Vegas Stars Archive: Gladys Knight

Gladys Knight

Empress of Soul

On April 26, 2011 the Tropicana Hotel Casino was the place to be to see the fabulous Gladys Knight, a mic and a light, perform to a loving and welcoming audience.

The room was filled with love and Gladys expressed her appreciation to all the fans that could have been anyplace else and chose to come and be with her. http://www.gladysknight.com/

An 11 piece band, backup singers and dancers made this a special experience to an enthusiastic audience. Gladys Knight had her brother Merald “Bubba” Knight as her special guest and he rocked the house. Bubba is a R&B soul singer and is best known for the groups hit singles “Midnight Train to

Georgia

” and “I heard it Through the Grapevine”.

We had a chance to meet Bubba and some of the band members at a reception before the show in the lounge and Bubba was a delight to talk to. Bubba is proud of his little sister and he said he taught her well.

Neil Taffe, Ken Young, Bubba Knight, Arno Lucas

A nostalgia of the long ago time when Gladys Knight and the Pips were starting out was shown on a screen during the show and many memories became real again. The group had a string of hit singles on Motown records and Buddah Records from 1967 to 1975. Gladys was the lead singer with the Pips, which included her brother Bubba and their cousins Edward Patten and William Guest as backup singers. They were from Atlanta, Georgia and were active from 1967 to 1975. Gladys started singing at the age of seven in 1952 and she won the Ted Mack’s Original Amateur Hour.

As the show came to an end, Gladys shook the out stretched hands of her loyal fans and there were many happy and sad faces as the show came to an end. Gladys said this would not be a concert, it would be an experience. It was an experience to watch this seven time Grammy award winner singing the wonderful songs of yesteryear.