Gladys Knight & Tristan MacManus - Season 14

[MFWalkoff]

Gladys Knight
"The Empress of Soul"

Pro: Tristan MacManus

We know she can sing, but can the legendary Gladys Knight dance? We'll see soon enough!

Eight-time Grammy winner Gladys Knight has enjoyed #1 hits in pop, R&B and Adult Contemporary, and has triumphed in film, television and live performance. Georgia-born, Gladys began performing recitals at age four in the Mount Mariah Baptist Church. Three years later, in 1952, she won the grand prize on television's Ted Mack's Amateur Hour and the following year, she, along with her brother Bubba, and her cousins formed The Pips. They had their first hit in 1961.

In 1962, the group was renamed Gladys Knight & The Pips. With Gladys singing lead and The Pips providing lush harmonies and graceful choreography, the group went on to achieve an iconic status, having recorded some of the most memorable songs of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.

Top 20 hits, like "Every Beat of My Heart," "I Heard it Through the Grapevine" and "If I Were Your Woman," set the stage for an amazing run in the mid-1970s, with Top 10 gold-certified singles like "Neither One of Us (Wants to be the First to Say Goodbye)," "I've Got to Use My Imagination," "Best Thing to Ever Happen to Me" and the #1 smash "Midnight Train to Georgia" established Gladys Knight and The Pips as the premiere pop/R&B vocal ensemble in the world.

All told, Gladys has recorded more than 38 albums over the years, including four solo albums during the past decade. This spring, she will release her newest album featuring the hit "I Who Have Nothing." Most recently, she appeared in the Tyler Perry film I Can Do Bad All by Myself.

A longtime Las Vegas resident, Gladys returned to the Strip this past year at the famed Tropicana Hotel for a special engagement that ran in the newly-named Gladys Knight Theater, making her the first African-American performer to have a venue named after her in Las Vegas. Hey, if she does well enough on Dancing with the Stars, maybe they'll name the ballroom after her, too!

Cast Bios - ABC.com

[OrangeCrush]

I think generally singers also have the beat to be pretty good dancers...I hope they do good because I love Tristan...especially the way he talks

[pikachu]

I always liked Gladys Knight better than Aretha Franklin. I love her voice!

I saw her on an episode of Man vs. Food. Adam Richman went to visit her restaurant in Atlanta and try her fried chicken. She seemed like a fun, genuine person. I'm looking forward to seeing her dance! If she puts as much heart and soul into her dancing as she puts into her singing and her cooking, she'll do well in the competition. I just hope her age doesn't get in her way. Most people don't start dancing at 67.

[dagwood]

So glad Tristan is back. Hopefully with Gladys he can make it farther than last season.

[MountainBreeze]

Rooting for this team. Saw the ET video and Gladys certainly has an abundance of charm and also seems to have good rhythm. I hope it translates well to the dance floor, as I want them to go far this season.

[karalott]

I think Tristan and Nancy finished 5th last season, so not too shabby, especially considering he could have been the second to go if he was partnered with Elisabetta. I'm also glad he's back and look forward to hearing his accent. It'd be nice to see a final filled with pros who have never made it that far before. Might throw some new life into the freestyle round at least. I just hope the show hasn't designated Tristan to the nice guy Tony/Jonathan category and he never gets a serious contender. But I think he's pretty lucky to be partnered with Gladys. I think overall she stands a pretty good chance of going far, based on fan base and name recognition, and if she can really dance and impress? Then yeah, she may surprise everyone. Plus, she's one of the most legitimate "stars" this show has ever cast. I look forward to these two. And I hope at almost 70, I can look and move as good as Gladys.

[aname2]

Guess this guy will have to "earn his stripes" so to speak. I love Gladys Knight (one of my all time favorite singers), but she is pretty old and probably getting kind of creaky, so no real competition for the younger dancers. Tristan is adorable and has "that accent" - could he get any cuter?

[RBmumsie]

Love Gladys and adore Tristan.

[Elsa66]

Some great pictures of Tristan and Gladys practicing - they look so happy:

This Seasons Dynamic Lineup Of Stars Will Perform Either

If the link doesn't work, go to "Getty Images" and search for Gladys Knight. And they're doing the Cha Cha first instead of the Foxtrot - which may be a good thing, because the couples who get a standard the first week frequently have to do the dreaded Jive the second week, the most athletically demanding of all the dances, though the Quickstep is no walk in the park - at least it's in hold and you don't have to do those knee-jarring kicks and flicks.

[JunkieGirl]

I just hope the show hasn't designated Tristan to the nice guy Tony/Jonathan category and he never gets a serious contender.

I don't see Tristan anything like Tony/Jonathan, he was sorta able to tame that Nancy beast. If you can make that woman look decent on the dance floor, you can pretty much do anything.

I do wonder if they will put Val in that nice guy slot. Nice guy vs bad boy brother thing would be a new twist.