His songs have been recorded by Ricky Nelson, Paul McCartney, Dean Martin, The Cramps, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Mickey Gilley, Sammy Davis Jr. and Jerry Lee Lewis.
He learned to play guitar while serving in the Air Force, and after his discharge entered the University of Alabama, where he wrote music in his spare time.
Knight also wrote psychedelic music for the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band in the late 1960s.
In 1971, he teamed with producer Jimmy Bowen and singers Kim Carnes and Mike Settle to create the bubblegum pop studio group The Sugar Bears.
[5] Knight turned to country music in the 1970s, writing songs for Ernest Ashworth, Hank Williams, Jr., Jerry Lee Lewis, Dave & Sugar, and Mickey Gilley, whose No.
1 hit "Don't the Girls All Get Prettier at Closing Time" won Knight the Academy of Country Music's Song of the Year in 1976.