A Mid-Knight Train to Georgia--and Beyond

NOTE TO CELEBRITIES: Madonna’s pleas for restraint, be damned. When we pick up a celebrity biography, we’re looking for dish. We mean you no harm, but we want to know your business, all of it, because you dwell in the high life with other celebrities whose business we want to know too. We want to know that you are flawed but fabulous. And if you had any association with early Motown, we want to know what that Diana Ross did to you.

On that front, at least, Gladys Knight delivers. In her memoir, “Between Each Line of Pain and Glory” (Hyperion, 280 pages, $24.95), the full-throttle singer with the soulful heartbreak in her voice tells of the time when Ross--nicknamed “Miss Cute”--got Knight and the Pips pulled from a tour because they were outshining the headlining Supremes.

Overall, though, Knight takes the diplomatic road. She was raised to be a nice, God-fearing girl and has grown into a nice, God-fearing woman who couldn’t write anything but a nice book. Even when she chronicles an incident like the one she observes between Patti LaBelle and Dionne Warwick, or a diss (like why Aretha Franklin ignores her), she does it without rancor. The book is pretty much devoid of hissy fits and attitude.

So why read it? Well, because Knight is an underrated artist who has survived the rigors of the Chitlin Circuit as well as nights on the Vegas strip (well, except for the nasty gambling jones she picked up). And if you read this book and the Ross, LaBelle and Tina Turner bios plus Aretha Franklin’s upcoming memoir, you’ll have the near-complete Diva Chronicles.

Some of this book’s greatest hits:

* The Friendship Train: When Knight was just a teenager in bobby sox but already a touring singer, she got a make-over from Turner. “If you think Tina can put on a show, you ought to see her apply foundation. . . .”

* The Nitty-Gritty: In 1969, Knight and the Pips saw a performance by a group of young brothers from Gary, Ind. She called Motown but they didn’t respond. Later, they did. “To add insult to injury . . . Berry [Gordy] decided that their discovery should be credited to another one of his superstars. . . . For years after that, Motown’s press releases said that the Jackson 5 had been discovered by none other than Miss Cute.”

* I Feel a Song: Before leaving Motown, Knight and the Pips collected a batch of tunes they liked, including one about a woman trying to decide whether to follow her man, who was giving up on his dreams of stardom and taking a late plane back home to Houston. It didn’t click. “We changed the plane to my favorite mode of transportation, and dumped Houston for my home state.” It became a hit called “Midnight Train to Georgia.”

* Gladys Knight will sign copies of “Between Each Line of Pain and Glory” on Wednesday from noon to 1 p.m. at Super Crown, 101 N. Brand Blvd., Suite 150, Glendale; (818) 500-7145.