Who do six Grammy Awards, 10 number one singles and the original song "I Heard it Through the Grapevine" belong to? Doo-wop's finest singer Gladys Knight, of course. The leading lady started out with her group Gladys Knight and the Pips in the 1960s, but Knight's star even continued to rise when she branched out to a solo career, ending up as one of the most memorable of her period's soul singers.

Knight was an incredible vocalist from the beginning, and she took to singing at a young age. Forming the Pips (a Knight affair) with her brother Merald and some of her cousins, Knight led the group to doo-wop fame in the ‘60s with the hit song "Every Beat of My Heart." Moving to Motown in 1966, Gladys Knight and the Pips digressed into gospel music, blending their soul-soothing music with the likes of the Supremes, Marvin Gaye and the Temptations. With the help of Motown, Knight led the Pips into even greater success, especially with the hits "Friendship Train," "I Heard it Through the Grapevine," "If I Were Your Woman" and "The End of Our Road." "Neither One of Us" was the Pips' last big hit for Motown, and the group thereafter went to Buddah, releasing the number one hit "Midnight Train to Georgia" and another smash single "Best Thing that Ever Happened to Me" in the mid-‘70s before Knight shed her Motown soul skin for a more mature and contemporary style of easy listening music.

The Pips have long since retired, but the legacy of Gladys Knight lives on. The sultry vocalist remains an active artist in the smooth soul genre, and her R&B music has led her to release 2000's At Last, 2005's One Voice and 2006's Before Me in the 21st century. Knight's most recent album, a holiday collection entitled A Christmas Celebration, has also topped the gospel charts in 2006.