Interview With Author Dhyana Ziegler

    

 

 

1. What is your book, Midnight Train From Georgia, about? Midnight Train From Georgia is an inspiring and emotional journey through the life and career of William Franklin Guest, a founding member of Gladys Knight and the Pips. The book discusses William’s love for music as a child growing up in a musical family and the formation of the group.  The book explores the group’s meteoric rise to fame, the challenges of the music industry, and the personal struggles of a man determined to leave his mark on the world. This is not just a story of Gladys Knight and the Pips; it’s a universal tale of family, faith, love, loss, and the pursuit of dreams against all odds.  Midnight Train From Georgia captures the heart of an era, the music that defined it, and the man who lived through it all.  It combines emotional introspection with the dynamic energy of music during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. 

2. What inspired you to write it? I was inspired by the group’s journey.  William Franklin Guest is my brother-in-law.  He was a part of my life since I was 11 years old.  My family met the group when they first came to New York under the management of Bobby Robinson.  My mother, Alberta Ziegler, knew Bobby Robinson and that’s how my family was introduced to the group.  We attended their performances and fell in love with their musicality and them.  Basically, I lived the story.  My sister and William married when I was sixteen-years-old. The Ziegler, Guest, and Knight families became one family.  So, I watched their rise to fame from performing at the famous Apollo Theater, to them signing with Motown and Buddah records, and their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  The Gladys Knight and the Pips’ sound, precision of dance routines, and their classic performances warrant this tribute.  They were a class act that has not been matched, in my opinion. 

3. What was it like to grow up so closely to Gladys Knight and the Pips? It was a wonderful and exciting time in my life as a young child and an adult.  Seeing them perform along with other groups during their era was very entertaining.  There are so many wonderful memories and laughter associated with those times.  Each member of the group had strong personalities and possessed so much talent as well as humor.  Being with them backstage and watching all the excitement and fast paced performances unfold was absolutely amazing.  As a child, I was riding in limousines, hanging out at the Waldorf and other big venues, and rubbing shoulders with entertainers.  Witnessing their rise to the top of the charts over and over, was special. Every time they hit the charts was a celebration.  Every time we got together as families, there was love, laughter, encouragement, and celebration on each step up the ladder of success. 

4. Take us back to the 1960s. Motown Records. What was that scene like? The 1960s was an incredible decade.  There was so much going on politically with the Civil Rights Movement, Women’s Movement and the Vietnam War.  There were so many movements going on simultaneously that culminated into music and the messages of the time. Barry Gordy created Motown and the musical beats matched the decade.  People were looking for sound that made them feel good and Motown Records had that music.  If you just think about Marvin Gaye’s hit record “What’s Going On,” it talked about the times and all the things that were impacting us. The Motown sound was everywhere and the Motown Review shows entertained us around the world.  Gladys Knight and the Pips joined Motown and did a cover of Marvin Gaye’s song, “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” and it became a number one hit on the Billboard Charts.  Most of the groups signed by Motown became an instant success.  Motown Records had the sound that most of the nation wanted to hear, sing, and dance to.  It was an amazing time that produced some of the best music in my opinion. 

5. How do you define the accomplishments and the sound of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame group? Gladys Knight and the Pips were known for the sultry sound of Gladys’ voice and the harmony and dance step precision of the Pips. Their sound as a group cannot be duplicated.  William, Edward, and Bubba (Merald) blend of harmony was rich and sustaining.  Their voices were known for their harmony.  They were a class act with a distinct sound that entertained the world through their performances; made appearances on all the major entertainment shows (Dick Clark, Ed Sullivan, Soul Train (to name a few).  They performed for Presidents and other dignitaries as well as major performers throughout their history.  Their hit songs: Every Beat of my Heart, I Heard it Through the Grapevine, Neither One of Us, Midnight Train to Georgia, Love Overboard, I God to Use My Imagination, etc. honored them with Grammy, American Music Awards, and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  Their career was a spiraling success and their music has lasted through the decades of time. 

6. How did the group get formed? The group came together as a result of Bubba’s birthday party. One of the children in the neighborhood had a record player and brought it over for entertainment.  When he had to leave, there was no more music. So, William, his sister Eleanor, Gladys, Bubba, and their sister Brenda started singing and harmonizing songs together.  So, their parents who were also gospel singers, noticed that they sounded good together and decided that they should form a group. They did. They started singing in church together and then began getting invitations to sing at other events.  They continued to grow more popular and started singing around Atlanta.  Their cousin, who was named Pip, began to serve as their manager.  They later decided to name the group “The Pips” after their cousin. 

7. What role did the church and faith play in William’s life – and in the group’s music?

The Church played a pivotal role in William’s life. He was raised in the Church.  His mother was also the Secretary of Mt. Mariah Church which was the Church he attended his young life. He and his family were very religious and Church was their rock. William and his sister spent so much time in Church due to his family’s roots and their involvement with the Church. All of them also sang in the Church Youth Choir. And their parents sang in the Senior Choir. So, his entire young life was spent in Church, singing in the choir, and singing and listening to songs on his back porch with the family. William prayed a lot throughout his life.  In fact, the group would pray together before they performed on stage. William’s life was deeply rooted in faith and prayer until his death.

 

8. Why does William credit his grandma as an influence on his music? William’s grandmother is credited with teaching William how to harmonize.  Mama Tilley was his grandmother’s name.  Mama Tilley, her brother, Williams parents, and other relatives would often get together in the evening on their back porch and make music with their beats, guitar sounds, and voices singing harmonies.  This was something he observed from a toddler.  So, he grew up watching his family sing.  But it was those days in the kitchen with his grandmother where he learned the harmony of music.  She taught him songs and harmony.  He would light up talking about singing with his grandmother in the kitchen while she was cooking.  She influenced his love for music.  They were a family who loved to break bread together, make music, and engage in plenty of fun and laughter.

 

9. William discusses in the book how he almost died with the band in a car accident. Did that impact his or their outlook on life? I know the car accident had a profound impact on his life because he didn’t know what his future would be. Being on the road by car was the only way the group could travel at the time, and a car was their means to make money as they went from city to city and state to state. That was just the way of life for some entertainers during those early times in the 50s and 60s. William was asleep in the back of the car at the time of the accident, and was the only member of the group who got hurt and had to be hospitalized.  In fact, the group left him in the hospital and get back on the road to do their performances while he healed and got better. He did not know what his life would be because his legs were hurt.  Fortunately, it did not impact his ability to perform.  However, he was always nervous about sleeping in cars and would tell us to never go to sleep in a car.  It could cause us our lives. 

10. In your book, it sounds like the group got ripped off by various record labels. That had to be a tough lesson to learn, huh? During this era, this was unfortunately common in the business especially for African American groups.  They were very young and did not understand the business.  For example, their first manager, Bobby Robinson, ripped them off and that definitely was a hard lesson to learn.  During the early days, they did not collect all of their royalties.  They were told: " You have those new clothes, staying in hotels, and travelling.  This cost money."  However, the truth is they were making hit records and didn't get paid.  When they changed managers to Margherite Maye, wife of the baseball giant, Willie Mays, everything changed for them.  She invested in their career and treated them fairly until they left her to go to Motown under the management of their accountant, Sid Seidenberg.  Sid kept up with the money.  They also left Motown because of contractual disagreement with the record company.  They learned the business.  There were many lessons learned. 

11. What do you want people to know or remember about William or Gladys Knight and the Pips? I would like for William and the rest of Gladys Knight and the Pips to be remembered not only for their contribution to global music but also for their impact on an iconic era in our history.  They have taken their place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a testament of their talent and will be remembered for that.  But along with their rise to fame, their path to fame was ripe and nurtured with love, faith, joy, family, and focus.  William’s dream of becoming an entertainer became a reality and the group was there every step of the way.  Their spiritual grounding helped them along the way.  William wanted people to know his heart, faith, and dreams for a better future for him and his family.  The steps he took were not always on a straight path, but they were steady.  He wanted to share how dreams come true as well as the challenges you experience along the way so others could learn from his journey before and after stardom.  In this book, William is sharing his blessings as well as his faults.  It’s couched in truth and soul. 

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About Brian Feinblum

This award-winning blog has generated over four million pageviews. With 5,000+ posts over the past dozen years, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs by BookBaby  http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs  and recognized by Feedspot in 2021 and 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by www.WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.”  Copyright 2025.

 

For the past three decades, Brian Feinblum has helped thousands of authors. He formed his own book publicity firm in 2020. Prior to that, for 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and as the director of publicity at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler.

 

His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent (https://pubspot.ibpa-online.org/article/whats-needed-to-promote-a-book-successfully).

 

He hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America several years ago, and has spoken at ASJA, BookCAMP, Independent Book Publishers Association Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, Morgan James Publishing, and Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. He served as a judge for the 2024 IBPA Book Awards.

 

His letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington Post. His first published book was The Florida Homeowner, Condo, & Co-Op Association Handbook.  It was featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald.

 

Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog, and El Chapo, a pug rescue dog.

 

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