‘Midnight Train To Georgia’ by Gladys Knight & the Pips Marks 50th Anniversary

Gladys Knight‘s classic song “Midnight Train To Georgia” celebrates its 50th anniversary this month. The Song was released in August of 1973. Knight shared the news on her Instagram account. “Midnight Train to Georgia”. Happy 50th Anniversary!!!! 💜 Gladys Knight & The Pips are inductees into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

The group formed by Gladys Knight, with cousins Edward Patten, William Guest, and brother Merald “Bubba” Knight, helped catapult the group to superstar status with hits such as “Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye),” “If I Were Your Wom­an,” “Midnight Train to Georgia” and “Every Beat of My Heart” while also making such funky dance numbers as the original “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” “The Nitty Gritty,” “Friendship Train,” “I’ve Got to Use My Imagination” and “Love Overboard,” and the classic “Midnight Train To Georgia.”

The song was written by Jim Weatherly as “Midnight Train To Houston” but it was gospel legend Cissy Houston who suggested the title be changed to “Midnight Train to Georgia.” Houston and Weatherly both recorded the song but it was Knight and the Pips who turned it into a smash hit. The song was named one of Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.