Edward Patten was not just any Pip.
Besides singing bass and then tenor–his voice had incredible range–on harmonies backing up the group’s lead singer, Gladys Knight, Mr. Patten was also one of the group’s choreographers as well as the treasurer who made sure that promoters paid and that the travel and accommodation plans were set.
“When Edward and Langston George became part of the Pips, we danced a whole `nother way,” said William Guest, one of the original Pips. “He was that type of guy. He made sure that we did things right. We called him Daddy Patten. He was no more than two to three years older than me and a year older than Langston, but we respected him.”
Mr. Patten, who had lived in Detroit since 1964 when Gladys Knight & the Pips joined Berry Gordy Jr.’s Motown record label, died early Friday at St. Mary Hospital in Livonia, Mich. He was 65 and had been in ill health since a series of strokes beginning in 1995 left him unable to sing.
The Pips formed in Atlanta with Knight joined by her brother Merald “Bubba” Knight and cousins Guest and Mr. Patten. The group became Gladys Knight & the Pips after a promoter in Atlanta released a recording of their song “Every Beat of My Heart” without having a contract with the Pips. Another record company that also wanted to release the song said the group had to change its name, Guest said.
The group became a prominent part of the Motown music scene into the 1970s with hits such as “Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)” and “Midnight Train to Georgia.”
The group’s string of pop soul hits from 1967 to 1971 also included “Everybody Needs Love,” “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” “It Should Have Been Me” and “Friendship Train.”
Gladys Knight & the Pips were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. The group has won four Grammys.
Edward Patten is survived by his wife, three daughters, four sons and seven grandchildren.
