Gladys Knight & the Pips company with members of Patten's family until his death from congestive heart failure in Detroit on December 24, 2015. Two years prior, Guest and his sister, Dame Dhyana Ziegler, PhD, released his autobiography, "Midnight Train FROM Georgia: A Pip's Journey" (Branden Books, Boston, MA, USA), about his life and career. In 2007, Bubba Knight and Guest, along with a third man, Neil Taffe (one of Gladys Knight's background singers), appeared in a commercial for Geico. In 1997, original Pips member Eleanor Guest died of heart failure. Langston George died on 19 March 2007 from congestive heart failure. Bubba Knight still
Gladys Knight & the Pips musical director. Eventually Gladys reunited with the Pips and signed with a local New York label, Maxx Records, that year. During that time, Newman served as the group's musical director. During this period, the group would be mentored by Maurice King and Cholly "Pops" Atkins; their association with King going back to the group's early years traveling to Detroit. The group recorded a third top 40 single with Van McCoy's "Giving Up". The group developed a reputation for exciting and polished live performances that enabled them to work even without the benefit of best-selling records. Choreographer Atkins designed "fast-stepping" dance