First Knight

Digitally remastered two CD set containing the two solo albums - plus bonus tracks - recorded by the legendary Gladys Knight in the late '70s. Aside from two obscure '60s singles, Gladys' name had never appeared as a solo performer until 1978. From the early '60s, with family group Gladys Knight & The Pips, she attained international recognition over a period of seventeen years.

Some Gladys Knight fans think that she didn't record as a solo artist until the early 1990s. But In fact, her first solo albums came in the late 1970s, when she provided 1978's Miss Gladys Knight for Buddah and 1979's Gladys Knight for Columbia. The singer's second, and self-titled, solo album is a generally decent effort that ranges from R&B/adult contemporary ballads to up-tempo soul-disco offerings. This release is Expanded with 9 Bonus Tracks, five of which are Un-Released Tracks from this album's recording sessions. A must have for all Gladys Knight fans.

Steeped in the gospel tradition like so many early R&B groups, Gladys Knight & the Pips topped the Billboard R&B chart for the first time in 1961 with "Every Beat of My Heart" and later in the decade developed into one of Motown's most dependable acts, responsible for 11 Top Ten R&B hits from 1966 through 1972, including "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," "The Nitty Gritty," "If I Were Your Woman," and the Grammy-winning "Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)." The group doubled its quantity of Top Ten R&B hits with the Buddah label through 1978, with second Grammy winner "Midnight Train to Georgia," "I've Got to Use My Imagination," and "Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me" accounting for a streak of chart-toppers off the gold-selling album Imagination. Knight & the Pips remained together through the '80s, a period that entailed the additional R&B Top Ten entries "Landlord," "Save the Overtime (For Me)," and the Grammy-winning "Love Overboard," and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame the following decade.

"The One and Only" is a studio album recorded by the American R&B group Gladys Knight & the Pips, released in August 1978 on the Buddah label. It was their eighth and final album recorded for Buddah. The first single, "Sorry Doesn't Make It Right", was released in late 1977 and peaked at #24 on the R&B singles chart. Three more singles were released, including the title song, "The One and Only", "Come Back and Finished What You Started" and "It's a Better Than Good Time". They only achieved moderate success on the charts, with "It's a Better Than Good Time" reaching #16 on the R&B chart and "Come Back and Finish What You Started" peaking at #15 on the UK Singles Chart. None of the singles made the Billboard Hot 100.

2CD's / 40 Tracks - Remastered from the analog tapes this definitive collectors edition features material which Gladys recorded in her early career between 1961 and 1965, before joining Motown. A majority of tracks were recorded for Producer Bobby Robinson's Fury and Enjoy labels, along with later material recorded for the Maxx label under the direction of Van McCoy. Includes her first hits "Every Beat of My Heart" and "Letter Full of Tears," Don Covay's 'Come See About Me', and many great early Soul classics. Includes carefully annotated liner notes; this is the most complete and best sounding retrospect of her and the Pips formative years. Sunset Blvd Records will donate $1.00 from each unit sold of Essential 1961 - 1965 to Black Lives Matter.

"Gladys Knight" is the self-titled 2nd studio album by American singer Gladys Knight. It was released by Columbia Records in 1979 in the United States. Her only album with that label, it peaked at #71 on the US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. Gladys Knight would remain Knight's last solo album until the 1991 release of "Good Woman".

Following their growing successes at Motown, Gladys Knight and the Pips moved to Buddah Records, where many feel they reached their pinnacle. This collection from the Varese Vintage label gathers up twenty of their most outstanding single recordings from the Buddah, and later Columbia, years. The chronological set starts with their first relatively modest pop hit at Buddah, "Where Peaceful Waters Flow" and ends with their 1985 r'n'b charter "My Time". In between are found the Nick Ashford- and Valerie Simpson-penned "Landlord", Curtis Mayfield's "On and On", their blockbuster hits "I've Got to Use My Imagination" and "Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me", and by necessity their Grammy-winning signature song, "Midnight Train to Georgia". Every recording included here made either the pop, the r'n'b, or both charts so there is virtually no filler. Additionally, the tracks presented here are the original single versions.

In 1977, 1978, and 1979, Gladys Knight & the Pips put a lot of effort into recording separately. Minus Knight, the Pips recorded two LPs as a trio (1977's At Last The Pips and 1978's Callin', both on Casablanca), while Knight provided her first two solo albums (1978's Miss Gladys Knight on Buddah/Arista and 1979's Gladys Knight on Columbia). But by 1980, the group itself was their top priority again. The R&B department at Columbia had very high hopes for this album, and they weren't disappointed. Both creatively and commercially, About Love was Gladys Knight & the Pips' most successful album since 1974's I Feel a Song. The people they can thank for the album's excellence are the husband and wife team of Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson, who wrote and produced all of the material.