May 28: "Empress of Soul,” Gladys Knight is 67 years-old today.

Gladys Maria Knight was born in Atlanta, Georgia She first gained attention at the age of 7 when she won Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour TV show in 1952. The following year, she, her brother Merald, sister Brenda, and cousins William and Elenor Guest formed a musical group called The Pips (named after another cousin, James "Pip" Woods.)

 By the end of the 1950s, the act had begun to tour, and had replaced Brenda Knight and Eleanor Guest with Gladys Knight's cousin Edward Patten and friend Langston George.

Gladys Knight & the Pips joined the Motown roster in 1966. Although regarded as a secondary act, they scored several hit singles, including "I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” "Friendship Train," "If I Were Your Woman," "I Don't Want To Do Wrong,"the Grammy Award winning "Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye") and "Daddy Could Swear (I Declare.)"

Early on, Gladys Knight and the Pips toured as the opening act for Diana Ross and The Supremes. Gladys Knight stated in her memoirs that Ross kicked her off the tour because the audience's reception to Knight's soulful performance overshadowed her.

The group left Motown for Buddah Records in 1973, and achieved full-fledged success that year with hits such as the Grammy-winning "Midnight Train to Georgia" (#1 on the pop and R&B chart), "I've Got to Use My Imagination," and "You're the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me.”

In the summer of 1974, Knight and the Pips recorded the soundtrack to the successful film Claudine with producer Curtis Mayfield. The act was particularly successful in Europe, and especially the U.K.

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At the same time, Gladys made her motion picture acting debut in the film Pipe Dreams, a romantic drama set in Alaska. The film failed at the box-office, but Knight did receive a Golden Globe Best New Actress nomination.

Knight and the Pips continued to have hits until the late 1970s, when they were forced to record separately due to legal issues, resulting in Knight's first solo LP recordings -Miss Gladys Knight on Buddah and Gladys Knight on Columbia Records.

In the early 1980s, Johnny Mathis invited Gladys to record two duets – "When A Child Is Born" (previously a hit for Mathis) and "The Lord's Prayer.”

Signing with Columbia Records in 1980 and restored as a quartet, Gladys Knight & the Pips began releasing new material. The act enlisted former Motown producers Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson for their first two LPs -About Love and Touch. During this period, Knight kicked a gambling addiction to the game baccarat.

In 1987, Knight decided to pursue a solo career, and in 1987, she and the Pips recorded their final LP together, All Our Love for MCA Records. Its lead single, "Love Overboard,” was a successful hit and won a third Grammy for the act as well. After a successful 1988 tour, the Pips retired and Knight began her solo career.


While still with The Pips, Knight joined with Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, and Elton John on the 1986 AIDS benefit single, "That's What Friends Are For" which won a Grammy for Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal. In 1989, Gladys Knight recorded the title track for the James Bond movie Licence to Kill, a top 10 hit both in the UK, reaching #6, and Germany.

Knight's third solo LP, Good Woman, was released by MCA in 1991. It rose to #1 on the R&B album chart and featured the #2 R&B hit "Men.” The album also featured "Superwoman,” written by Babyface and featuring Dionne Warwick and Patti LaBelle. Knight and LaBelle would collaborate the same year on "I Don't Do Duets,” a duet with Patti LaBelle from LaBelle's album Burnin'.


Her fourth solo LP, Just for You, went gold and was nominated for the 1995 Grammy Award for Best R&B Album.
In 2008, a duet between Knight and Johnny Mathis was released on Mathis' album A Night to Remember.

In October 2009, Gladys started her farewell tour of the United Kingdom. On December 21, 2010, Knight released her new single "Settle" on iTunes and Amazon.

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Gladys Knight & the Pips were inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 1989 and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. She is ranked number eighteen on VH1 network's list of the 100 Greatest Women of Rock.

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Gladys Knight's son Shanga owns a chain of chicken and waffles restaurants based in Atlanta, bearing her name. Gladys Knight & Ron Winans' Chicken & Waffles currently have three locations in the Atlanta area.



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May 28: Australia vocalist and actress, Kylie Minogue is 43 years-old today.

Kylie Ann Minogue was born in Melbourne, Australia. Her sister, Dannii Minogue, is also a pop singer.

The Minogue sisters began their careers as children on Australian television. When she was 11, Kylie appeared in small roles in soap operas such as The Sullivans and Skyways, and in 1985 was cast in one of the lead roles in The Henderson Kids. Interested in persuing a musical career, she made a demo tape for the producers of the weekly music programme Young Talent Time, which featured Dannii as a regular performer.

Kylie's first singing performance on the show came in 1985. However she was not invited to join the cast. Dannii's success overshadowed Kylie's acting achievements, until Kylie was cast in the soap opera Neighbours in 1986, as Charlene Mitchell, a schoolgirl turned garage mechanic.

Neighbours achieved popularity in the UK, and a story arc that created a romance between her character and the character played by Jason Donovan, culminated in a wedding episode in 1987 that attracted an audience of 20 million British viewers.

Her popularity in Australia was confirmed when she became the first person to win four Logie Awards in one event, and the youngest recipient of the "Gold Logie" as the country's "Most Popular Television Performer."

During a Fitzroy Football Club benefit concert with other Neighbours cast members, Minogue performed "I Got You Babe" as a duet with the actor John Waters, and "The Loco-Motion" as an encore, and was subsequently signed to a recording contract with Mushroom Records in 1987.

Released as a single, "Locomotion," spent seven weeks at number one on the Australian singles chart and became the highest selling single of the decade. Her debut album, Kylie, released in 1988, and the single "I Should Be So Lucky," each reached number one in the United Kingdom.

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Over the next two years, her first 13 singles reached the British top ten. Her debut film, The Delinquents was a box-office hit in Australia and the UK despite being panned by critics.

Initially presented as a "girl next door," Minogue attempted to convey a more mature style in her music and public image.

Her singles were well received, but after four albums her record sales were declining, and in 1992 she left her management company to establish herself as an independent performer. Her next single, "Confide in Me," reached number one in Australia and was a hit in several European countries in 1994, and a duet with Nick Cave, "Where the Wild Roses Grow," brought Minogue a greater degree of artistic acceptance. 

Drawing inspiration from a range of musical styles and artists, Minogue took creative control over the songwriting for her 1997 album, Impossible Princess. It failed to attract strong reviews or sales in the UK, but was successful in Australia.

Minogue returned to prominence in 2000 with the single "Spinning Around" and the dance-oriented album Light Years. She performed during the closing ceremonies of the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Her music videos began to show a more sexually provocative and flirtatious personality. Her "Spinning Around" video led media outlets to refer to her as "SexKylie," and sex became a stronger element in her subsequent videos.

Several hit singles followed. "Can't Get You Out of My Head" reached number one in more than 40 countries, and the album Fever was a hit in many countries, including the U.S. - where Minogue had previously received little recognition.

Minogue embarked on a concert tour but cancelled it when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in May 2005. After surgery and chemotherapy treatment, she resumed her career in 2006 with Showgirl: The Homecoming Tour.

Her tenth studio album X was released in 2007 and was followed by the "KylieX2008 tour." In 2009, she embarked upon her "For You, For Me Tour," her first concert tour of the U.S. and Canada. The following year she released her eleventh studio album, Aphrodite.

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After 20 years as a performer, Minogue has been described as a fashion "trend-setter" and a "style icon who constantly reinvents herself."

Minogue has achieved worldwide record sales of more than 68 million, and has received notable music awards, including multiple ARIA and Brit Awards and a Grammy Award. She has mounted several successful concert tours and received a Mo Award for "Australian Entertainer of the Year" for her live performances.

Kylie was awarded the Order of the British Empire "for services to music," and an Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2008.


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