Between Each Line of Pain and Glory: My Life Story

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For as far back as Gladys can remember, she has always been a performer. A true child prodigy, she was born in Atlanta in 1944 and has been earning her way as a singer since the tender age of four. By the time she was in high school, she was belting out doo-wop ditties and torch songs in juke joints and nightclubs on the "chit'lin' circuit" as the opening act (with The Pips) for the likes of Sam Cooke, Ike & Tina Turner, Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, B.B. King, Jackie Wilson, and Little Richard, among others....
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1997-09 Paperback First Edition New in Like New jacket Mint condition hardcover book in also brand new condition dustjacket. First edition, first printing. MendoPower Employment ... Services will immediately and carefully pack this book in high-quality bubble lined, envelopes. Then we send you a confirmation e-mail. We appreciate your business and welcome any questions. Read more Show Less

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Overview

For as far back as Gladys can remember, she has always been a performer. A true child prodigy, she was born in Atlanta in 1944 and has been earning her way as a singer since the tender age of four. By the time she was in high school, she was belting out doo-wop ditties and torch songs in juke joints and nightclubs on the "chit'lin' circuit" as the opening act (with The Pips) for the likes of Sam Cooke, Ike & Tina Turner, Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, B.B. King, Jackie Wilson, and Little Richard, among others. And then there were the legendary Motown years - and the multi-Grammy-Award-winning ones that have followed. Along the way her life has been filled with enormous ups and downs, details of which Gladys shares for the first time in this book. Between the lines of her life story, you'll find her bravely facing many of life's most difficult challenges, including racism, sexual assault, addiction and recovery, and her struggle to break free from disappointing romantic relationships while maintaining a strong sense of personal pride and independence.
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Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
In the tradition of Billie Holiday's Lady Sings the Blues and Tina Turner's I, Tina comes this thoughtful memoir from Knight, who, with her back-up group the Pips, enjoyed a string of hits ("I Heard It Through the Grapevine," etc.) in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Though lacking the trauma-inspired melodrama of the accounts by Holiday and Turner (Knight's mother was a member of Martin Luther King Sr.'s Atlanta congregation, and her family was solidly middle-class for much of her childhood), the book nevertheless chronicles a good deal of tribulation, including teenage pregnancy, attempted rape, various addictions and failed marriages. Yet it is also a story of hard work, realized dreams and the ironies of success. Pop music fans will be intrigued by the steady stream of famed figures through the book, including Nat King Cole, Sammy Davis Jr., Michael Jackson and Aretha Franklin, with whom Knight has experienced a-not-so-friendly rivalry. Knight's description of her years as a child star on the eve of the civil rights movement resonates with the history of the period, and her recreation of Motown culture is engaging, if somewhat familiar. The singer's life since the 1980s has been less compelling. Her account of her marriage to her third husband, motivational speaker Les Brown-who served her with divorce papers as the manuscript was being completed-gives the end of the book an uncertain, unfinished quality. But Knight's plain-spoken ambivalence about family vs. career, and about the basic challenges that confront even the most successful entertainers (especially women), make this a valuable document of a life in show business.
Kirkus Reviews
Knight, of pop's Pips, offers an event-packed autobiography—from child gospel sensation through '70s superstardom to Vegas divahood—earnestly but with little verve.

First achieving national attention at age eight, in 1952, on Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour, the Atlanta- born Knight was very soon thereafter singing on the "Chitlin' Circuit" of black nightclubs with an early incarnation of the Pips (all siblings and cousins). The Pips toured throughout the '50s with the likes of Jackie Wilson and Joe Tex, recording only briefly and unsuccessfully. Knight's first marriage, to her high-school sweetheart, collapsed because of his drug use; her father descended into mental illness and left the family. She indicates that by 1963 the Pips were big enough to have performers at the White House, but it wasn't until the mid-'60s that they signed with Motown, finally breaking through in 1967 with "I Heard It Through the Grapevine." Knight is good on the subject of Motown's feudal business practices: Second-tier groups like the Pips would seldom get a crack at the in-house songwriters' best songs, and naive performers accepted company "gifts" that in fact were advances against royalties, keeping the artists in debt (and thus servitude) to Motown. Only on leaving Motown did the Pips achieve top stardom with a succession of hits. On the crises in her life—including a gambling addiction and two more failed marriages, most recently to the motivational speaker Les Brown—Knight is so intent on gleaning lessons that she usually fails to render the experiences themselves particularly vividly. Anecdotes of racism and (other people's) high jinks on the road are similarly lifeless.

Perhaps more tellingly than she intends, Knight notes of the world of show business: "I have seen it all, to be sure, but rarely participated in it." This distance comes through clearly in her memoir.

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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780786863266
  • Publisher: Hyperion
  • Publication date: 10/1/1997
  • Edition number: 1
  • Pages: 288
  • Product dimensions: 6.37 (w) x 9.50 (h) x 1.00 (d)

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Sort by: Showing all of 3 Customer Reviews
  • Anonymous

    Posted May 29, 2003

    Between Each Line of Pain and Glory: My Life Story

    What an incredible story. Way to hang in there through all the terrible stuff that you went through. Thank you for not giving up and Thank God for not taking your wonderful gift away. Gladys, you are a great inspiration to me and many others. Thank You!

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  • Anonymous

    Posted May 25, 2003

    Between Each Line of Pain and Glory: My Life Story

    Gladys Knight and The Pips sure had their ups and downs of the music business and life in general. What is so special is Gladys' attitude with those not so happy times. Gladys kept the faith and sometimes just faith alone, until she came out of those hardship times. Thank you Gladys for your true wisdom, your postive attitude, especially during your concerts. You gave me hope and faith, during my rough times and encouragement during my good times. This is a must read for any Gladys Knight Fan. Between Each Line of Pain and Glory is an Incredible Book.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted June 23, 2000

    I'VE WAITED ALL MY LIFE TO READ THIS BOOK.

    THIS IS THE TRUE STORY OR THE DIVA OF ALL DIVA.HARDWORK AND HARDSHIP SHE HAS WEATHERED IT ALL AND WHAT A VOICE NEVER AGAIN SAY TO GOD TO TAKE IT AWAY KEEP ON KEEPING ON. I DIDN'T WANT TO PUT IT DOWN AND I STILL HAVENT.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  No   Report this review
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