Between Each Line of Pain and Glory: My Life Story

by Gladys Knight

This immensely inspiring autobiography tells the whole, true story of Gladys Knight, a four-time Grammy winner, whose life has been rich in music, faith, love, and immense hardships. of photos.

Genres: Biography, Music, Nonfiction, Memoir, Biography Memoir

288 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1997

About the author

Gladys Maria Knight, known as the "Empress of Soul", is an American singer, songwriter, actress, businesswoman, and author. A seven-time Grammy Award-winner, Knight is known for the hits she recorded during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s with her group The Pips, which also included her brother Merald "Bubba" Knight and cousins William Guest and Edward Patten.

Knight has recorded two number-one Billboard Hot 100 singles ("Midnight Train to Georgia" and "That's What Friends Are For"), eleven number-one R&B singles and six number-one R&B albums. She has won seven Grammy Awards (four as a solo artist and three with the Pips) and is an inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Vocal Group Hall of Fame along with The Pips. Two of her songs ("I Heard It Through the Grapevine" and "Midnight Train to Georgia") were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for "historical, artistic and significant" value. She also recorded the theme song for the 1989 James Bond film Licence to Kill. Rolling Stone magazine ranked Knight among the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time.

Abridged from Wikipedia.

Reviews

[HR-ML · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hardback edition.

Gladys loved her tight-knit birth family and aunts, uncles
& cousins. Her father held down 3 jobs to afford a house for
his family in Atlanta. He had no vacations. Several years
later he stressed out & was fired from his main job. He grad-
ually moved into his own apt. And took another main job.
This family valued their faith & showed unconditional love.

Gladys became a choir soloist at age 4 & won the Ted Mack
Amateur Hour at age 8. Soon after her 2 male cousins & 1
brother & Gladys went on the Chitlin' Circuit as the Pips.
They were subjected to racial hatred & denied restrooms
and lodgings. From time to time they stayed at black-
owned boarding homes. Gladys praised several mentors.

Gladys showed diplomacy on discussing female singers.
She, Tina Turner & Patti LaBelle got on well. Aretha
acted chilly towards her and Diana Ross seemed jealous
of her talent and the audience's response to her singing.

Gladys and the Pips sang for small record companies.
Then they scored a 7 yr recording contract w/ Motown
& each member received a salary. She noted Motown had
irregular bookkeeping and some groups got charged for
services not rendered. The Pips eventually hired a lawyer.

She was refreshing+ honest. She recounted her miscarriage:
the most poignant memory in the book. She felt closest to
her sax-playing 1st spouse but he got into hard drugs. Also
she discussed her gambling addiction. She could depend on
family, especially her Mom and older brother Bubba.

[Barbara Washington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my goodness! I enjoyed this book so much and am so thankful that
Ms.Knight allowed her fans to glimpse inside her life.

[Lu · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very interesting and full of details about her life and career as well as encouragement.

[Lanier · Rating 5 out of 5]

pages 15 [bottom] – 16—“SINGING UGLY”
One of the things she [Momma] built into my brain was to never “flake out” on a note. She told me that if a note is high but within your natural range you have to go for it instead of chickening out and going to the falsetto. I don’t have great range. My top note is about a B-flat, so to hit the night notes that are considered out of my range, I have to sing ugly. You can’t be worried about looking pretty when you are pushing your voice to hit those high notes. You have to strain and push and so often you look like your poor face is being squeezed by a giant set of pliers. That’s singing ugly.”

This is what I’m currently struggling with some of more listos students right now. I was told, you give them a choice and they will opt for NOT taking ANY road, let alone the one least traveled. They are running away from any difficult “high notes” though they’ve been playing them for a few weeks already. This echoes when Gladys explains how she was taught and sang the Ave Maria for years [from age 6] having no idea what the words meant.Sometimes we push youth, KNOWING they can handle it - they NEED it. If no one ever pushes any of us, we atrophy. Too many adults, let alone youth, have begun to become despondent, with no drive for anything. I'll continue trying to show them how life is much more rich when we push towards something bigger than we ever imagined.

[Doris Raines · Rating 5 out of 5]

GLADYS KNIGHT MID-NIGHT TRAIN TO GA. MY SONG OH. HOW I REMEMBER MISSING THOSE TRAINS IN GA. ONCE I MISSED MY TRAIN HEADED NORTH—BOUND. I WAS JUST ☝️ MIN. TO LATE. IF YOU ARE NOT NOT AT THE TRAIN STATION BEFORE 12 OCLOCK. MID.NIGHT WELL YOU HAVE JUST MISSED YOUR TRAIN 11_59. TO LATE. I RAN THERE GOES THE TRAIN YES AND IT IS MID— NIGHT IN GA, BEEN THERE DONE ALL THAT————- THIS IS A FUNNY WAS NOT WHEN I MISSED MY TRAIN OVER AGAIN —-I HAD TO STAY ALL NIGHT AT THE TRAIN STATION ALONE I WAS SHIFFERING WITH FEAR CAN YOU A MAZEING BEING OUT THERE ALL ALONE——-ALL OF A SUDDEN I HERD A LADY VOICE I WAS SO HAPPY SHE TALKED WITH ME UNTIL DAWN. MID NIGHT TRAIN TO GA. DONT PAY TO BE LATE DONT MISS THE 🚂 .😎

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gladys Knight truly has SOUL...and I kon't just mean she can sing a great r&b song. She definitely has soul as a singer, but more than that she has an incredible soul that has given her the inner strength to not just to survive, not just to endure, but (as Faulkner would say): to PREVAIL!

[Cathi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book on sale for el-cheapo, so I thought I'd check it out. I've always liked Gladys Knight, and it was very interesting to learn about her upbringing, her rise to fame in the music world, and her many challenges.

[Angela Watts · Rating 5 out of 5]

HONEST, Amazing, AWESOME!!! Beautiful lady! As a person and singer!💕 I have never read such an moving BIO!! So wide open! Love this book, HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!!!!💕

[Russell Sanders · Rating 3 out of 5]

I adore Gladys Knight. She is the consummate performer, and she seems like a very nice lady. And she is beautiful. But her autobiography Between Each Line of Pain and Glory was not very satisfying. I don’t disagree with the truths presented (and I realize some of the celebrity stories could be elaborated on, now thirty years since the book was written.) I firmly believe, as she portrays herself, that she is among the nicest of the performers of her generation. I also believe that she was fairly innocent growing up, through high school, and throughout her career. I firmly believe, as she contends, that people valued her opinions because she was the voice of reason and had proved herself not to be leading a wild, drug-addled, alcoholic life as so many of her contemporaries, the performers of the 1960s and 1970s, fell into. But this book seems to soft-pedal so much of the complexities of her life, softening it all so much that there is little that leads one to think she is remarkable enough to read about. Don’t get me wrong—she is indeed remarkable as a performer—but the few times she touches on her failed marriages, her difficulties with her children, her gambling addiction—the outcomes as presented seemed a total ease. This may very well be true, but I find it very hard that someone who was so gambling-addicted that she lost $45,000 in one night could go to only two Gamblers Anonymous meetings and be so cured that she had no desire to gamble again. But wait, she does admit that she did continue to gamble occasionally, but that was not a problem. Maybe I don’t understand gambling addiction, but I am well aware that few alcoholics and drug addicts can have a drink or a heroin hit “now and then.” Addiction is a lifelong struggle, and the desires continually pull at you. So why does the book portray her as a bland, goody-two-shoes so severely? I want to think it is largely the fault of the ghost writer—she admits to and names the name of a man “who helped me write the book.” Perhaps he saw her as a goddess and didn’t want to tarnish her, or perhaps he was just pulling down a paycheck and didn’t want to rock the boat by suggesting they go into a bit more depth. At any rate, what came of all this is a very bland autobiography, one in which the name of any of a number of entertainers could be substituted for Gladys’s and the story could remain almost the same. I’m sure her fans eat the book up, but I kinda wish I hadn’t read it. You know what they say about meeting your idols—you’re often disappointed.

[Lisa-Michele · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the music of Gladys Knight in the 1970s-1980s and learned a lot about her journey to fame in this memoir. “Bring on the pain. Bring on the glory. I will be in this fight to share my gifts, to enjoy my blessings, and to be loved without any strings attached.” My respect for her grew enormously after learning about her road to the top. Knight sang in Madison Square Garden at seven years old to win Ted Mack’s Amateur Hour, the American Idol of the 1950s. She always knew she could really sing, using her signature belt-y soulful style which came naturally. Her mom traveled with her on the train from Atlanta to New York several times to support her singing, but Gladys also tried to have a regular childhood when she wasn’t singing. In high school she formed a band with her brother and two cousins – Gladys Knight and the Pips – traveling throughout the South singing their fabulous music. They had hits and record contracts, but never broke through until signing with Motown Records in the 1960s.

“I Heard It Through the Grapevine” was their first super hit in 1967, then “If I Were Your Woman” (1970), “Neither One of Us Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye” (1972), and many others. They left Motown and hit it big with “Midnight Train to Georgia” in 1973 plus became concert and television superstars. She was right up there with Diana Ross, Patti LaBelle, Dionne Warwick, and Aretha Franklin. She was one of the first R&B artists to incorporate hip-hop elements into her videos and performances.

Knight is an incredibly strong-willed woman who fought some of the toughest obstacles possible to succeed. “I learned to have a breadwinner’s mentality and, to some degree, that has made it difficult for some men to deal with me…If a man set out to break my spirit, he generally wore himself out trying.” I loved her grit and self-assurance. Knight wrote this memoir in 1997 and has experienced even more success since then. “Singing is a way of sharing my spirit in song. I believe the songs in our lives nourish our souls in hard times and elevate them in good times.”

[Gail Johnson, Ph.D · Rating 5 out of 5]

WoW! As stated in the title, Gladys is telling her life story up to the printing date of the book (1997). I must say there is a lot I didn't know about her. Such as she has six children, been married three times, a gambler and smoker recovery just name a few. And then there's the singing career staring at the age of four. She could write another book about the singing and especially about the things that happened at Motown. Again, WoW!!!! I could not put the book down.

[Autumn Kearney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Singer Gladys Knight recounts her life experiences, from her childhood to the late 1990s. Looking at her success, beginning as a child prodigy, to her days on the "chit'lin circuit" to superstardom. She faced racism and her own addiction. As she said, we remember things better than they were at the time. It’s the only way to keep our sanity, at times. I’ve loved her songs since the 1970’s. I knew nothing of her life until now. I’m glad that she’s still with us.

[Jess]

I read this book in 6th grade for a report I was doing on Gladys Knight. It definitely opened my eyes to how women were (and are) treated by the music industry. Knight is a strong woman and I can't imagine how she's stayed so positive after the things she endured as a child and young woman.

[Tristi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a neat look into Gladys Knight's life. It ends before she joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, so that information isn't in there (I was a little disappointed because I thought it would be in there) but it was fun to hear about her life and inspiring to see her overcome all that she did.

[Johnnie B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed it a lot. It did seem a little uneven though. It started with immense detail on her youth and early career but seemed almost to gloss over her career once she and The Pips hit it big.
Still, her story was entertaining and her humor was much appreciated.

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading and learning about her life. Very interesting.

[Rhonda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This isn't a page turner, but it's very interesting. She's really not had a very easy life, but seems to have a great attitude about life and what she's learned.

[Tyrone]

good read

[Elliott Jenkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story moves a little slow at times, but is so interesting.

[Anita · Rating 3 out of 5]

Typical show biz biography. Not great, covers her pre-LDS life.