Elton John (born March 25, 1947, Pinner, Middlesex, England) is a British singer,

composer, and pianist who was one of the most popular entertainers of the late 20th
century. He fused as many strands of popular music and stylistic showmanship as Elvis
Presley in a concert and recording career that included the sale of hundreds of millions
of records.

A child prodigy on the piano, John was awarded a scholarship to the Royal Academy of
Music at 11. Gravitating toward pop after discovering rhythm and blues, he joined
Bluesology, later John Baldry’s backing band, in the mid-1960s. He met his major
songwriting collaborator, Bernie Taupin (b. May 22, 1950, Sleaford, Lincolnshire), after
both responded to an advertisement in a trade magazine, and his first British recording
success was with “Lady Samantha” in 1968. His first American album, Elton John, was
released in 1970 and immediately established him as a major international star.

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Throughout his career John demonstrated a supreme talent for assimilating and
blending diverse pop and rock styles into a propulsive, streamlined sound that was
extroverted, energetic, and somewhat impersonal. His recordings were among the first
to homogenize electric guitar and acoustic piano with synthesized instrumentation. His
vocal style, with its Southern accent and gospel inflections, was strongly American-
influenced, as was his pianism, an ornate, gospel-flavoured elaboration of the stylings
of Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis. His first American hit, “Your Song,” in 1970, was a
love ballad that combined the introspective mood of the era’s singer-songwriters with a
more traditional pop craftsmanship. John’s early 1970s recordings paid homage
to country rock and folk rock models such as the Band and Crosby, Stills and Nash.

By 1973 John was one of the world’s best-selling pop performers. His
typical compositions, written with Taupin, were affectionate parodies and pastiches of
everything from the Rolling Stones (“The Bitch Is Back” [1974]) to Frank Sinatra ballads
(“Blue Eyes” [1982]) to 1950s rock and roll (“Crocodile Rock” [1972]) to Philadelphia
soul (“Philadelphia Freedom” [1975]). He also demonstrated deeper musical ambitions
in longer works such as “Burn Down the Mission” on Tumbleweed Connection (1971)
and “Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding” on Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973).
Other notable songs from this period included “Rocket Man” on Honky Château (1972)
and “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” on Caribou (1974).
Elton John
Elton John performing at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, 2005.

Elton John performing at the funeral of Princess Diana

Elton John singing a version of his song “Candle in the Wind” at the funeral of Princess Diana, 1997.(more)
Beginning in 1976 with the album Blue Moves, his rock influences became less
pronounced, and a more churchlike English pop style emerged in ballads like “Sorry
Seems to Be the Hardest Word” (1976), which typified the staid declamatory aura of his
mature ballads. In the late 1970s and ’80s, as he experimented with other collaborators,
his music lost some of its freshness and his popularity dipped a bit, but he remained an
extremely popular mainstream entertainer who brought into the pop arena an old-
fashioned gaudily costumed flamboyance reminiscent of the Las Vegas
piano legend Liberace. In the 1990s John was the first male pop star to declare his
homosexuality, suffering no noticeable career damage. With lyricist Tim Rice he also
wrote songs for the film The Lion King (1994), and “Can You Feel the Love Tonight”
won the Academy Award for best original song; the movie was adapted into
a Broadway musical in 1997. The same year, a new version of his 1973 song “Candle in
the Wind,” revised by Taupin to mourn the death of Diana, princess of Wales, became
the most successful pop single in history, selling more than 30 million copies.

In 1998 John reteamed with Rice to write the stage musical Elaborate Lives: The
Legend of Aida (revised in 1999 as Aida), a loose adaptation of the Giuseppe
Verdi opera. John and Taupin wrote the musical Lestat (2005), based on a series of
novels by Anne Rice, and John composed the score for Billy Elliot, a stage adaptation of
the popular film. That musical premiered in London’s West End in 2005 and made its
Broadway debut in 2008. The following year it won 10 Tony Awards, including best
musical.

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From 2003 to 2009 John had an open engagement at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. The
show, titled Elton John and the Red Piano, was a multimedia retrospective of his career,
with visuals provided by photographer David LaChapelle. John began a second Las
Vegas residency, entitled The Million Dollar Piano, which ran from 2011 to 2018.

John continued to release recordings, including Peachtree Road (2004), The

Union (2010; a duet album with Leon Russell), and Wonderful Crazy Night (2016). He
also contributed sound tracks to the animated movies The Road to El Dorado (2000)
and Gnomeo & Juliet (2011). In 2018 John embarked on what he announced as his final
tour, dubbed Farewell Yellow Brick Road and scheduled to last three years. However,
the tour was suspended in 2020 because of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.
During the break, John recorded his 32nd studio album, The Lockdown Sessions (2021),
which includes collaborations with such musicians as Stevie Wonder, Eddie Vedder,
and Miley Cyrus. The tour resumed in 2022. During this time Rocketman (2019), a film
based on his life, was released. John and Taupin wrote the single “(I’m Gonna) Love Me
Again” for the biopic, and it won an Academy Award for best original song.

John was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994, and in 1998 he was
knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. He received a Kennedy Center Honor in 2004. His
autobiography, Me, was published in 2019.
Stephen HoldenThe Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
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HomeEntertainment & Pop CultureMusic, Contemporary GenresSoul/R&B Music

Gladys Knight
American singer
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Last Updated: May 13, 2024 • Article History

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Gladys Knight
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Original name:

Gladys Maria Knight

Born:

May 28, 1944, Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. (age 79)

Awards And Honors:

National Medal of Arts (2021)

See all related content →
Gladys Knight (born May 28, 1944, Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.) is an American singer and
actress known as the “Empress of Soul,” who was the lead vocalist for the
popular rhythm-and-blues (R&B) group Gladys Knight and the Pips. She established a
successful solo career in both gospel and R&B music and also acted in films and
television shows.

Knight is one of four children born to postal worker Merald Knight, Sr., and Sarah
Elizabeth Knight (née Woods). She sang in her church choir growing up and won a
televised talent contest on Ted Mack’s Original Amateur Hour in 1952 when she was
seven years old. Not long after this early success, she started performing in a vocal group
with her brother Merald (“Bubba”) Knight, Jr., sister Brenda Knight, and their cousins
William and Eleanor Guest. The group named themselves the Pips after the members’
cousin and first manager, James (“Pip”) Woods.
The Pips were signed to a record label and had success performing live and opening
for soul music legends such as Jackie Wilson and Sam Cooke. Brenda and Eleanor left
the group and were replaced by another cousin, Edward Patten, and Langston George.
The group soon changed its name to Gladys Knight and the Pips, which reflected
Knight’s role as lead vocalist. It was also a credit to her distinctive raspy voice and
compelling stage presence. In 1961 the group charted its first single, “Every Beat of My
Heart,” written by Johnny Otis.

Gladys Knight and the Pips

The group signed with Motown in 1966 and released a series of hit songs, including “I
Heard It Through the Grapevine” (1967). The members gave a riveting performance of
the song at the Harlem Cultural Festival in 1969 (which is captured in the
2021 documentary film Summer of Soul). In 1974 the group’s hit song “Neither One of
Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)” won the Grammy Award for best pop vocal
performance by a duo, group, or chorus.

Disputes with Motown over the treatment that the group was receiving, including
accusations that the best songs were being given to the label’s other talent and issues
regarding unpaid royalties, led the singers to leave Motown for Buddah Records in 1973.
Under Buddah, the group released what became known as its signature song, “Midnight
Train to Georgia,” which won the Grammy for best R&B performance by a duo, group,
or chorus in 1974. This ushered in a string of hits in the 1970s, including “Best Thing
That Ever Happened to Me” (1973). Knight finished the decade by recording two solo
albums, Miss Gladys Knight (1978) and Gladys Knight (1979).

In the 1980s the group teamed up with producers Nickolas Ashford and Valerie
Simpson for the albums About Love (1980) and Touch (1981). The group had a number
of hits throughout the decade, including the Grammy-winning “Love Overboard” (1987).
In 1985 Knight sang on the AIDS charity single “That’s What Friends Are For,” which
also featured Elton John, Dionne Warwick, and Stevie Wonder. The single won the
Grammy for best pop performance by a duo or group in 1987. In 1988 Gladys Knight
and the Pips disbanded. (They were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in
1996.)
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Knight continued to record and tour as a solo artist. In 1989 she recorded the title song
of the James Bond film Licence to Kill. One of her most commercially successful solo
albums was Good Woman, released in 1991. It reached number one on
the Billboard R&B album chart and featured the hit single “Men.” For her album At
Last (2000), she won her first solo Grammy, for best traditional R&B vocal album. She
also began recording gospel music and serving as a choir director. Her gospel duet
with Ray Charles, “Heaven Help Us All,” won the Grammy in 2005 for best gospel
performance. The following year she won another Grammy, for best gospel choir or
chorus album, for One Voice, which she also produced. A studio album, Where My
Heart Belongs, was released in 2014. She performed at several major sports events in
her hometown of Atlanta, including during the opening ceremonies of the 1996 Olympic
Games and the national anthem portion of the Super Bowl in 2019.

Knight made her film acting debut in 1976 as the lead in the film Pipe Dreams, starring
alongside her then husband, Barry Hankerson. Her performance earned her a Golden
Globe Award nomination for new star of the year. From 1985 to 1986, she starred
opposite comedian Flip Wilson in the television series Charlie & Co. She also had a
recurring role on The First Family and appeared as a guest on many other series,
including The Jeffersons, The Jamie Foxx Show, and Empire. In 2012 she was a
contestant on Dancing with the Stars. Some of her later films include Tyler Perry’s I
Can Do Bad All By Myself (2009) and I’m Glad It’s Christmas (2022).

Knight published her memoir, Between Each Line of Pain and Glory, in 1997. She
received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1995 and the National Medal of
Arts in 2021. She was named a Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts honoree in
2022.

Ref: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gladys-Knight