Gladys Knight still going strong at 72
Q You are still touring quite a bit at 72.
A I’ve been so blessed. I can’t tell you. I’ve been doing this for 68 years and to still be going, even I’m in awe. People keep asking me, “When are you going to retire? When are you going to quit? Don’t you get tired of travelling?” No, not really. I love what I do, I love people, and it’s just been a glorious thing.
Q Let’s talk about your hits. Midnight Train to Georgia seemed very personal.
A It really was. When we got it, it was called Midnight Plane to Houston. We didn’t fly much during that time and we didn’t know much about Houston. We’re from Atlanta, Ga. And during my early days of touring, we always rode the train because my grandfather was a Pullman porter. So we called Jim Weatherly, the writer of the song and asked him, “Can we make it Georgia? And we take the train?” And he said, “Yeah! Go ahead! Give it a shot!” So we did, and that’s how it became Midnight Train to Georgia.
Q Regarding I Heard it Through the Grapevine, not too many songs get to be a hit twice in a couple of years.
A I know. Twice. We had been struggling at Motown for a long time, you know. They did have a caste system over there. Of course the people they endeared the most they gave the better songs, before they came down the line, if they didn’t want to do it.
Then Norman Whitfield came to the company, and he was one of the people who stayed back and took over the company after Mr. Gordy (label founder Berry) moved to L.A. Norman took all these young artists and gave them better music, like us, and Martha and the Vandellas, and the Temptations. He said, “I got a song for y’all. It’s just for y’all, and stick with it for a while,” and it was Heard It Through the Grapevine. … It was the biggest-selling record they had out that year.
Q That’s What Friends Are For, with Dionne Warwick, Elton John and Stevie Wonder, was a big song for everyone involved. Not only for the way you did it, but for the reason you did it.
A Absolutely. Back in those days, we were always looking for someone to support and that kind of thing, and then the AIDS thing blew up. Dionne Warwick, she was like my big sister, she was doing Solid Gold at the time. She called and said, “Girl, come down here. Elton is down here and Miss Liz” — that’s what we called her, Elizabeth Taylor — “they want to start this foundation for AIDS.” So we were the first ones to do it. I like making a difference.