Gladys Maria Knight, dubbed the “Empress of Soul” and born on May 28, 1944, is an American singer, songwriter, actor, and businesswoman.
Knight, a seven-time Grammy Award winner, collaborated with her family members, including her brother Merald “Bubba” Knight, and cousins William Guest, and Edward Patten, to record popular songs in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.
How old was Gladys Knight when she had her first child?
She got pregnant at age 16 and wed guitarist James ‘Jimmy’ Newman in 1960.
Despite having a miscarriage, the couple eventually had two kids. Gladys Knight has had four marriages and three children overall.
Knight was born in Atlanta, the son of postal worker Merald Woodlow Knight Sr. and Sarah Elizabeth (née Woods). Brenda, an older sister, Merald “Bubba” Jr., a live brother, and David, a deceased brother, are her siblings. She sang in the church choir in the late 1940s and the early 1950s.
In 1952, she was eight years old when she won Ted Mack’s The Original Amateur Hour TV show competition. When a record player broke down at Bubba’s tenth birthday celebration that year, Gladys, her brother Bubba, sister Brenda, and their cousins Eleanor and William Guest started playing music together. Elizabeth Knight, Gladys’ mother, insisted that the five of them establish a group, and they did so shortly after.
