Midnight Train

Midnight Train may refer to:

See also

Gladys Knight

Gladys Maria Knight (born May 28, 1944), known as the "Empress of Soul", is an American recording artist, songwriter and actress. A seven-time Grammy Award-winner, she is best known for the hits she recorded during the 1960s and 1970s, for both the Motown and Buddah Records labels, with her group Gladys Knight & the Pips, which also included her brother Merald "Bubba" Knight and her cousins Edward Patten and William Guest.

Early life

Knight was born in Atlanta, Georgia, the daughter of Sarah Elizabeth (née Woods) and Merald Woodlow Knight, Sr., a postal worker. She first achieved minor fame by winning Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour TV show contest at the age of seven in 1952. The following year, she, her brother Merald, sister Brenda, and cousins William and Elenor Guest formed a musical group called the Pips (named after another cousin, James "Pip" Woods). By the end of the decade, the act had begun to tour, and had replaced Brenda Knight and Eleanor Guest with Gladys Knight's cousin Edward Patten and friend Langston George.

Midnight Train to Georgia

"Midnight Train to Georgia" is a 1973 number-one hit single by Gladys Knight & the Pips, their second release after departing Motown Records for Buddah Records. Written by Jim Weatherly, and included on the Pips' 1973 LP Imagination, "Midnight Train to Georgia" won the 1974 Grammy Award for Best R&B Vocal Performance By A Duo, Group Or Chorus and has become Knight's signature song.

Background

The theme of the song is how romantic love can conquer differences in background. The boyfriend of the song's narrator is a failed musician who left his native Georgia to move to Los Angeles to become a "superstar, but he didn't get far". He decides to give up, and "go back to the life he once knew." Even though she is settled and secure in herself, the narrator decides to move to Georgia with him:

The song was originally written and performed by Jim Weatherly under the title "Midnight Plane to Houston," which he recorded on Jimmy Bowen's Amos Records. "It was based on a conversation I had with somebody... about taking a midnight plane to Houston," Weatherly recalls. "I wrote it as a kind of a country song. Then we sent the song to a guy named Sonny Limbo in Atlanta and he wanted to cut it on Cissy Houston... he asked if I minded if he changed the title to 'Midnight Train to Georgia.' And I said, I don't mind. Just don't change the rest of the song.'" Weatherly, in an interview with Gary James, stated that the phone conversation was with Farrah Fawcett and he used Fawcett and his friend Lee Majors, whom she had just started dating, "as kind of like characters."

Boyce Avenue

Boyce Avenue is an American rock band formed in Sarasota, Florida, by Alejandro Luis Manzano and his brothers Daniel Enrique Manzano, Fabian Rafael Manzano. The band is named after a combination of two streets the brothers lived on as children. As of August 9, 2011, they are no longer signed to Universal Republic and have started their own independent record label called 3 Peace Records. Boyce Avenue releases original music as well as covers of contemporary and classic songs on YouTube. Boyce Avenue has also collaborated with other YouTube artists such as Hannah Trigwell, Kina Grannis, Tiffany Alvord, Megan Nicole, Alex Goot, Megan & Liz, David Choi, Tyler Ward, Savannah Outen, Cobus Potgieter and DeStorm Power as well as The X Factor season two finalists Fifth Harmony, Beatrice Miller, Diamond White and Carly Rose Sonenclar.

Boyce Avenue frequently tours in the United States, Canada, the European Union, Australia, and Southeast Asia.

Biography

Daniel was born on October 4, 1980. Fabian was born on July 1, 1984. Alejandro was born on October 4, 1986. The three attended Pine View High School. Fabian and Daniel played basketball through it while Alejandro sang in the choir and was named Mr. Pine View.

Gladys Knight & the Pips

Gladys Knight & The Pips were an R&B/soul family musical act from Atlanta, Georgia that remained active on the music charts and performing circuit for three decades.

Starting out as simply The Pips in 1952, derived from a cousin's nickname, the founding members were Gladys Knight, brother Merald "Bubba" Knight, sister Brenda Knight and cousins William and Eleanor Guest. After a couple years performing in talent shows, the group signed with Brunswick Records in 1957, recording a couple of singles that failed to chart. Brenda Knight and Eleanor Guest were eventually replaced by another cousin, Edward Patten and a non-relative, Langston George in 1959. This lineup produced the group's first hit single, "Every Beat of My Heart". After the single was released on three different labels, they changed their name to Gladys Knight & The Pips shortly afterwards. Langston George left the same year and Gladys Knight left in 1962 to start a family with musician Jimmy Newman. Knight rejoined in 1964 and this lineup continued until the group's disbandment in 1989.