William Guest (singer) William Guest (singer) William Franklin Guest (July 2, 1941 – December 24, 2015) was an American R&B/soul singer best known as a member of Gladys Knight & the Pips. Guest was born in Atlanta, Georgia, and was a cousin of Gladys Knight. Following his stint with The Pips, he and fellow Pip Edward Patten formed Patten and Guest Productions, and following Patten's death in 2005, he continued to manage artists though the Crew Entertainment company he formed with members of Patten's family. Guest died on December 24, 2015, of congestive heart failure in Detroit, Michigan, his home for fifty years.
A Trick of the Tail on an ARP 2500 synthesizer. Collins thought the group could carry on as an instrumental act, but other group members felt that it would be boring without vocals. The group had still not decided on a replacement singer, so they decided to start recording backing tracks and audition singers as they went. Some songs such as "Ripples..." were written with the intention that Collins could sing them, similar to "More Fool Me" on "Selling England by the Pound", but he did not want to take over as a permanent replacement, opting instead to teach potential lead singers the songs. The