Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me – Gladys Knight & The Pips | Top 40 Chart Performance, Story and Song Meaning
Chart Performance: Pop (#3) & R&B (#1 for 2 weeks); 1974
Story Behind The Song By Ed Osborne
Jim Weatherly, the songwriter who had brought Gladys Knight & The Pips Neither One Of Us (Wants To Be The First To Say Goodbye) (#1 R&B & #2 Pop; 1973) proved to be critical to their future success.
Jim’s Where Peaceful Waters Flow and , especially, Midnight Train To Georgia brought the Knight family pop fortune that had previously eluded them.
Hollywood star Danny Thomas first recorded Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me, a song Weatherly had written for Thomas as a Christmas present to Danny’s wife.
The basic tracks for the soul version of the song were laid down in New York, then Gladys and her brother Pips recorded their vocals at a Michigan studio located in the back of a bowling alley.
The waitresses brought in food for the musicians and group, while Gladys brought her bowling ball to roll a few frames during breaks. Once the public got a taste of Best Thing, the song became a favorite of a nation-ful of lovers.
This content and all Song Meaning articles were created and written by Top 40 Contributing Editor Ed Osborne. © 2024 Ed Osborne. All Rights Reserved. In addition to these song meaning articles, Ed has written our “Year in Music 1960s-1990s” articles.
Produced by:
- Kenny Kerner and Richie Wise
- Gladys Knight and the Pips were co-producers
Lyrics Written by:
- Jim Weatherly
Ed Osborne
Hi. I got my first record at age two and never looked back, spending a decades-long career in radio and the music business. Even after years of reading about and listening to all types of music, I am still fascinated by it. Apart from that, I’m endlessly intrigued by art, nature, and the inner lives of people (and dogs).