Music / Film & TV
Gladys Knight
born 1944 · singer, actress
The “Empress of Soul,” whose family group Gladys Knight & the Pips moved to Detroit in the 1960s and cut the first hit version of “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” for Motown.
- Born
Atlanta, Georgia
age 82- Birth name
- Gladys Maria Knight
- Also known as
- Empress of Soul
- Detroit years
- 1960s–1970s
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Gladys Knight and the Pips, a family group from Atlanta, already had hits when the Knights moved to Detroit in the early 1960s and settled in Sherwood Forest, an upscale neighborhood on the city's west side. In 1966 the group joined Motown, where they were first treated as a second-tier act and toured as the opening act for Diana Ross & the Supremes. They proved their worth in 1967 with “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” a No. 1 R&B hit a year before Marvin Gaye's version. More Motown hits followed, including “The Nitty Gritty,” “If I Were Your Woman” and the Grammy-winning “Neither One of Us.” In 1973 the group left for Buddah Records and scored “Midnight Train to Georgia.” In 1974 Knight married Barry Hankerson, then an aide to Mayor Coleman Young, in Detroit.
Highlights
- Joined Motown's roster with the Pips in 1966
- First hit recording of “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” (1967)
- Grammy for “Neither One of Us” (1972), a Motown release
- Seven Grammy Awards; Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
- Kennedy Center Honors and National Medal of Arts
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 2
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Recorded here · 1966–1972
Motown Museum
Motown's Detroit studio complex during the group's Motown years, when “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” was made. Now the Motown Museum.
Lived here · 1960s
Sherwood Forest neighborhood
Upscale west-side Detroit neighborhood of large homes where the Knight family lived.