Gladys Knight Essentials

Launching her career as a teenager with her siblings and cousins The Pips, Gladys Knight emerged as one of the most enduring voices in Black American music. Compared to her peers (Aretha, Tina, Patti LaBelle), Knight always sounded humble and a little reserved, splitting the difference between pop, gospel, and soul in a way that enabled her to cross over without diluting the homespun grit in her music. “Midnight Train to Georgia” transcends genre, and her take on “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” is as taut as “Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)” is mellow. Mixing Pips material with standouts from her long-running solo career, here’s the best of Gladys Knight.