Collect this trio of vintage photos of three of music’s greatest all-time superstars— Gladys Knight, Eartha Kitt, and Donna Summer!
This collection includes signed & inscribed photographs from some of music’s most iconic performers -
1. Gladys Knight— signing in black felt-tip pen, with added inscription and date, writes: “Love Ya!! / Gladys Knight / 1995”, lower left corner of image area.
2. Eartha Kitt— writing: “Eartha Kitt”, lower left & center margin.
3. Donna Summer— in black felt-tip, on an official publicity photo: “God Bless You, Donna Summer”, across the center and lower right of image area.
James Spence Authentication (JSA) has examined and authenticated the signatures and inscriptions of both Gladys Knight and Eartha Kitt, and these items come accompanied by Certificates of Authenticity from JSA. Donna Summer’s original publicity photo has not been examined, and may be Ms. Summer's signature or that of a publicist.
This great trio of photographs comes framed in matching classic black frames, with ivory matting. Framed sizes are 15” in height x 12” width (for vertical photos), and 12” in height x 15” width (for the horizontal photo).
GLADYS KNIGHT, the seven-time Grammy Award-winning "Empress of Soul”, is known for the hits she recorded during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s with her group Gladys Knight & The Pips. Singer, songwriter, actress, and author, Knight has appeared in an almost uncountable number of films, television shows, Music Awards programs, Achievement Awards programs, and, of course, live performances.
Gladys Knight has recorded two Number-One Billboard Hot 100 singles, “Midnight Train to Georgia" and "That's What Friends Are For”; eleven Number-One R&B singles; and six Number-One R&B albums. She has won seven Grammy Awards (four as a solo artist and three with The Pips), and is an inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Vocal Group Hall of Fame along with The Pips. Two of her songs, “I Heard It Through the Grapevine" and "Midnight Train to Georgia”, were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for "historical, artistic and significant" value. She also recorded the theme song for the 1989 James Bond film License to Kill. Rolling Stone magazine ranks Knight among the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time.
EARTHA KITT, singer, actress, comedienne, dancer, and activist, was known for her highly distinctive singing style and her 1953 recordings of "C'est si bon”, and the now-iconic Christmas novelty song "Santa Baby", both of which reached the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. Orson Welles called her the "most exciting woman in the world". She starred as Catwoman in the third and final season of the television series Batman in 1967!
Eartha Kitt’s decades-spanning career began in 1942. She appeared in original Broadway theatre productions, and by the early 1950s had six US Top 30 hits, including "Uska Dara" and "I Want to Be Evil". Her other notable recordings include the UK Top 10 hit "Under the Bridges of Paris", "Just an Old Fashioned Girl”, and "Where Is My Man". She returned to Broadway in the 1978 original production of the musical Timbuktu!, for which she received the first of her two Tony Award nominations. Her second was for the 2000 original production of the musical The Wild Party. Kitt found a new generation of fans through her roles in the Disney films The Emperor's New Groove (2000), in which she voiced the villainous Yzma, and Holes (2003). She reprised the role as Yzma in the direct-to-video sequel Kronk's New Groove (2005), and in the animated series The Emperor's New School (2006–2008). Her work on the latter earned her two Daytime Emmy Awards. She posthumously won a third Emmy in 2010 for her guest performance on Wonder Pets!.
DONNA SUMMER, singer, songwriter, and actress, became known as the “Queen of Disco” during the disco era of the 1970s, while her music gained a global following. Winner of five Grammy Awards, Summer was described as the ”undisputed queen of the Seventies disco boom" who reached the status of "one of the world's leading female singers."
Influenced by the counterculture of the 1960s, Summer became the lead singer of a psychedelic rock band named Crow and moved to New York City. In 1968 she joined a German adaptation of the musical Hair in Munich, where she spent several years living, acting, and singing. There, she met music producers Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte, and they went on to record influential disco hits together such as "Love to Love You Baby" and "I Feel Love" (which was described by Moroder as "really the start of electronic dance" music), marking Summer's breakthrough into international music markets. Summer returned to the United States in 1976, and more superhits such as "Last Dance", her version of "MacArthur Park", "Heaven Knows", "Hot Stuff", "Bad Girls", "Dim All the Lights", "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)" with Barbra Streisand, and "On the Radio" followed.
Summer earned a total of 42 hit singles on the US Billboard Hot 100 in her lifetime, with 14 of those reaching the top ten. She claimed a top-40 hit every year between 1975 and 1984, and from her first top-ten hit in 1976, to the end of 1982, she had 12 top-ten hits (10 were top-five hits), more than any other performer during that time period. She returned to the Hot 100's top five in 1983, and claimed her final top-ten hit in 1989 with "This Time I Know It's for Real". She was the first artist to have three consecutive double albums reach the top of the US Billboard 200 chart and charted four number-one singles in the US within a 12-month period. She also charted two number-one singles on the R&B Singles chart in the US and a number-one single in the United Kingdom. Her most recent Hot 100 hit came in 1999 with "I Will Go with You (Con te partirò)". Summer remained a force on the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart throughout her entire career. In 2013, Summer was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In December 2016, Billboard ranked her sixth on its list of the "Greatest of All Time Top Dance Club Artists".