Gladys Maria Knight is an American singer known as the “Empress of the Soul.” She is a singer as well as a lyricist, actress, businessman, and writer. She has won seven Grammy Awards. She is best known for her group Gladys Knight and Pips. Knight recorded two number-one Billboard Hot 100 singles, eleven number-one R&B singles, and six number one R&B albums.

She has won seven Grammy Awards, four as a solo artist and three with Pips. For historical, artistic, and significant quality, two of her songs, “I Heard It Through the Grapevine “and “Midnight Train to Georgia,” was nominated for a Grammy Hall of Fame. She ranked in the top 100 singers of all time. Gladys Knight and Pips joined the Motown Records roster in 1966 and were initially considered second string laws. 

She worked as an opening act for Gladys Knight and Pips Diana Ross and The Supremes in her early Motown career. The audience’s reception to Knight’s soulful performance overshadowed her. Knight is a great music icon. She is very popular in her professional career as well as in gambling. She had a gambling addiction that almost all celebrities have. Knight lost a lot of money by gambling. She came to this world of gambling by the hand of one of her friends, which later turned into intoxication.

Personal Life

Gladys Knight has been married four times and has three children. At age 16, she became pregnant and in 1960 married Atlanta musician James “Jimmy” Newman. She had an abortion and gave birth to two children with Jimmy. Jimmy became addicted to drugs and left the Knight family. They had been married for more than 12 years. She retired from the road to raise their child.

When Knight left the family at the age of 20, Newman became addicted to drugs. Their son was born in 1962 and their only daughter a year later. Knight and Jimmy have been separated for seven long years. Knight then divorced Newman in 1973, and Jimmy died a few years later. Later in 1974, Knight married producer Barry Hankerson. He was the uncle of the late singer Aaliyah. The couple had a son, and their marriage ended in 1979. 

In 1995, Knight remarried. This time she married Les Brown, an inspirational speaker, and separated in 1997. Knight last married in 2001 to William McDowell. In 1952, Gladys, her brother, sister, and cousin formed a musical group called Elenor Guest Pips. They started this tour in 1950.

Once Knight’s son was abducted. Then she broke down a lot and started gambling. It seemed funny to her then. But one day, she became addicted to this joke. She could not get out of this addiction very quickly. Knight lost a lot of cash in gambling. Eventually, she will realize its harmful effects. Knight then slowly began to withdraw from the world of gambling. However, it takes a long time to get rid of gambling addiction.

Early Life

Knight was born in Atlanta. She was the daughter of Merald Woodrow Knight Sr and Sarah Elizabeth. Knight’s father was a postal worker. Knight has an older sister and a brother. She also has a dead brother. Knight sang in church choirs in the 1940s and 1950s. She first gained a small reputation in 1952 by winning Ted Mac’s The Original Amateur Hour TV Show competition. At the time she was only eight years old. That year Knight started acting together with her brother, cousin, and William Guest during Bubba’s tenth birthday party. Knight’s mother then agreed to form a group based on Knight’s insistence.

Then they formed their musical group called Pips, inspired by the nickname of their cousin James “Pip” Woods. In 1955 they began performing on the talent show circuit in their hometown of Atlanta and won their talent show. This success led to a record deal with Brunswick Records in 1957. In 1961, they wrote “Every Beat of My Heart” by Johnny Otis. 

The group then entered into a distribution agreement with V-J Records without a record label. The five-year single “Letter Full of Tears.” It became another top 40 hits in early 1962. The same year, Knight began a family with musician and husband Jimmy Newman. Then she left the group, but in 1964, she returned to the team. Then they signed with Larry Maxwell’s Maxx label and released several moderate hits produced by Van McCoy.

Gambling Addiction

Singer Gladys Knight has been addicted to gambling for over ten years across the backyard and sports. Knight always avoids drug and alcohol addiction. She lost $40,000 overnight while playing backgammon in the late eighties. Later she had to seek help from an anonymous gambler to end her gambling addiction. Knight is one of the five most famous female gamblers in the world.

While living in Las Vegas, Knight soon succumbed to the temptation of table games such as blackjack and baccarat. She started playing blackjack with one of her friends, and she enjoyed it. From then on, she started spending time gambling. She spent millions of dollars after her son was abducted and broke up. In her autobiography, published in 1997, she first revealed her gambling habits.

Night casinos offer people who are unable to control their desires and lose by gambling. Knight experienced a kind of epiphany after a catastrophic defeat session. It cost her $45,000 in less than 24 hours. Then she suspected that gambling had a negative effect on her life. However, she could not quickly get rid of her gambling addiction. Once the gambling addiction is in someone, it becomes challenging to spread it.

Professional Career

Gladys Knight was born in 1944 in Alabama. She has been there since childhood. Knight is a gospel singer and made her debut at four at Mount Mariah Baptist Church in Atlanta. She received the 1952 Ted Mack “Amateur Hour” award. Pipes were discovered while she was performing at her family party. Knight told the New York Times that their first professional engagement was at a Y.M.C.A. They served pop music as pips at the time. Their first single was released in 1957, “Whistle My Love.” Their first hit, “Every Beat of My Heart,” reached the top 20 Rhythm and blues charts. They didn’t make any money because it was pirated.

Knight had a dignified improvement as a lead vocalist due to the accident. However, in 1960, when male and female intimate groups became popular, they had new words—pips developed with Knight’s own voice. Influenced by the song’s stylists, she listened to the recording. In a 1983 interview with the New York Times, she defended the group’s unified term.

In November 1982, Knight and her musical group performed with various musicians at the first Jamaican World Music Festival. She also made a hit single, Album Visions. In 1988, her group’s profit became their biggest selling single after decades of cutting the title of the overboard album. The song won a Grammy Award for Performance in early 1989.