CityLife

Knight time is the right time for soul...

LAST HURRAH: Gladys Knight

LAST year, Gladys Knight was officially made a Soul Diva – although her fans have known that for years.

This year, the singer-songwriter, actress, author and businesswoman marks 50 years of an illustrious recording career with a farewell tour.

The winner of seven Grammy awards and a Golden Globe with 38 hit albums, four solo albums and a chain of hit songs to her credit, she’s looking forward to returning to Britain, albeit at a time tinged with sadness.

Over the years, Gladys has lost many of her friends, among them Marvin Gaye, Ray Charles and, most recently, Michael Jackson.

Saddened by his loss, she was asked to sing at his private funeral which was restricted to close friends and family.

“I’ve been a close friend of the Jackson family for many years,” Gladys confides. “I remember clearly my first sight of Michael when he was only a baby in nappies.

"He was always smiling and was obviously talented, like the rest of his family. But as he grew older, he never seemed to lose his simplicity, if you know what I’m saying. He was very naive and constantly looking for approval and affection.

"Sadly he didn’t always look or find it where you’d think. But who could have expected his death at 50? It’s the worst thing in the world to lose a child.”

Gladys speaks from the heart because she, too, lost her son Jimmy, who was also her manager, when he died suddenly at 36. Did she think Michael’s loss of childhood, because of the demands of the Jackson 5, had anything to do with his problems?

“I can only tell you that most of our friends in the business started young so that was nothing new. I was singing in the Baptist Church when I was two.

“I was four when I started giving recitals and seven when I won a national television talent show. In fact I’ve still got that trophy.

“During the school holidays I was touring when I was eight and, by 13 I was on the national circuit. But I was lucky enough to be supported by my family and my faith.

“Segregation was in full force in the fifties. Although we lived in Georgia, my parents had protected me from all the bad things that were happening.

"The first time I personally encountered it was when the coach stopped on tour and I went to get a drink of water. There was one fountain labelled black water and one white.

"I asked my mama what black water looked like, that’s how naive I was. When she didn’t answer I took a drink out of what I thought was the clean water fountain.

“I was slapped hard in the face by a white person for doing so and I wondered why my daddy just spoke quietly to the man and didn’t tell him off for hitting me.

Segregation

"That’s how I quickly learned what segregation meant and how blacks had to sit downstairs on buses while only whites were allowed upstairs and why we could rarely go in the front door of anywhere we played. We had to go in through the basement or back door.

“So when more of my family members, including my brother, Bubba, and sister, Brenda, wanted to be involved, singing back-up, my parents thought there’d be safety in numbers.

One of my cousins was nicknamed Pips and we became Gladys Knight And The Pips. The rest, as they say, is history.”

Well, maybe not quite. The line-up of The Pips changed over the years but their popularity remained until their retirement. Gladys Knight And The Pips made their first album in 1960 with some success. But it proved a traumatic year for Gladys.
“I was 16 and should have been excited about what was happening.

"But it killed me to tell my mom that I was pregnant. In the sixties, with my church background, there was no choice but to get married and make the best of it. I turned my back on my career, married and then sadly miscarried.

“I went back on the road to plug the album. But I loved my husband and when I did have two children I took time out to be a proper mother and bring them up. When my marriage broke up I went back on the road to earn some money and the children were safe with my mother and grandmother.”

During the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s the hits came thick and fast, with Every Beat Of My Heart, Letter Full Of Tears, Heard It Through The Grapevine, I’ve Got To Use My Imagination and Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me, with the number one smash hit Midnight Train To Georgia remaining one of Gladys’ favourites.

On And On, from the Academy-nominated soundtrack of Curtis Mayfield’s Claudine proved another success. In 1985 Gladys teamed up with Stevie Wonder, Elton John and Dionne Warwick for another number one smash hit, That’s What Friends Are For.

Dionne might be joining Gladys on stage next month as her special guest too.

“I rang her and told her that she should come and I know she always enjoys her visits here.” If she can, she will. But who knows? It would be great wouldn’t it?”

In 1995 Gladys won her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the following year the group was inducted into the Rock ’n’ Roll Hall of Fame. A far cry from the days when jealousy lost her a record label.

Motown label

“For a time we were with the Motown label and went on tour with Diana Ross. Apparently she didn’t like it because the audiences loved us and we were enjoying too many hits.

"We parted company with Berry Gordy, who owned the label, because he and Diana were in a relationship at the time."

In fact, Gladys had her biggest hits when she went to the Buddah Label, including, in 1989, the James Bond theme tune, Licence To Kill. Gladys, too, had dabbled in film, appearing in the unsuccessful Pipe Dream but it brought her a much coveted Golden Globe Award for Best Newcomer.

Writing her autobiography, Between Each Line of Pain And Glory, led Gladys to look back at the highs and lows in her life.

“I’ve been blessed in so many ways. I try not to judge those friends who’ve fallen by the wayside through drugs or drink because, although I’ve never gone down that path, it can be a lonely life as an artist and I’ve also fallen to temptation.

“Because many of my gigs were in the most luxurious casinos in the world, it became all too easy to try a little flutter at baccarat before the show and then after the show as well. I won the first time and became addicted. I won a fortune but lost an even greater one and it took help from my mom and a lot of prayer before I got myself back on track.

“I wrote to every casino asking them not to let me play after I went to one meeting of Gamblers Anonymous. When I heard the stories of how these people had lost their homes, their families and their self-respect that was enough. I went home and prayed and never gambled again.”

Now 65, Gladys has a full and happy life with interests in a chain of successful restaurants and designer jewellery... as well as a new husband.

Married four times, her last marriage, she claims, is her happiest.

“This is definitely the one,” she laughs. “I know people say that and then divorce, but William McDowell and I have been friends for years.

We lost touch and when we met again we just looked at one another with fresh eyes. We discovered that we’d both converted to the Mormon faith, which is an awesome covenant, and at last I’m with a man I can love and respect. It helps that we both walk the same spiritual path.”

Gladys is looking forward to her return to Manchester where a confirmed special guest will be Tito Jackson.

“In memory of Michael, I’ve invited his brother to join me on stage to pay a special tribute to Michael.

“But I hope it won’t be a sad evening.

“I’m kicking off this UK tour here because I remember Manchester audiences being great lovers of soul and I hope they’ll come and bring their families with them.

“I want them to have an energetic time and get up and dance if they wish. I also hope that everyone will enjoy themselves, because if you’re having a good time, then so will I!”

Gladys Knight plays the M.E.N. Arena on Tuesday, October 6. £40, £50. Call 0844 847 8000.