Gladys Knight and The Pips
Gladys began winning talent contests at the age of four and
offers for a showbiz career were frequent, though her mother
insisted that Gladys finish her education first.
Gladys Knight and The Pips were comparatively late arrivals at
the Motown party, already well established when signed to the soul
subsidiary in 1966. Like every woman on the label who wasn't
called Diana Ross, Knight found herself some way down the pecking
order when the songs were being handed out.
Yet with the Pips' subtle promptings and an initial helping
hand from producer Norman Whitfield she cut some glorious 45's.
Gritty and intense, Knight was arguably the best female voice
Berry Gordy ever signed, equally at home with up-tempo tracks (I
Heard It Through The Grapevine) or on mighty ballads such as If
I Were Your Woman. Gladys could sing her shopping list and
turn it into an epic tearjerker . . .
But Knight's raw, gritty emoting was just too soulful for
Motown (which built its pop foundations on the gentler tones of
Mary Wells and the honeyed sweetness of The Supremes) and it
wasn't until Gladys signed to Buddah Records in 1973 that she
was fully appreciated - even if her material became smoother and
more pop-oriented in the process.
Edward Patten was a Pip for 30 years, backing his cousin
Gladys on more than 25 hit singles. When Knight went solo in
1989 he and fellow Pip William Guest (another cousin) invested
in an ice cream business and launched Crew Records. Patten died
in 2005.
|
