Over more than three decades as a band, soul-funk act Gladys Knight and the Pips rose to the very top of the musical mainstream. And singer Gladys Knight points to one of the major steppig stones toward global success: the evening they won their first GRAMMYs.

At the 1974 GRAMMYs, the band were nominated in two categories, but didn’t necessarily expect to win. After all, they’d been in the mix four times before, and ultimately walked away empty-handed.

So when their names were called as the winners of the GRAMMY for Best R&B Vocal Performance By A Duo, Group Or Chorus — for “Midnight Train to Georgia” — the band was a tad caught off guard.

“And you know how they start looking around to see where everybody is? We weren’t where we were supposed to be,” Knight recounts with a laugh, in this archival footage courtesy of GRAMMY.com. “You should’ve seen us moving people out of the way trying to get to the stage.”

They also forgot the speech they’d drafted four years earlier, back when they were first nominated. Instead, Knight improvised an eloquent speech onstage that thanked their management company, label and everyone else who helped them along the way.

Gladys Knight and the Pips’ time onstage that night wasn’t over: they also won a GRAMMY for Best Pop Vocal Performance By A Duo, Group Or Chorus, bringing their golden gramophone total up to two during the ceremony.

“Never in a million years did we dream we would win two GRAMMYs in one night. Never in a million years. And we dream a lot,” Knight continues.

To the band, their wins in those particular categories also signified a rise to a global platform unburdened by boxes. People around the world were listening to Gladys Knight and the Pips, and they couldn’t be confined to one genre box or demographic.

“Sometimes in the industry you tend to get pigeonholed, because of either what you sound like, or what you look like or where you come from, or whatever,” Knight continues. “It was just an awesome dream come true. It really was.”

Press play on the video above to hear Knight’s first-hand memories of her GRAMMY-winning experience, and keep checking GRAMMY.com for more episodes of Sound Bites.

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