When Annie Lennox asked Gladys Knight to lend her distinctive pipes to the benefit single “Sing” last summer, the response was immediate.

“I said yes right away,” Knight said while calling from her Las Vegas home. “I was honored to be part of such a project. There are just so many incredible singers who participated.”

Knight was tapped along with 23 other renowned female singers such as Madonna, Shakira, Celine Dion and Faith Hill.

“That’s some wonderful company,” Knight said. “And it’s for such a great cause.”

Just released, the single is intended to publicize the work of South Africa’s Treatment Action Campaign, a human rights organization that campaigns for treatment access and HIV prevention.

“That’s something I believe in,” Knight said. “You have to stand up for what you believe in.”

A recent trip to South Africa took its toll on Knight, who caught a vicious cold and then battled the flu over the last week. Now the 63-year-old singer is ready to perform Saturday at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank and Sunday and Monday at the Tropicana in Atlantic City.

“I’ve been in my house for a solid month,” she said. “I haven’t left. I was feeling that lousy. I’m finally fine now. I’m ready to sing.”

Knight has been one of the great soul singers ever since she hit the Top 10 with her first hit, “Every Beat of My Heart.” The Atlanta native and her Pips had a slew of hits during the ’60s and ’70s. “Midnight Train to Georgia,” “Neither One of Us” and “Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me” are a few of her biggest hits, which she still belts out today.

Love is the common denominator for Knight’s songs.

“It’s such a wonderful, powerful emotion,” she said. “Love is the greatest thing, and I’m not talking about the sexual kind. The songs I sing about have to do with the magical moments, which are meeting and that first kiss. Those are things that you remember.”

Knight is disturbed that there are fewer and fewer songs about that side of love.

“You just don’t have many people singing romantic songs today,” she said. “It’s a shame. I’m all about the romance. It’s all about sex today, and if it’s not about sex, it’s about revenge or about buying things. Things have changed a lot in the industry, but it should be all about love. That’s what I live for, and that’s what I still sing about.”
Story by ED CONDRAN