• By Mabel Pais

Known as the ‘Empress of Soul,’ Gladys Knight is a Seven-Time Grammy Award winner, and has been one of the greatest who has endured her talent and success. She will perform live at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) on Friday, September 27, at 8:00 p.m.

She is among the few singers over the last fifty years who have matched her unassailable artistry. This seven-time Grammy winner has enjoyed #1 hits in Pop, Gospel, R&B and Adult Contemporary, and has triumphed in film, television and live performance. Gladys Knight never disappoints by putting on a high-energy show performing all of her hits that stand the test of time and the songs that everyone knows and loves like ‘Midnight Train to Georgia,’ ‘Heard it Through The Grapevine,’ ‘That’s What Friends Are For,’ and so much more.

Gladys Knight was bestowed with the National Medal of the Arts for her contributions and influences on American culture. This is the highest honor given to artists and art patrons by the United States Government.

Knight was born in Atlanta and rose to fame as the lead singer of Gladys Knight & the Pips, later establishing herself as a famous solo artist. Knight has two No. 1 Billboard singles, ‘Midnight Train to Georgia’ and ‘That’s What Friends Are For,’ which she recorded in 1986 with Elton John, Stevie Wonder, and Dionne Warwick — along with eleven No. 1 R&B singles and six No. 1 R&B albums, the Deseret News reported.

The Fall of 2015 marked the release of Knight’s first mainstream dance record, ‘Just A Little’ in nearly twenty years. The song serves as the lead single from her twelfth studio album that she is currently on.

Knight, who is a two-time Grammy winner in the gospel category, yet again embraced her gospel roots, releasing her inspirational album ‘Where My Heart Belongs’, in September 2014. The album was a major success and won an NAACP Image Award for ‘Outstanding Gospel Album’.

The Christmas Season of 2014 found Knight returning to the small screen in the Lifetime original movie ‘Seasons of Love’. In the story about two lovers as they journey through life, love and family, Knight stars alongside Oscar-nominee Taraji P. Henson and fellow Grammy winner Cliff ‘Method Man’ Smith. In the New Year she was a guest on Lee Daniels and FOX TV’s new series ‘Empire” opposite Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson.

Also on the small screen, Knight shared her musical expertise on the first and second season of Centric’s original series ‘Apollo Live.’  Joining judges Doug E. Fresh and Michael Bivins, the legendary songstress gave guidance to contestants as they took the stage with the hope to jumpstart their career in the entertainment industry.

No stranger to performing and light choreography over the course of her career, Knight raised the stakes when she put on her dancing shoes in the spring of 2012. She joined the cast of ABC’s hit reality competition ‘Dancing with the Stars’ for season 14, partnering with Tristan MacManus.

Knight, known as the ‘Empress of Soul,’ a longtime Las Vegas resident, returned to the Strip in the late-2000s to the famed Tropicana Hotel for a special engagement that ran in the newly named Gladys Knight Theater, making her the first African-American performer to have a venue named after her in Las Vegas.

In February 2011, Knight reunited with Elton John, Dionne Warwick, and Stevie Wonder for the first time in 25 years to perform their Grammy-winning song, ‘That’s What Friends Are For’ at an AIDS research benefit at the downtown Cipriani in New York. Adored the world over, Knight then toured across the UK, performing at packed arenas that included a sold-out performance at Wembley Stadium.

Knight fans enjoyed ‘Before Me’ – Knight’s last big commercial effort – 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. Knight’s second collaboration with the ‘Saints Unified Voices’ gospel choir, A Christmas Celebration, was an album of holiday classics. Coming off of a ‘Best Gospel/Choir Album’ Grammy win with their debut album ‘One Voice’, Knight again directed the 100-member multicultural choir she formed, injecting their unique flavor and definitive soul into such Christmas staples as ‘Silent Night,’ ‘White Christmas,’ and a medley of ‘Winter Wonderland/Jingle Bells’ among others.

A tireless performer who still wows audiences around the country and the world, Knight also finds the time to make forays into film and television. Her version of ‘I Hope You Dance’ played during the end credits of Tyler Perry’s ‘THE FAMILY THAT PREYS TOGETHER’, and she appeared in his film ‘I CAN DO BAD ALL BY MYSELF’ (which featured her song ‘The Need to Be’).

Knight has appeared as a guest judge on FOX’s smash hit ‘American Idol,’ and has performed in the show’s always star-studded finale. In season two of ‘Idol,’ Knight famously dubbed eventual winner Ruben Studdard the ‘Velvet Teddy Bear’ while she sat in the guest judge’s chair.

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 ‘N’ Roll Hall of Fame. Knight published an autobiography, ‘Between Each Line of Pain and Glory’ (a line taken from her million selling recording ‘Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me’), 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.

A humanitarian and philanthropist, Knight has devoted herself to various worthy causes, including the American Diabetes Association – for which she is a national spokesperson, the American Cancer Society, the Minority AIDS Project, amFAR and Crisis Intervention, and The Boys and Girls Club. 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. A tireless humanitarian, Knight is an iconic supporter of the Boys & Girls Club of America, to which she donated a Randy Jackson-produced song, ‘The Dream’.

Today, Knight and husband William, along with various other members of the family, oversee her busy career from the Las Vegas headquarters. She is a wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, performer, restaurateur, and businesswoman with a spiritual outlook on her life. Her faith in God has been the driving force behind all of Knight’s endeavors, guiding her through her many successes.

TICKETS

Tickets to see GLADYS KNIGHT are available at NJPAC.org or by visiting the NJPAC Box Office at 1 Center Street, Newark, New Jersey, or calling 888. GO.NJPAC (888.466.5722).

The New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC)

Learn more at NJPAC.org

(Mabel Pais writes on The Arts and Entertainment, Social Issues, Spirituality, Cuisine, Health & Wellness, Business, and Education)