![]() Suddenly, Gladys Knight & the Pips, the classy soul group from the Peach State, was the top pop act in the country. It spawned three gold-selling singles: “Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me,” “I’ve Got to Use My Imagination,” and “Midnight Train to Georgia,” the group’s signature hit, an across-the-board chart-topper and Grammy winner. They were guaranteed creative freedom and marketing muscle, all of which they received as their debut album for the label, “Imagination,” sold more than a million copies. They signed with Buddha Records, a label with a diverse pop background. That year proved to be a blockbuster one for Knight & the Pips. By that time, the company’s roster already brimmed with mega-star performers: Diana Ross & the Supremes, Martha Reeves & the Vandellas, Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, the Four Tops, the Temptations, and Marvin Gaye.ĭespite their second-tier status at Motown, Knight & the Pips scored major hits, including “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” “Daddy Could Swear (I Declare),” “If I Were Your Woman,” and “I Don’t Want to Do Wrong.” At a label that prided itself on repackaging black music for white America, the quartet kept things decidedly funky, with Knight’s grit-and-silk vocals scorching every song she touched with gospel fire.īy 1973, Knight & the Pips had had enough of Motown, declining to renew their contract as one of their last singles for the label, “Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye),” soared to the top of the pop and R&B charts and won a Grammy. The Atlanta family group consisting of Knight, her brother Bubba and her cousins Edward Patten and William Guest signed with the legendary Detroit label in 1966. ![]() E-Pilot Evening Edition Home Page Close Menuĭuring their seven years at Motown, Gladys Knight & the Pips were never treated as a top-shelf act.
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