She and Stevie 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.
All told, Knight has recorded more than 38 albums over the years, including four solo albums during the past decade—Good Woman (1991); Just for You (1994); the inspirational Many Different Roads (1999); and At Last(2001).
Her involvement in other creative undertakings, business ventures, and humanitarian activities has been extensive and has brought her honors from industry and community alike. In 1986, she produced and starred in the Cable Ace Award-winning “Sisters in the Name of Love,” an HBO special co-starring Dionne Warwick and Patti LaBelle. That same year, she showcased her acting ability when she co-starred with Flip Wilson in the CBS comedy “Charlie & Co.” Other acting roles followed on such TV shows as “Benson,” “The Jeffersons,” and “New York Undercover,” and in such television films as Pipe Dreams, An Enemy Among Us, and Desperado. She recorded the title theme for the James Bond movie License to Kill (1989). In 1999, she completed a starring run on Broadway in the smash musical hit Smokey Joe’s Café.
In 1995, Knight earned her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and the next year, Gladys Knight & The Pips were inducted into the Rock ‘N’ Roll Hall of Fame. Knight published autobiography Between Each Line of Pain and Glory in 1997, and the next year, she and The Pips were presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame. In 2004, Knight received the “Lifetime Achievement Award” at the annual BET Awards ceremony.
About the Jeanne B. McCoy Community Center for the Arts
The Jeanne B. McCoy Community Center for the Arts, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation, established in 2007 by a unique joint operating agreement between the New Albany Community Foundation, the City of New Albany, Plain Township, and the New Albany Plain Local School District.
Since opening in 2008, the McCoy Center has drawn more than 100,000 people, fulfilling its mission of fostering an appreciation of arts and culture by providing life-long learning opportunities through education, exposure, and participation. For more information, visit www.mccoycenter.org.
