Gladys Maria Knight, known as the "Empress of Soul", is an American singer. A ten-time Grammy Award-winner, Knight recorded hits through the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s with her family group Gladys Knight & the Pips, which included her brother Merald "Bubba" Knight and cousins William Guest and Edward Patten.

The Original Amateur Hour is an American radio and television program. The show was a continuation of Major Bowes Amateur Hour, which had been a radio staple from 1934 to 1945. Major Edward Bowes, the originator of the program and its master of ceremonies, left the show in 1945 and died the following year. He was ultimately succeeded by Ted Mack, when the show was brought into television in 1948.