Spend an evening with your sweetie and seven-time Grammy winner Gladys Knight as she brings her heartwarming songs of everlasting love, faith and devotion to Hard Rock Live at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino on Valentine’s Day, February 14 at 8 p.m. Tickets are on sale, now.
Over the last 50 years, few singers have matched Gladys Knight’s unassailable artistry. The seven-time Grammy winner has enjoyed #1 hits in pop, R&B and Adult Contemporary, and has triumphed in film, television and live performance.
Georgia-born Knight began performing gospel music at age four. Three years later, she won the grand prize on Ted Mack’s Amateur Hour, and the following year, she, along with her brother Bubba, her sister Brenda and her cousins William and Elenor Guest, formed The Pips. In 1959, Brenda and Elenor left the group, replaced by cousin Edward Patten and friend Langston George. The group was renamed Gladys Knight & The Pips, and following George’s departure in 1962, the classic line-up was in place.
The group debuted their first album in 1960, when Knight was just 16. They went on to achieve iconic status, having recorded some of the most memorable songs of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Top 20 hits, like “Every Beat of My Heart,” “Letter Full of Tears,” “I Heard it Through the Grapevine” and “If I Were Your Woman,” set the stage for an amazing run in the mid-1970s, with Top 10 gold-certified singles like “Neither One of Us (Wants to be the First to Say Goodbye),” “I’ve Got to Use My Imagination,” “Best Thing to Ever Happen to Me” and the #1 smash “Midnight Train to Georgia” established Gladys Knight and The Pips as the premiere pop/R&B vocal ensemble in the world. Knight enjoyed another #1 hit in 1985 when she teamed with Stevie Wonder, Elton John and Dionne Warwick on “That’s What Friends Are For.” Recently, Knight reunited with her collaborators for the first time in 25 years for the anniversary of their historic “That’s What Friends Are For” performance benefiting AIDS research.
All told, Knight has recorded more than 38 albums over the years, including four solo albums during the past decade: Good Woman (1991); Just for You (1994); Many Different Roads (1999) and At Last (2001).
Her involvement in other creative undertakings, business ventures and humanitarian activities has been extensive, and has brought her countless recognition. In 1986, she produced and starred in the Cable Ace Award-winning Sisters in the Name of Love, an HBO special co-starring Dionne Warwick and Patti LaBelle. She has also appeared in TV shows such as Benson, The Jeffersons, JAG and New York Undercover. In 1999, she completed a starring run on Broadway in the smash musical hit Smokey Joe’s Café. Most recently, she appeared as a guest judge and performer on American Idol, in the Tyler Perry film I Can Do Bad All By Myself and in the Emmy-winning NBC hit comedy 30 Rock.
In 1995, Knight earned her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and the next year, Gladys Knight & The Pips were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Knight published an autobiography, Between Each Line of Pain and Glory in 1997, and the next year, she and The Pips were presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame. In 2004, Knight received the “Lifetime Achievement Award” at the annual BET Awards ceremony.
Adding to her already impressive collection, Knight won another Grammy for her duet with the late Ray Charles on his posthumous album Genius Loves Company (2005). The duo won for Best Gospel Performance for their duet “Heaven Help Us All.”
A humanitarian and philanthropist, Knight has tirelessly supported the American Diabetes Association – for which she is a national spokesperson, the American Cancer Society, the Minority AIDS Project, amFAR, Crisis Intervention and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. She has been honored by numerous organizations as well, including the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), B’Nai Brith, and is a recent recipient of BET’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
Knight fans are still enjoying her last album, Before Me, which paid homage to the great legends of song – Ella, Duke, Billie, Lena – as well as the many artists who served as Knight’s friends, mentors, colleagues and inspiration throughout her career.
She is currently working on a new album with producer Randy Jackson, with whom she previously collaborated with on her Grammy-winning album, At Last. Her most recent single, “I Who Have Nothing” is available on iTunes.
Tickets cost $49, $64 and $79*; all seats are reserved and available at all Ticketmaster outlets online at www.ticketmaster.com or charge by phone: 1-800-745-3000. Doors open one-hour prior to show start time. *Additional fees may apply