Gladys Knight & The Pips released “Imagination” in October 1973. It became their first RIAA Gold LP, and included their first and only Billboard Hot 100 number-one hit “Midnight Train to Georgia” *. Here you see it honored with two awards…
One, an Authentic, First Presentation, First-State, RIAA Gold “White Matte” (the RIAA format from 1964 to 1975)…
The other, is an Authentic In-House Platinum award (The RIAA didn’t certify Platinum sales until 1975)…
Both awards are presented to the same music Publisher, KECA Music. The RIAA presentation celebrates “one million dollars worth”, and the In-House Platinum which celebrates “two million dollars worth”. In the years to come “dollars worth” would give way to millions of copies sold.
* They followed that single with the release of the million-selling album, Imagination, which released two more top ten singles, “I’ve Got to Use My Imagination” and “Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me“. The release of Imagination sparked a consecutive series of million-selling gold-certified albums for the label including the soundtrack to the movie, Claudine; I Feel a Song and 2nd Anniversary. In 1975, the group scored a mid-season variety series, The Gladys Knight & the Pips Show, that aired for four episodes on NBC. During this time, the group recorded more hit singles, including “I Feel a Song (In My Heart)“, “Part-Time Love”, “Love Finds Its Own Way” and the live recording, “The Way We Were/Try to Remember“.
