Chart entered : 8 June 1967
Chart peak : 13
Number of hits : 21 together; Gladys has had 3 hits without The Pips
I'm going to stick my neck out here and say we've probably arrived at the last act whose recording career goes back to the fifties.
Gladys Knight was born in Atlanta in 1944 and appeared on a TV talent contest ( which she won ) at the age of 7. The following year a family singing group was formed consisting of Gladys, her siblings Brenda and Merald ( aka Bubba ) and two cousins Eleanor and William Guest. They were named The Pips after another cousin who managed but never actually joined the group. They started performing shows and somehow came to the attention of a Detroit bandleader Maurice King who became their mentor .
King got them a deal with Brunswick and gave them a novelty song he had co-written , "Ching Chong". Frankly it's a mess, it doesn't sound quite in time and the backing vocals are all over the place. Gladys sounds old for her years but untrained. King generously gave them a writing credit but as the record unsurprisingly stiffed when released in January 1958 it hardly mattered.
The line-up changed the following year. Both the other girls decided to go to college rather than face the rigours of perpetual touring. After a long series of auditions they hired two more males Edward Patten ( another cousin ) and Langston George who already had performing experience. It was a while before they got another chance to record.
In the early part of 1961 they were touring with Hank Ballard and the Midnighters who introduced them to the Johnny Otis song "Every Beat Of My Heart". Shortly afterwards they were invited by an Atlanta club owner Clifford Hunter to test out some recording equipment and performed the song there. Without telling the group he pressed the recording on a tiny label and it started getting regional play. He then sold the rights to Chicago's Vee Jay Records. By this time the group had become aware of what was going on and were fielding calls from other record companies. They signed with Bobby Robinson's Fury label and re-recorded the song. He suggested re-branding as Gladys Knight and the Pips to help people distinguish between the rival versions. With the head start the original was the bigger hit , number 6 as opposed to number 45. It's a drowsy doo wop ballad. Gladys's singing is much improved from their debut but it's a murderously dull record.
Their next single in July 1961 was a cover of Jesse Belvin's 1959 hit "Guess Who". Gladys really lets rip on this smoocher but it didn't repeat the success. They then approached Don Covay for a song who came up with "Letter Full Of Tears". Marshall Sehorn added strings to give it a more sophisticated Drifters vibe and although it's a fairly ordinary song it reached number 19 in the charts. "Operator" from April 1962 is a credible stab at the girl group sound - it's difficult to detect any contribution by the other Pips - although Gladys's voice isn't really suited to the style and it only scraped into the charts at 97.
At that point Langston George walked for a solo career and instant obscurity.Gladys too left the band to start a family. Robinson laughed off the idea of The Pips recording without their frontwoman so they had to write their own song "Linda" to get his attention. He agreed to put it out and produced but it's pretty dreadful, a half-baked song with random glissandos popping up to distract from its mediocrity.
In January 1963 Fury put out "Come See About Me" as a Gladys solo single while she was still out of action. Gladys puts in a great vocal performance against Sehorn's best string arrangement but without her around to promote it ,it wasn't a hit.The association with Fury was now at an end. Robinson took an unreleased song "A Love Like Mine" to Vee Jay for release in August 1963 but he was scraping the barrel as it's both tuneless and turgid.
At the beginning of 1964 Gladys rejoined the group to support her family. They were immediately snapped up by Larry Maxwell's new label called Maxx while a veteran dancer Cholly Atkins worked on improving their stage moves. Their new single in April 1964 was "Giving Up" a slow and dramatic , though rather episodic , song written by Van McCoy and produced by Maxwell . Despite having no obvious hooks it restored them to the charts peaking at 38. They stuck with the McCoy - Maxwell team for the next few singles. "Lovers Always Forgive" is rather ponderous and peaked at number 89. "Either Way I Lose" is competent but dull and stiffed. " Stop And Get A Hold On Myself " a Northern Soul favourite is a creditable attempt to make a Dionne Warwick record. In June 1965 they tried the Billy Myles song "If Ever I Should Fall In Love" which is pleasant but forgettable.
In 1966 the group had the opportunity to sign for Motown who had courted them before. Gladys was reluctant anticipating that they would be treated as second stringers there but she bowed to group democracy , the guys feeling that they would benefit from the contacts they would make even if there were no hits. They were put on the Soul subsidiary and given the song "Just Walk In My Shoes" and producers Johnny Bristol and Harvey Fuqua ( I wonder how you pronounce that ). It's a pounding footstomper with wounded lyrics and would eventually become a UK hit ( number 35 ) in 1972 through the Northern Soul scene.
"Take Me In Your Arms And Love Me" was the next single. It was written by Barrett Strong, Roger Penzabene and Cornelius Grant who usually played guitar on The Temptations' records. Norman Whitfield produced. The pretty harpsichord line in the intro is misleading; this is one of the most carnal hits to date. Gladys wants sexual satisfaction and each verse reinforces the point although Gladys relies on the inherent eroticism in her voice rather than deploying any moans and groans which may well have got it banned in 1967. Whitfield's strings emphasise the tension as each verse builds up to a cry of the title. I don't know why this failed in the US but it's their loss.
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