GROSS: Now, I believe that Gladys Knight and the Pips got started at your brother Bubba's ninth birthday party. And my mom just taught us how to be innovative with our dress, you know, and that kind of thing. And I would go downtown - after I got old enough to ride the bus downtown - and I would go down to this little secondhand store. Well, she would pinch a little bit off of it, you know? And I had this little secondhand store that I had found. And if I wanted a new dress, which I did quite often. And after I got older and needed to do certain things - like, I was singing very early. KNIGHT: My mom actually put it in a savings account for us. GROSS: What'd you do with the $2,000 you won? Mack used to come up and tease us and do all of those things. So whenever they wanted - Little Gladys is what they used to call me - they would send somebody up to makeup, you know. I mean, I spent most of my time in the makeup room. KNIGHT: I mean, the lipstick was the bomb, I'm telling you. ![]() But it wasn't so much that I was getting wiped out by it. KNIGHT: And the whole idea was really exciting. And it was quite an experience because I'd never been to New York before, and I'd definitely never been on television before. ![]() So we went to New York, and we auditioned for them, and we got to be right on the show. And they wrote her back and said, yes, we would love to have her come. My mom wrote to them and asked them if I could be on the show and if I would get an audition with them. GROSS: Did you have stage fright? Were you afraid to perform, or was it easy for you? GROSS: So were you good? Did you think - I'm great I'm going to win I've nailed this? Did you think you were good? It was just about keeping us busy doing ballet or doing gymnastics or whatever it was that we could do. It was not so much about creating an avenue or getting us prepped for show business. My mom did not believe, as other members in our families, about, you know, idle minds. GROSS: Well, whose idea was it for you to do the show? KNIGHT: Now, that was quite an experience. Which I think of as the "Star Search" of the past, right? (Laughter). GROSS: Now, all your biographies say that when you were 7, you won first place on Ted Mack's "Original Amateur Hour". I did songs like "Ave Maria" and "Bless This House." And in the pop category, I did "Because Of You" and "Be My Love" and "Too Young." In the spiritual category, I did things like "Go Down, Moses" and "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot." So I got to do all kinds of songs, and I loved it. And at the time, we weren't being so typecast in music as sometimes we are today. KNIGHT: Well, actually, my mom and dad had created with the church family a recital for me. GROSS: What was the church like, and what did you sing? GROSS: Now, you started singing in church, I guess, when you were 4 years old? Now, since you started your career as a child, I want to start our interview. TERRY GROSS: Gladys Knight, congratulations. It was part of the 15th anniversary celebration of City Arts & Lectures, which presents onstage conversations with leading figures in literature, criticism and the performing arts. Terry interviewed Gladys Knight that year in San Francisco. In 1996, Gladys Knight and the Pips were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. In the 1970s, after leaving Motown, she sang deeply affecting adult ballads such as "Midnight Train To Georgia" and "You're The Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me." Gladys Knight is perhaps the only performer in Motown history who had hits before joining the label and after leaving it. We've come to end of our road - road.īIANCULLI: Gladys Knight and the Pips began their eight-year stay at Motown in 1966, turning out hits, which included "I Heard It Through The Grapevine," "If I Were Your Woman" and "Neither One Of Us." Before joining Motown, they recorded their first hit, "Every Beat Of My Heart," when Gladys was still in high school. Now is the time for the showdown, so let me give you the lowdown. If I stay around, you'll surely tear it all apart. Like a kid behind the wheel, you've been reckless with my heart. ![]() ![]() Too much for me, baby - more than my heart can stand. GLADYS KNIGHT AND THE PIPS: (Singing) Ooh, got to get away from you fast as I can. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE END OF OUR ROAD") To conclude our series, an interview with Gladys Knight. That festival is the subject of the recent documentary "Summer Of Soul," directed by Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson. During our "Summer Of Soul" series, we've been featuring interviews from our archives with performers who were part of the legendary 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, a series of free concerts showcasing all kinds of black music.
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