Inside was a black velvet jewel box containing a necklace with a picture of a mustard seed on it. I sat in my dressing room and unwrapped it. So I was thrilled when a brown paper parcel from my mom arrived one day before a performance. The strain of life on the road was getting to me, and I missed my family. “Back in my touring days with The Pips, when we crisscrossed the country performing hits like ‘You’re the Best Thing that Ever Happened to Me,’ Mom would send me notes and care packages,” Knight recalled. “It was Mom who taught me how to keep my faith strong,” she said. Whether it was that first performance, which made Knight a “singing sensation at age seven,” or on the road with The Pips, Knight remembered the importance of faith. Fifty great years,” she added.įrom the beginning of Knight’s career as a singer, her mother supported and encouraged her to have faith.īefore her 40 years with The Pips, a 7-year-old Knight debuted on Ted Mack’s Amateur Hour. Despite her doctor’s gloomy prognosis she lived with diabetes for 50 years. No wonder Mom was able to face her illness and take control of it. “There was something else that helped keep my mom going, something powerful. She couldn’t bear the thought of missing out on all that,” she wrote. Like every mother, she dreamed of watching her kids grow up and of someday bouncing her grandbabies on her knee. ![]() A health-care professional herself, she knew a thing or two about diet and exercise-and about the importance of being informed. However, Knight’s mother held onto the hope of her faith. ‘And you can never eat sugar again!’ There would have to be insulin injections and a carefully regulated diet,” she continued. ‘You might not make it to 50,’ her doctor told her. Back then in the 1940s it was different for people with diabetes. “Mom was just 30 when she got the devastating diagnosis. All because of a spirited, strong-willed woman named Elizabeth Knight, my late mother. “But I’m confident I can beat those odds and help others do the same. Factor in my love of high-calorie foods, and maybe it seems like my odds don’t look so good,” Knight wrote in 2005. That’s even more shocking for me since I’m a 60-year-old African-American woman with a family history of diabetes. ![]() “How’s this for a shocking statistic: One in four African-American women over age 55 has diabetes. ![]() Seven-time Grammy Award-winner Gladys Knight, often known as the “Empress of Soul,” exemplified her mother’s example as the primary teacher for overcoming any odds. Note: This story is part of our Faith in Hollywood series. Singer Gladys Knight: ‘Mom Taught Me How to Keep my Faith Strong’ Published: AugPhoto from Galdys Knight’s Instagram
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