Gladys

Will I *ever* tire of listening to Gladys Knight? I think not. She is truly holy - and I hate to use that word (tarnished as it is by the scandals of organized religion). Yet I struggle to find the perfect word to characterize her singing.

Her voice is indisputably other-worldly, rising so many levels above the over-reaching, forced emotion of her contemporaries. Only Gladys brings the subtle, yet raw, emotion that others feign. Only Gladys - and none other - succeeds in touching those hearts that are willing to be touched by a tender, caring hand.

She is THE PERFECT singer of popular music, in my mind, of all time. All the other great singers of her ilk - Ella Fitzgerald, Aretha Franklin, Dinah Washington, Billie Holliday, Sarah Vaughn) all fell short of the one God-given perfection of Gladys .. her subtle, yet pure, emotion that pierces your heart. I want pure and authentic - yet controled, subtle, and never overstated - emotion. I want a woman who cries - cries into my shoulder. Not a woman who forces a cry on my television screen for millions to watch and expects me to dutifully buy a forced, over-the-top, pseudo-emotional, yet platinum album.

If you're one of the few wise ones, I suggest you purchase a quality set of headphones and then listen to the following interpretations of God's perfection:

Neither One of Us
You're the Best Thing
Midnight Train to Georgia
Where Peaceful Waters Flow
You're the Best Thing that Ever Happened to Me
et. al.

OK - so there is one other in the same universe as Gladys .. and she is the one and only Sarah Vaughn. She had the same subtlety and emotion (& impecibly flawless technique, to boot).

Nevertheless, no matter how much I truly enjoy Sassy's work, Gladys, for some reason, always wins out for me. While Sarah's voice was flawless technically, as well as excellent at communicating emotion and warmth, Gladys has all that and one thing more - she has an absolutely SEXY voice!

Compared to current divas (e.g., Mariah Carey), Gladys is simply in another universe. BTW Mariah is the one of the biggest frauds of all pop music - her nausiating, gyrating hand motions and similarly oscilating voice are nothing but technique and misguided showmanship. She jack-hammers the emotions (if any) of her songs into the listener, whether they want it or not.

Gladys, on the other hand, is pure and unadulterated, and understands (& communicates) the emotions of her songs in a way that is unequaled.

For example, when one listens to Where Peaceful Waters Flow, you feel as if you've curled up on a comfy bed in a fetal position and Gladys is stroking her gentle hands on your back or against your temples, soothing you and taking you beyond the mundaneness of daily life, transporting you to someplace she really thinks is the best place in the history of the Universe for you at that moment; and she really wants you to go there. And, on top of it all, she has one of the most sexiest voices of all time, which only magnifies where she brings you - by a factor of tenfold, at least!

God, I love Gladys Knight!