Gladys Knight - Love Songs (2014)

Steeped in the gospel tradition like so many early R&B groups, Gladys Knight & the Pips topped the Billboard R&B chart for the first time in 1961 with "Every Beat of My Heart" and later in the decade developed into one of Motown's most dependable acts, responsible for 11 Top Ten R&B hits from 1966 through 1972, including "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," "The Nitty Gritty," "If I Were Your Woman," and the Grammy-winning "Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)." The group doubled its quantity of Top Ten R&B hits with the Buddah label through 1978, with second Grammy winner "Midnight Train to Georgia," "I've Got to Use My Imagination," and "Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me" accounting for a streak of chart-toppers off the gold-selling album Imagination. Knight & the Pips remained together through the '80s, a period that entailed the additional R&B Top Ten entries "Landlord," "Save the Overtime (For Me)," and the Grammy-winning "Love Overboard," and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame the following decade. Having released her first two Pips-less albums during the late '70s, Knight began a full-time solo career during the early '90s. The singer's solitary discography includes an assortment of adult contemporary R&B, gospel, and jazz recordings, highlighted by the Grammy-winning 2001 album At Last and awarded collaborations with Saints Unified Voices and Ray Charles. Among Knight's later releases is the 2014 Top Ten gospel album Where My Heart Belongs. She remains an active performer.