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Her faith in God has been the driving force behind all of Knight's endeavors, guiding her through her many successes. Learn 50 things you didn't know about Gladys Knight.
1. This seven-time Grammy winner has enjoyed #1 hits in pop, R&B and Adult Contemporary, and has triumphed in film, television and live performance.
2. On October 10th, 2006, Knight treated fans to a new album paying homage to the great legends of song - Ella, Duke, Billie, Lena, and more - on her Verve Records debut, Before Me.
3. October 26th, 2006, Knight kicked off her new collaboration by performing at the legendary Apollo Theater in Harlem for The Ashley Stewart Stores Community Foundation Gala, a star-studded evening of entertainment benefiting several charities: Dress for Success; The Boys Choir of Harlem; and The Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund.
4. October 3rd Knight released her second collaboration with the Saints Unified Voices gospel choir, A Christmas Celebration, an album of holiday classics.
5. Fresh off a "Best Gospel/Choir Album" Grammy win for their debut collaboration, One Voice, Knight again directs the 100-member multi-cultural choir she formed, injecting their unique flavor and definitive soul into such Christmas staples as "Silent Night," "White Christmas," and a medley of "Winter Wonderland/Jingle Bells" among others.
6. Knight won another Grammy for her duet with the late Ray Charles on his posthumous album Genius Loves Company. The duo won for Best Gospel Performance for their duet "Heaven Help Us All."
7. Last summer, Knight also received the BET Lifetime Achievement Award for her influence and accomplishments as a performer in a career spanning over 50 years.
8. Knight just finished voicing her first animated project, HOLIDAZE, the story of Rusty the Reindeer, Rudolph's kid brother. She voices 'Candi,' a Southern belle bunny rabbit.
9. Her other recent credits include UNBEATABLE HAROLD opposite Dylan McDermott and Henry Winkler, NBC's "Las Vegas," former CBS hit "JAG," the Harrison Ford film HOLLYWOOD HOMICIDE, and FOX's "American Idol" as well as "American Juniors."
10. Knight also recently ended a critically-acclaimed four-year run performing nightly at the famed Flamingo Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, which was hailed "the number-one show on the Strip" by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
11. Knight's solo album At Last won a Grammy for Best Traditional R&B Vocal Album in 2002.
12. During the televised opening ceremonies kicking off the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, she performed "This is Our Time."
13. She is Georgia born.
14. Knight began performing gospel music at age four in the Mount Mariah Baptist Church.
15. Sang as a guest soloist with the Morris Brown College Choir.
16. Won the grand prize on television's "Ted Mack's Amateur Hour."
17. She, along with her brother Bubba, her sister Brenda and her cousins William and Elenor Guest, formed The Pips.
18. 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.
19. The group debuted their first album in 1960, when Knight was just sixteen.
20. 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.
21. 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.
22. 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.
23. 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."
24. All told, Knight has recorded more than 38 albums over the years, including four solo albums during the past decade.
25. Her involvement in other creative undertakings, business ventures and humanitarian activities has been extensive, and has brought her honors from industry and community alike.
26. 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.
27. She showcased her acting ability when she co-starred with Flip Wilson in the CBS comedy "Charlie & Co."
28. Other acting roles followed on such TV shows as "Benson," "The Jefferson's" and "New York Undercover," and in such television films as "Pipe Dreams," "An Enemy Among Us" and "Desperado."
29. She recorded the title theme for the James Bond movie "License to Kill".
30. In 1999, she completed a starring run on Broadway in the smash musical hit "Smokey Joe's Café."
31. In 1995, Knight earned her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
32. Gladys Knight & The Pips were inducted into the Rock 'N' Roll Hall of Fame.
33. Knight published an autobiography, "Between Each Line of Pain and Glory",
34. She and The Pips were presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame.
35. A humanitarian and philanthropist, Knight has devoted to various worthy causes, including the American Diabetes Association - for which she is a national spokesperson, the American Cancer Society, the Minority AIDS Project, amFAR and Crisis Intervention.
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36. She has been honored by numerous organizations as well, including the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and B'Nai Brith.
37. She is a mother, grandmother, performer and a businesswoman with a spiritual outlook on her life.
38. Her faith in God has been the driving force behind all of Knight's endeavors, guiding her through her many successes.
39. Knight's son Shanga owns a chain of chicken and waffles restaurants based in Atlanta, bearing her name.
40. Knight has been married four times. She has three children.
41. In 1960, she married her high school sweetheart, James Newman. They had one son, James "Jimmy" Newman.
42. She retired from the road to raise their child while the Pips toured on their own.
43. In 1963, after having her only daughter, Kenya, Knight returned to recording with the Pips in order to support her family. James and Knight divorced in 1973.
44. In 1974, Knight married producer and Blackground Records founder Barry Hankerson, who is the uncle of the late R&B singer Aaliyah, in Detroit.
45. Around 1977, they relocated to Atlanta.
46. The couple had one son, Shanga Hankerson, and divorced in 1981.
47. Knight married motivational speaker Les Brown in 1995, but they separated and divorced in 1997.
48. Also in 1997, she was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, following her son and daughter.
49. Knight married her husband, William McDowell, in 2001.
50. They have sixteen grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
Source: facebook.com/msgladysknight, Wikipedia.org
