Member of Gladys Knight & the Pips dies

<p>Edward Patten, an Atlanta native and member of the music group Gladys Knight & The Pips, died early Friday morning at a hospital in Michigan. He was 66.</p><p>Patten, who lived in Detroit, died at 1:25 a.m. central time from a stroke he had suffered a few days before, a hospital spokeswoman said.</p><p>The spokeswoman at St. Mary Mercy Hospital in Livonia, Mich., said Patten suffered the stroke while in the hospital. The spokeswoman said privacy issues prevented her from disclosing why Patten had been admitted to the hospital.</p><p>"Edward was my best friend and all through thick and thin, we always stuck together," said William Guest, another member of the group, in a telephone interview from Detroit.</p><p>Gladys Knight & the Pips formed in Atlanta with Knight joined by her brother Merald "Bubba" Knight and cousins Guest and Patten. The group became a prominent part of the Motown music scene in Detroit in the mid-late 1960s and early 1970s with hits such as "Neither One of Us" and "Midnight Train to Georgia." But the group eventually disbanded to pursue solo careers.</p><p>Gladys Knight & the Pips were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. The group has also won four Grammys.</p><p>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," "Friendship Train" and "I Don't Want to Do Wrong."</p><p>Guest remembered Patten as a good person who always had an interest in music.</p><p>"He was 100 percent an all right guy; 100 percent a good member of the group," he said.</p><p>No funeral plans had been made yet, Guest said.</p>

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