Midnight Train From Georgia

By Dhyana Ziegler

Midnight Train from Georgia chronicles the incredible rise of Gladys Knight and the Pips from their origins singing in a small Atlanta church to their induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. When two families’ destinies intertwine at Mt. Moriah Baptist Church, they discover the extraordinary musical talents of their children. Young cousins William Guest, Eleanor Guest, Gladys Knight, Brenda Knight, and Bubba Knight unite their heavenly vocals to form The Pips gospel choir.

We follow William Guest from his formative years in Atlanta, where his love of music is kindled by evenings listening to his family perform rhythmic gospel songs on their porch. The Pips’ journey takes them from these humble back-porch jam sessions to struggle and sacrifice on the road to stardom. With faith, fortitude and William’s grandmother’s lessons to guide them, the group overcomes adversity through the transcendent power of their music.

Midnight Train from Georgia is an inspiring tale about the bonds of family, church and music. It’s a story of poverty to fortune, innocence to experience, and childhood friendship growing into Hall of Fame synergy. Their sweet harmonies touched millions over decades, but it all started with kids finding their voices in a small Georgia choir.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: May 24, 2024
• ISBN: 9781035840175

Dhyana Ziegler

Lady Dhyana Ziegler, DCJ, Ph.D., is currently President and CEO of Z/Creators, LLC and Professor Emerita of Florida A&M University, U.S.A. . She has worked in the field of higher education and technology for more than 35 years as a professor and administrator. Dr. Ziegler is the author of four books, more than 60 scholarly publications - including book chapters - and has produced more than 100 videos and other multimedia works. She has presented at numerous national and international conferences. Besides her academic career, Dr. Ziegler is a multimedia writer, digital content producer, and songwriter (to name a few). She serves on several boards and other professional organisations.

Book preview

Midnight Train

From Georgia

Dhyana Ziegler

Austin Macauley Publishers

Midnight Train From Georgia

About the Author

Dedication

Copyright Information ©

Acknowledgement

Foreword

Reflections

Chapter One: The Beginning

Chapter Two: Harmonising

Chapter Three: Leaving Georgia

Chapter Four: Polishing Our Act

Chapter Five: Motown and Buddah Records

Author Note

Chapter Six: Breaking Up is Hard to Do

Chapter Seven: Love Overboard

Chapter Eight: Driving My Own Train Now

Chapter Nine: The Final Stop

Appendix

About the Author

Lady Dhyana Ziegler, DCJ, Ph.D., is currently President and CEO of Z/Creators, LLC and Professor Emerita of Florida A&M University, U.S.A. . She has worked in the field of higher education and technology for more than 35 years as a professor and administrator. Dr. Ziegler is the author of four books, more than 60 scholarly publications - including book chapters - and has produced more than 100 videos and other multimedia works. She has presented at numerous national and international conferences. Besides her academic career, Dr. Ziegler is a multimedia writer, digital content producer, and songwriter (to name a few). She serves on several boards and other professional organisations.

Dedication

This book is dedicated to the Guest and Ziegler family members, relatives, extended family, friends, admirers of Gladys Knight and the Pips, and loved ones who have supported us throughout this journey—including those who are no longer with us. This book is the culmination and celebration of the life of William Franklin Guest of the famed group, Gladys Knight and the Pips. So, above all else, we’d like to thank William for his life, legacy, and love. It is about his life, journey, and experiences that provide the lessons learned, wisdom, and an education for life. Thanks Bae Bro for inspiring us to dream our greatest dreams. Dreams can and do come true!

Copyright Information ©

Dhyana Ziegler 2024

The right of Dhyana Ziegler to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

The story, the experiences, and the words are the author’s alone.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

ISBN 9781035840168 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781035840175 (ePub e-book)

www.austinmacauley.com

First Published 2024

Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd®

1 Canada Square

Canary Wharf

London

E14 5AA

Acknowledgement

The family would like to acknowledge all of those who loved the late William Franklin Guest, otherwise known as Bae Bro and/or Red. This includes all of you who encouraged us to produce this historical work, donated your creative talents, and provided constructive criticism. Thank you so much. We love you all!

Foreword

Midnight Train from Georgia: William Franklin Guest of Gladys Knight and the Pips is a trip down memory lane. The book brings back so many memories for me because William and I made part of this journey together while I was a member of the hit singing group ‘The Marvelettes’. As a matter of fact, I call him ‘Bae Bro’.

I first met Gladys Knight and the Pips in 1962 when I was singing with The Marvelettes and both groups were performing at the Howard Theatre in Washington, D.C. This was before Gladys Knight and the Pips signed with Motown Records. Our hit record ‘Mr Postman’ was a Number One Record on Billboard and we were one of the hottest groups on tour.

When I first saw Gladys Knight and the Pips perform from backstage, I thought they were very dynamic performers. The Pips were classic dancers. However, I always thought William was the best dancer. A lot of people thought Bubba was the best dance character in The Pips, but I always thought it was Bae Bro. He was the stable one in the group. Bubba was also a good dancer but was somewhat doing his own thing sometimes and Edward was a little laid back in my opinion. But I did hear Edward had problems with his feet which probably affected his dancing. But Bae Bro’s steps were always precise and right on the beat. Bubba and Edward could always look to him to get back to their place in the dance routines if they got out of step.

Besides being a great dancer, Bae Bro was so funny. He was always the life of the party. You will experience some of his humour in this book. He’s a real character. Midnight Train from Georgia reminds me of all those fun times we had together. It was a wonderful time in the history of musical performances and entertainment. The book captures the love of family, the church, entertainment, and survival in the music industry. The section about Bae Bro’s early memories of the church brought tears to my eyes. The black church provided the foundation for many black singers.

Relating to Motown Records, it was a main stage for black artists during the 1960s. Berry Gordy created a ‘Motown Sound’ that can be best described as having a strong four-beat rhythm section with strings, horns, and gospel-influenced vocalists. Motown was coined Hitsville USA. It was known for producing ‘soul’ and ‘pop’ artists. Motown knew how to groom talent and engaged artists in many professional development activities designed to polish their acts. However, The Marvelettes was such a hot group at the time with our hit record ‘Mr Postman’ that we didn’t have time to go to artist development like the other groups, including Gladys Knight and the Pips.

The Marvelettes were always working. We would see Gladys Knight and the Pips on the road sometimes because they did not perform in the Motown Reviews with the other Motown groups. They had their own booking agent. But when we did perform on a show together, we had a ball. We would also hang out together at the Motown picnics when all the groups would gather together for fun activities. These picnics are also discussed in the book. For some reason, I just somehow used to always hang out with Gladys Knight and the Pips. In fact, after The Marvelettes and Gladys Knight and the Pips left Motown Records, we continued the tradition of having picnics.

I was horrified when Gladys Knight and the Pips broke up because, in my opinion, Gladys is not the same without the Pips. She still has guys and girls singing backup, but they’re not that Pips sound. Gladys Knight and the Pips had something very special together and it has not been the same since. After the group broke up and Gladys left the Pips, we all remained friends, but Bae Bro, Pat, and I are like family. And our families have become family. We used to have Christmas and New Year’s Eve parties together. We still get together often and honour those who are no longer with us with our stories and memories. As a matter of fact, the families have remained close for decades.

I am really happy to see this book written by our little sister Dhyana because she lived the story with us. She was with all of us on this journey since she was a little girl. I’m just so thrilled to have William’s story told because if it wasn’t for Bae Bro’s voice, the story would not be told. And it certainly would not be factual.

Photo: Courtesy of Katherine Anderson-Shaffner

Katherine Anderson-Shaffner of The Marvelettes

In Loving Memory

January 16, 1944 – September 20, 2023

Reflections

The following is an excerpt from Merald ‘Bubba’ Knight of Gladys Knight and the Pips remarks at the funeral of his Pip brother, William Franklin Guest, on 9 January 2016, at Mt Moriah Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia. His comments mirror some of the memories William shares in this manuscript about their journey from Georgia to success and stardom!

Bubba:

I’ve got to tell you all something about Bae Bro. Bae Brother was more than a distant cousin to me. He was my brother.

That’s my brother right here (pointing to the casket). Bae Bro was a happy-go-lucky guy. He wouldn’t want sadness and all that stuff. Bae Bro was happy. Give him some love (gesturing to the congregation to celebrate him and clap). That’s my Bae Brother right there!

Now I’m going to tell you something ya’ll didn’t know about Bae Brother. Ya’ll have seen our choreography. I did some of it. Cholly Atkins was our real choreographer. When Midnight Train came out, Bae Brother and I didn’t have time to find Pops (Cholly Atkins) to choreograph Midnight Train to Georgia, so I told Bae Bro to come on and we went to the hotel room and started dancing (demonstrating the steps they made up). But this is what ya’ll don’t know. I choreographed all the other stuff, but when we got to the ‘whoop whoop’, let me tell ya’ll this: Bae Brother said, Big Boy, you got to put something like pulling that whistle in there. You got to put that in there and I guarantee you that’s going to live on forever. Everybody’s going to remember that whoop whoop.

I said, Okay, Bae Bro, that’s in. He choreographed that and that’s some of the things I wanted to tell ya’ll about Bae Bro.

Bae Bro was a fantastic song writer. He was brilliant at that. He wrote songs that carried us over the bridge that tied Gladys Knight and the Pips together so many times. When Gladys had her first child, Bae Bro said, Okay, let’s go over to the house and write some songs and go to New York.

I said, For what?

He said, Let’s go to New York. We are already signed with Fury Records. We’re under contract so let’s go there to record. A long story short, we wrote ‘Darling’ and ‘Linda’. In fact, we wrote four different songs. We went to New York to Fury Record Company and said, We’re here to Bobby Robinson. Listen, we want to go into the studio and record.

And Bobby Robinson said, Where’s Gladys?

No just the Pips, me, Bae Bro and Edward, that’s it.

He said, No, No, ya’ll ain’t recording with no Gladys. So, Bobby Robinson went back into the office and Bae Bro started singing ‘Darling’. Bobby Robinson came back out and said, Ahh, ya’ll wrote that? Come on in here with Fat Lewis. We went in and recorded ‘Darling’, and that took us to the next connection while my sister Gladys was having a baby.

So, Bae Brother, although we’re standing by on this side, Mamma Tilley, Ma Margaret, Eleanor, and everyone is over there saying, ‘Welcome’.

Photo: Courtesy of Dhyana Ziegler

Merald ‘Bubba’ Knight of Gladys Knight and the Pips

Chapter One

The Beginning

While their first single, ‘Whistle My Love’, was released by Brunswick in 1957, the Pips didn’t score a bona fide hit until they began recording with Motown Records in the 1960s, where they were teamed with songwriter/producer Norman Whitfield. In 1967, the Pips’ version of Whitfield’s I heard it Through the Grapevine—later a huge hit for Marvin Gaye-crossed over from the rhythm and blues charts to the Pop Charts. Their popularity increased with the success of singles like ‘Nitty Gritty’, ‘Friendship Train’ and ‘If I Were Your Woman’, combined with touring performances with the Motown Revue and numerous TV appearances. Knight and the Pips left Motown in 1973 for Buddah Records, a subsidiary of Arista (the group later took Motown to court for unpaid royalties). Ironically, their last Motown single, ‘Neither One of Us Wants to be the First to Say Goodbye’, became the Pips’ first No 1 crossover hit and a Grammy winner for Best Pop Vocal Performance in 1973.

The group—now officially known as Gladys Knight and the Pips—was riding higher than ever during the mid-1970s with a smoother, more accessible sound, a hit album, Imagination (1973) and three gold singles: ‘I’ve Got to Use My Imagination’, ‘Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me’ and the Grammy-winning No. 1 hit ‘Midnight Train to Georgia’ (Best R&B Vocal Performance). In 1974, the group recorded the soundtrack for the film Claudine, with songs written by Curtis Mayfield. The soundtrack album spawned the hit single ‘On and On’. Their next album, ‘I Feel a Song’ (1975), included Knight’s hit version of Marvin Hamlisch’s ‘The Way We Were’, also popularised by Barbra Streisand; the album’s title track became a No 1 Soul hit. Las Vegas Entertainment Guide. www.lvol.com/bios/e55.html

Flashback-William

I’m singing and dancing in harmony, dressed in a gold silk suit. ‘I feel a song’, in my heart. It’s rooted in rhythm and blues. The orchestra is jamming and I’m dancing, performing a soft-toe routine. I glide back and forth across the stage, twisting and turning, never missing a step or a beat. I’m looking good and my performance is tight and smooth. My feet are defying gravity. The theatre is filled to capacity. The audience loves it. People are clapping and screaming out in jubilation and I hear the thunderous applause from the mezzanine section and throughout the balcony. The seats in the theatre are rocking and the energy is high. People are mesmerised and in the groove.

Suddenly, the lights go dim on the stage, and eventually, fade to darkness. The four of us are frozen, poised motionless in silence. In that moment of anticipation, everyone takes a deep breath, including me. The lights begin to fade up to form a colourful silhouette around each member of the group before becoming a spotlight. At that moment, we break our silence. A perfect vocal harmony, soothing melody, synchronised dancing, and spinning as we start performing our finale, works the crowd. We give it all we had. The audience is standing on its feet, screaming for more. The show ends with a standing ovation and a pleased crowd. That’s a typical Gladys Knight and the Pips performance. Besides being great singers with a lifetime of hit records, Gladys Knight and the Pips will always have a signature of class, style, great harmonic vocals, and polished performances. We were counted on to deliver a great show to the public every time we performed.

This book is a memoir of the life and legacy of my beloved brother-in-law, William Franklin Guest, of the renowned signing group Gladys Knight and the Pips. It is told from his voice as gathered through my video camera lens and recorded over several years before his death. William Franklin Guest, whom I call Bae Bro, married my sister Patricia. He was more my brother than my brother-in-law. He called me ‘Little Di Di’. We chose the book title Midnight Train from Georgia because while everything started for the group in Georgia, they left Georgia to follow their dream, and found success and fame.

Living and Learning

On 2 July 1941, I was introduced to this world. I lived through different stages of my life in the world of entertainment. God blessed me with the gift of music. My mother, father, grandmother, and uncle were all lovers of music. Thanks