The Pips – At Last…The Pips (1977)

Let me ask you a question.  When you are listening to Gladys Knight and the Pips, do you sing along with Gladys Knight, or do you sing along with the Pips?  If you’re like me, you are a Pip.  Gladys Knight may be taking the lead, but the Pips parts are a lot more fun:

Although known for their smooth soulful vocals and their slick dance moves, The Pips were always destined to backup for the enormous talent of Gladys Knight, known by fans as “The Empress of Soul.”  As a result, the group rarely took the center stage and, unless you are an expert in the soul industry (which I will admit I am not), most people can’t even name a Pip.

But in 1977, due to a contractual dispute that had temporarily crippled Gladys Knight and the Pips from recording together, The Pips stepped to the forefront on their first full solo release.  Titled “At Last,” it was not only an attempt to stay in the spotlight after a decade of success, but to finally showcase their own talents as a vocal group without their powerhouse leading lady.

Now, The Pips had recorded without Gladys Knight before.  In 1962, when Gladys temporarily “retired” from show business after getting married and having her children, The Pips had put out a single on Fury records called “Linda,: written by Bubba and William, backed with “Darling” which went absolutely nowhere.  Not long after the single flopped, The Pips found themselves looking for other work in order to survive, and Gladys Knight and the Pips were on their way to being a one hit wonder.  But in 1965, after reforming and signing on with Motown and Buddha Records, the group’s fortunes flew higher with seventeen hit records on the Billboard charts, winning three Grammy Awards and becoming one of the most respected groups in American Music.  

But in 1977 Gladys Knight and the Pips had found themselves between a rock and a hard place.  Due to a contractual dispute with both Motown and Buddha, the group found themselves in a position where they could not contractually record together until their current contract was finished.  Although they continued to tour and perform together in concert, Buddha refused to release them, so in order to continue releasing material to the record buying public, Gladys Knight and the Pips parted ways temporarily to work on solo projects.  Gladys stayed at Buddha where she recorded her debut lp, “Miss Gladys Knight,” and The Pips moved themselves over to Casablanca where they recorded “At Last….The Pips.”

So, who were The Pips anyways?  I’ll be honest but finding comprehensive biographical material on the individual Pips is far more difficult and frustrating than I had expected.  It’s like these guys were meant to be shadowy enigmas that performed behind Gladys Knight, never taking the spotlight, never stepping out in front.  Still today very little information on The Pips is readily available in favor for tons of information on Gladys.

At the forefront of The Pips was Gladys older brother Merald Woodrow Knight Jr, better known as “Bubba” to his family, friends and fans.  Two years older than Gladys, legend tells that The Pips were born at his 10^th birthday party when the family record player broke down and in order to entertain the guests Bubba, Gladys, their sister Brenda and their cousins William and Elenore formed an impromptu singing group.  Seeing the family sing together prompted their mother, Elizabeth “Mama” Knight to organize them into a semi=professional singing group and things progressed to musical stardom.

In time Bubba stepped out in front as the groups’ leader, managing much of their affairs.  When not signing with The Pips, Bubba has been involved with voter’s right campaigns which helps and encourages African American voters to both register and vote.  He, along with Gladys and the Pips, was also active in the campaign in the 1980’s to boycott performing in South Africa and have been supportive and campaigned for many African American politicians.

Most recently, Bubba wrote a song titled “Thank You For the Love” which was inspired by the medical staff who fought the COVID-19 virus during the 2020 pandemic.   Currently age 82, Bubba resides in Henderson, Nevada with his wife Kathleen.

The other original Pip was Bubba and Glady’s cousin, William Guest.  A year younger than Bubba, William was said to be the “little brother” of the group.  William published a biography, “Midnight Train From Georgia: A Pip’s Journey” in 2012, but the book is fairly difficult to find with Amazon selling copies at $110 US.  I wish I could read this book because very little biography information on Guest seems to exist on the internet beyond his life with The Pips.  To me, William Guest remains to be a mystery.  If anybody has more biographical material about William Guest than provided here, please drop us a note as I’d love to know more about him.

The third of the cousins, Edward Patten, joined The Pips in 1959 with Eleanor and Brenda quit the group.  The oldest of the cousins, Edward had started singing in doo-wop groups as far back as The Pip’s initial formation, but when The Pips, who had been solidly more successful, was out a couple of members, they talked Edward into quitting his group and join them instead.

Edward took on the nickname “Daddy” Patten as he was often the most organized, responsible, and focused of the group.  It has been noted that he was the group’s official “timekeeper,” making sure they showed up on time, got on stage at the exact hour, but got off the stage without going over.  Married twice, Edward was also a father with three daughters.

It should be noted that there was also briefly a fourth Pip.  Langston George was the only member of The Pips who was not a relative, but was a bandmate of Edward Patten, and when he left to join The Pips, Langston went along with him.  Langston sang on Gladys Knight and the Pips first hit, “Every Beat of My Heart.”  However, when the group collapsed in 1062 due to Gladys’ “retirement,” Langston returned to Atlanta where he took a stable job at the General Motors Plant.  By the time that Gladys Knight and the Pips reformed a few years later, Langston was married and had a child, and he chose stability over the entertainment industry.  Although he would maintain his job with General Motors until retirement, Langston did continue to perform around Atlanta and his final public appearance was in 1984 when he sang The Star Spangled Banner at an Atlanta Braves game during “General Motors Day.”  Langston George passed away at age 67 in 2007.

“At Last,…The Pips” was released in the summer of 1977 and was a strong release in The Pips tradition with two singles, “At Last My Search is Over” and “If I Could Bring Back Yesterday,” being released to radio stores.  Bubba Knight took over lead vocal duties for the majority of the album, with the exception of “Happiness,” which had William Guest as lead vocalist.  The album is a solid soul release, with accents of funk in it, but some of the tracks, especially the longer running ones, break into a Disco vibe, which shouldn’t be a surprise as Disco was Casablanca’s main output.

At the time of the release, The Pips also made a very funny appearance without Gladys on an episode of The Richard Pryor Show.  In the sketch, comedian Shirley Wilson, best known for her appearances in the sitcom “What’s Happening?” tells Pryor that he should book her favorite group, “The Pips.”  This leads to a performance where The Pips, next to an empty microphone, sing “I Heard it Through the Grapevine” and “Midnight Train to Georgia” ….but only their parts.   During the parts where Gladys sings the camera cuts away to the lone microphone without vocal accompaniment.  It’s a funny bit and proves that The Pips had a sense of humor, but was also surprisingly a great opportunity to see how good The Pips were as a vocal group.  However, The Pips did not performany of the songs from their new album, which was probably an indication that “At Last” was not hitting with the public.

In a move that was marked to confuse consumers, Buddha Records released an album of unused Gladys Knight, and the Pips recordings titled “Still Together” just as The Pips was releasing “At Last,” which competed for sales at the record stores.  Under promoted and with little fanfare “At Last” didn’t do much for The Pips, and both the album and the singles failed to make the charts despite the fact that they hit on the sound of the moment.  But Casablanca wasn’t done with The Pips yet, and they brought them back to release a second album, “Callin’” which was released in 1978.  Even heavier with the Disco direction, “Callin’” is actually a far stronger album then “At Last” and The Pips sounding much more comfortable as a unit without Gladys Knight.  The opening track, “Baby I’m Your Fool,” which was released as the album’s first single, is possibly the best of The Pips’ output as solo performers,

If the album had a flaw, it’d be the art direction, which actually confused me at first sight.  Instead of putting The Pips on the front cover, a model in a negligee talking on the telephone was pictured instead, with a small photo of The Pips on the back cover.  Although sexy, it doesn’t reflect the mood or feel of The Pips, and the absence of the actual band on the cover did not help sales. 

To make matters worse, Buddha was at it again with yet another Gladys Knight and the Pips release, now titled “The One and Only,” and Gladys’ contractual solo album, “Miss Gladys Knight” hit shelves oversaturating the group on the record store shelves.  While “Callin” should have easily competed with its contemporaries, it undersold and marked the final time The Pips recorded alone as a solo act.

But, as said, The Pips did not initially intend to part ways with Gladys Knight and by the end of 1978 the dispute with their former recording companies had been resolved and Gladys Knight and the Pips were free to record as a unit again.  Moving over to Columbia Records, the Pips not only reunited with Gladys, but also songwriters Ashford and Simpson who helped them create their Motown output, and released 1980’s “About Love,” which put them back on the Billboard charts with three singles – “Taste of Bitter Love,” “Bourgie Bourgie” and “Landlord.”  Truly together again their solo period through the 70’s was thought as a predominantly unsuccessful experiment that allowed them to continue releasing material, but it was clear that without Gladys Knight, the Pips were not a marketable group.

Gladys Knight and the Pips continued to be successful throughout the 80’s, but finally decided to call it quits in 1989.  With more solo projects coming to Gladys, members of The Pips were looking at new opportunities as well.  The group went on one final tour in 1988 and disbanded officially at its conclusion.  But their final year would be filled with achievements including winning a Grammy for “Best R&B Performance by a Group” for their hit “Love Overboard,” and American Music Award for favorite R&B group, and the Soul Train Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Bubba Knight continued working with Gladys as her tour manager, and occasionally would take the stage to sing with her.  Meanwhile, Edward and William headed back to Detroit where they teamed up and started their own production company which they called Crew Entertainment Company and they used their experience to help bring up young r&b and hip hop artists.  Founding the company in 1989, it was still growing when Edward was hospitalized due to complications with diabetes and had to have both of his legs amputated which confined him to a wheelchair.  Despite his ailing health, Edward continued running Crew Entertainment until further complications ended his life in February 2005 at age 65.

In 2007, despite the death of Edward, The Pips would come out of retirement for one final reunion.  Bubba, William and a singer named Neil Taffe, who worked for Gladys as a backup singer, appeared as The Pips in a Geico Insurance commercial.  A “real life customer” was brought in to tell her story, with The Pips standing behind in wearing vintage red suits and providing musical commentary in their signature Pips flavor.  Although noticeably older, and donning wigs, The Pips still had the sound, the soul and the moves.  It was a ridiculously surreal commercial, but once again displayed the sense of humor that The Pips had in regard to their musical legacy. 

William Guest passed away from congested heart failure in December 2015 at age 74. Still located in Detroit, he and members of Edward’s family were still running Crew Entertainment.  Today, at age 82, Bubba Knight is the last Pip standing.  Although he has retired from being involved with Glady’s career, he has made himself available to talk to music historians and experts continuing to keep the legacy of The Pips alive.

The Pips will always be remembered as one of the most famous backing groups in the history of American music, but during the times where they were able to come out in front, they proved themselves to be a talented and capable vocal group.  But while their solo albums remain to be a curiosity, their musical legacy continues to be respected and celebrated by music fans.  As long as Gladys Knight is remembered, so will be The Pips.