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Gladys Knight & The Pips ~ Neither One Of Us (Wants To Be The First) 1973 Soul Purrfection Version


Playing Next: Rahaan - Make Me Whole (Disco Deviance)
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Motown Monday! A lovely heartfelt ballad from Gladys & The Pips...

In retrospect \"Neither One Of Us (Wants To Be The First To Say Goodbye)\" is imbued with irony as it was the last great Motown single from Gladys Knight & The Pips before they moved to Neil Bogart's Buddah Label.

The band felt unappreciated and unimportant under Berry Gordy's rule who was spending most of his energies on pushing The Supremes and Diana Ross. Gladys & The Pips were not allowed to record with hitmakers Holland-Dozier-Holland. She says that it had to \"with the family and how you got along with the upper echelon acts like Smokey Robinson and Diana Ross\". Gladys was against signing with Motown, but she was outvoted by the Pips and were promptly relegated to Motown's lesser label, Soul.

After having fourteen top 40 hits with only two other top 10 hits, the band wanted to expand and incorporate gospel, country and blues but Berry Gordy was not convinced it would work. Their Motown contract was coming to an end and then Gladys secretly signed with Neil Bogart and began to record their first album for Buddah.

In Larry Harris' biography of Casablanca Records \"And Party Every Day\" he relates that Neil Bogart had signed her and to helped prepare for her next album by having his Buddah promo people quietly work \"Neither One Of Us\" to radio. \"It was tricky work, but we managed to promote the single and it eventually sold over a million copies, peaking at #2 on the charts and taking home a Grammy.\" It set the scene for the #1 hit \"Midnight Train To Georgia\" and a spate of hits that enhanced the group's appeal.

Both \"Midnight Train\" and \"Neither One Of Us\" were written by Jim Weatherly, a writer that Gladys Knight championed. His lyrics with her emotionally charged vocals went straight for your heart.


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