Gladys Knight receives Kennedy lifetime artistic achievement award

Gladys Knight receives Kennedy lifetime artistic achievement award. ‘I stand here with my fans, my family, my friends, my team and my faith in accepting such an amazing distinction,’ Gladys Knight said

On December 4, 2022, a prestigious group of five awardees who received the 45th Kennedy Center Honors for lifetime creative achievements included a musical artist who practices the Latter-day Saint faith.

Gladys Knight, the Grammy-winning soul, R&B and pop singer known by many by as America’s “empress of soul,” was honored alongside the likes of actor and filmmaker George Clooney, Christian and pop singer-songwriter Amy Grant, Cuban-American composer, conductor and educator Tania Leon, and the rock band U2.

The Honors Gala was recorded, and The 45th Annual Kennedy Center Honors will air Wednesday, Dec. 28, at 6 p.m. MST on CBS and will be available to stream live and on demand on Paramount+.

“I am still in awe,” Knight said in an interview. “I don’t take anything like that for granted.”

Among her many career highlights, Knight has accomplished the following:

• She has won seven Grammy Awards with No. 1 hits in pop, R&B and adult contemporary.
• She has recorded more than 38 albums, earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
• She received Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame and the BET Awards, along with a Legend Award from the Soul Train Awards.
• She performed with the Tabernacle at Temple Square as a guest artist for the Christmas concert in 2000 and as a featured guest with “Music & the Spoken Word” in 2012.
• She performed on “Dancing with the Stars” at age 67 in 2012.
• She performed the national anthem at Super Bowl LIII in 2019.
• She is a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, according to her Kennedy Center bio.