Black Music Month Artist of the Day - Day 17: Gladys Knight & The Pips

There's no one like Gladys Knight. Her soulful voice is one of the most distinct in the music that dominated radio and television for over three decades since the 1960s.
Performing with her brother, Merald "Bubba" Knight and cousins William Guest and Edward Patten as Gladys Knight & The Pips, they helped defined family groups.

Although, Gladys was the star, the group was really an ensemble. The back vocals on their well-known hit "Midnight Train To Georgia remain of the best written and performed to this day. Check out a true black music legend, Gladys Knight & The Pips.

Black Music Month Artist of the Day- Rick James

June is Black Music Month
Day 9

Rick James

Rick started as a writer and musician for Motown and ended up with a big legacy of his own. Never a dull moment with Rick. Enjoy this clip of one of his first hit singles.

Black Music Month Artist of the Day- Stevie Wonder

Black Music Month
Day 5

Stevie Wonder is a musical genius. He is amazing on record and live. He has been in the music business since the age of 14. Enjoy this live clip on Stevie signing "Sir Duke".

Black Music Month Artist of the Day- Debarge

June is Black Music Month
Day 4
Debarge

One of the best groups to come out of Motown in the 80s. A talent family of singers. Just listen to El's falsetto plus they also wrote their hits themselves.

Black Music Month Artist Of The Day- Marvin Gaye

June is Black Music Month there fore each day we will spotlight one of our favorite black music artists.

Songwriter Of Classic Motown Dies

Norman Whitfield, who co-wrote a string of Motown classics including "War" and "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," has died. He was 67.


Norman Whitfield was one of Motown's leading writers and producers.

A spokeswoman at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center says Whitfield died there Tuesday. He suffered from complications of diabetes and had recently emerged from a coma, The Detroit Free Press reported.

Whitfield was a longtime Motown producer who during the 1960s and '70s injected rock and psychedelic touches into the label's soul music. Many of his biggest hits were co-written with Barrett Strong, with whom he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2004.

The two won the Grammy in 1972 for best R&B song for the Temptations' "Papa Was a Rolling Stone." Whitfield won another Grammy in 1976 for best original TV or motion picture score for "Car Wash."

Whitfield also worked as a producer for the Temptations and others.

Many of Whitfield's songs from that era, including Edwin Starr's 1970 "War" and the Temptations' 1970 "Ball of Confusion (That's What the World Is Today)," have a strong political tone.

In a statement, Motown great Smokey Robinson hailed Whitfield as "one of the most prolific songwriters and record producers of our time. He will live forever through his great music."

Among Whitfield's other songs, according to the Songwriters Hall Web site, are "Beauty Is Only Skin Deep," "Cloud Nine" and "Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)," all hits for the Temptations; and "Too Busy Thinking About My Baby," a 1969 hit for Marvin Gaye.

Just last week, Gaye's version of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," from 1968, was ranked at No. 65 in Billboard magazine's compilation of the top singles of the past 50 years. It was also a hit for Gladys Knight and the Pips, in 1967.

source:ap, cnn