"This album really was a revelation that it was time to do," R&B legend Gladys Knight says of At Last, her first pop/R&B recording since 1994 (she did release an inspirational collection in 1999). In returning to the musical genre that made her a star, the fifty-six-year-old Rock & Roll Hall of Famer wanted to be sure that she had an album she could, in her words, "compete with." Elaborating, she says, "I didn't want to do a record just for the sake of contractual obligations."

In creating a work that would introduce the voice of such classics as "Midnight Train to Georgia" and "Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me" to a new generation, Knight turned to young production hands like Jamey Jaz, Shep Crawford and Tiger. "There are some brilliantly talented young people out there," she says. "And I got a chance to work with some of the best."

One of those young people Knight got to work with is actor/comedian Jamie Foxx, who she duets with on the ballad "I Wanna Be Loved." "I love the smoothness of his voice," Knight says. "He reminds me of Brian [McKnight] a little bit. People don't really know this side of Jamie, but he's really good."

The presence of Foxx is not the only surprise in store for listeners. Knight, with the help of Jaz, turns the old Bill Withers staple "Grandma's Hands" into a jazzy, edgy paean to family. "I had heard the song," she says, "And I said, 'I just need to get a young producer to come on with me and put this thing together.' So they brought Jamey to me and we just clicked in the studio like crazy. The result is 'Grandma's Hands' and it's more than I ever thought it could be."

Knight knew that her best chance for competing with the young guns of R&B, who she admires greatly, was not just to utilize young minds, but let them show her the way. "Things have changed, instruments have changed, sounds have changed, the whole makeup of the music, even the way it's structured, has changed over the years," she says. "And the only way you're going to be able to compete continually is to be flexible enough to grasp this change."

While taking advantage of that change, Knight's longtime fans were not forgotten. The album's lead single, the up-tempo "If I Were Your Woman II," revisits one of Knight's seminal Seventies songs, "If I Were Your Woman." "'If I Were Your Woman II' is just an extension of 'If I Were Your Woman,'" Knight says. In fact, Knight says the reason she chose many of the songs she did for At Last was they recaptured some of the sentiments of her Seventies hits. Talking about "I Said You Lied," she says, "That one kind of jumped out at me too. And one of the things I loved about it was it has the flavor of yesterday. I found that quite unique in the music that was coming to me at the time. I don't know if anybody else saw it like that, but that really caught my ear. These tracks had that old magic, if you will."

One of the reasons Knight says she likes working with young people is that they help keep her young. That youthful spirit definitely comes across in her tone and manner. Her enthusiasm after almost fifty years in the business is nothing short of remarkable. "I feel brand new," she says laughing. "This is like when we first started, I'm telling you. We were the most added last week. Do you know the last time I heard that? You can't buy that. And I've been out here long enough to know that. It's just awesome."

STEVE BALTIN
(March 2, 2001)