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Top 10 Facts about Gladys Knight

Gladys Knight, known as the 鈥淓mpress of Soul,鈥� is an American singer, businesswoman and actress. She is popularly known for the hits she recorded during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s with her group, The Pips.

Gladys recorded the theme song for the 1989 James Bond film Licence to Kill, and Rolling Stone magazine ranked her among the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time.

Learn more about Gladys Knight in these top 10 facts.

1. Gladys Knight Was Born in Atlanta

She was born on May 28, 1944, in Atlanta, Georgia. She is the daughter of Merald Woodlow Knight Sr. and Sarah Elizabeth. Gladys would sing in the church choir throughout the late 1940s and 1950s. She gained fame in singing by winning Ted Mack鈥檚 The Original Amateur Hour Tv show contest at the age of eight in 1952.

Also read: Top 10 Famous Singers from Dallas, Texas

2. Gladys Knight Is Known for Her UK Farewell Tour 

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Gladys began her farewell tour of the United Kingdom, which featured Tito Jackson as her supporting act and special appearances by Dionne Warwick. The UK Farewell Tour featured higher production values.

A glossy program was available, and the show featured pre-produced animation on large on-stage screens. The tour was promoted by an appearance on the TV program 鈥淟ater鈥�with Jools Holland” where Knight performed 鈥淚f I Were Your Woman鈥� and 鈥淗elp Me Make It Through the Night.鈥�

A select performance on the UK Farewell Tour recordings of the concerts was made available for sale on USB flash drives. After the Farewell Tour, she began touring the UK again a few years later, playing gigs in Scotland and England in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019 and 2022.

3. A Chain of Chicken and Waffles Bears Her Name

Gladys’ son Shanga Hankerson owns a chain of chicken and waffles restaurants which bears her name. Gladys Knight & Ron Winans鈥� Chicken & Waffles currently have three locations in the Atlanta area. One of its locations was featured on the Travel Channel original series Man v. Food.

Two of the restaurants and their headquarters were raided by authorities on June 21, 2016, involving unpaid taxes, interest and penalties. Shanga was accused of stealing over $650,000 in sales and withholding tax.

4. Gladys Made Her Acting Debut in 1976

In 1976, Gladys made her acting debut as the lead in the film Pipe Dreams for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year- Actress. Subsequently, in 2003 Gladys had a small role in the movie Hollywood Homicide.

Gladys was featured in Tyler Perry鈥檚 I Can Do Bad All by Myself in 2009. The film version of a play he had dramatized and performed her song The Need To Be from the 1974 album I Feel a Song.

Check out: 10 Iconic US Musicians from Florida

5. Gladys Has Been Featured in Several Television Shows and Series

Photo of singer Gladys Knight from 1974. Photo outsourced from

She starred in a variety show, The Gladys Knight and the Pips Show, in 1975 unfortunately, the show was cancelled after four episodes. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Gladys’s guest-starred on several TV series such as The Jeffersons, The Jamie Foxx Show, Benson, and New York Undercover, among many others.

In April 2009, Gladys made a special guest appearance and performed a song on Tyler Perry鈥檚 House of Payne. She has also made Cameo appearances, including on Las Vegas and 30 Rock, and in 2017 she appeared as herself in the musical-drama TV series Star.

6. Gladys Knight and The Pips Were a Family Group

Gladys Knight & the Pips was an American soul, R&B and funk family music group that remained active on music charts and performed for over three decades starting from the early 1950s.

The name was derived from a cousin鈥檚 nickname James 鈥淧ip鈥� Woods. The founding members were Gladys Knight, brother Merald 鈥淏ubba鈥� Knight, sister Brenda Knight, cousin Eleanor Guest and William Guest.

In 1957, the group signed with Brunswick Records, recording several singles that failed to chart. After signing with Motown Records in 1966, the group reached commercial success and scored several major hit singles, such as I Heard It Through the Grapevine.

7. Gladys Knight Has Been Married Four Times

In 1960, at 16, she married Atlanta musician and classmate James 鈥淛immy鈥� Newman. The couple went on to have two children. Newman became a drug addict and abandoned the family when Gladys was 20; after being separated for seven years, she divorced Newman in 1973.

In 1973, Gladys married Barry Hankerson in Detroit, the couple had one son, Shangab Ali Hankerson, and they relocated to Atlanta. In 1979 the marriage ended with a prolonged custody battle over their son, and Gladys spent over a million dollars looking for her son after he was kidnapped.

Subsequently, Gladys married motivational speaker Les Brown in 1995, but they separated and divorced in 1997. In 2001, she married William McDowell, with whom they have seventeen grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren.

Gladys and McDowell reside in Asheville, North Carolina, near where they own a community center, the former Reynolds High School in Canton, attended by McDowell. She helped raise $400,000 for the Children’s Learning Center of Fairfield County in 2017. The event was held at the Palace Theatre and was co-hosted by Carol Anne Riddell and Alan Kalter.

8. Gladys Suffered Through a Gambling Addiction

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Gladys engaged in gambling which addicted her, lasting for more than a decade. In the late 1980s, after losing $60,000 in one night at the baccarat table, she joined Gamblers Anonymous, which helped her quit the habit.

9. Gladys Converted from Baptist to Catholic

In 1997, Gladys was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints following her son and daughter leaving Catholicism to join. She had occasionally teased LDS president Gordon B. Hinckley, saying his flock needed to inject some 鈥減ep鈥� into their music. He agreed, which resulted in the Grammy Award-winning Saints Unified Voices gospel music choir being formed.

Gladys later led the Be One Choir at 鈥淏e One 40th Anniversary Celebration of the Revelation on the Priesthood.”

Also read: 30 Best Music Festivals you have to Attend

10. Her Solo Music Career Was Successful

In 1991, Gladys released her third and most successful solo LP, Good Woman, on MCA, which hit No. 1 on the R&B album chart, featured the No.2 R&B hit 鈥淢en,鈥� and reached No.45 on the main Billboard album chart-her all-time-highest showing.

Gladys’s fourth solo album, Just for You, went Gold and was nominated for the 1995 Grammy Award for Best R&B Album. In 2005 a duet between Knight and Ray Charles of 鈥淵ou Were There鈥� was released on Charles鈥� duet album Genius & Friends.

Gladys accepted an invitation to sing the national anthem at Super Bowl LIII in 2019 and was invited to play at the 100th Anniversary of Delaware State, located in Harrington, Delaware.