Beverley Knight Biography

Beverley Knight: Back and giving it 100%.

100% soul. 100% talent. 100% commitment. These are the things we’ve come to expect from the reigning UK queen of soul, who over the course of 15 years of has amassed over one million album sales, performed countless sell out shows and made scene-stealing collaborations with everyone from Take That to Prince, taking in Carlos Santana, Chris Martin and Stevie Wonder along the way.

And this time - with the forthcoming release of her sixth studio album ‘100%’ - on her very own label, Hurricane Records, you can add 100% control too, on an album that proves the full range of Miss Knight’s vocal and songwriting ability - from anthemic modern R&B and explosive rock-edged funk to intense orchestral soul balladry and beyond.

“In lots of ways it’s become more than just the title of an album, it’s really become my attitude for this new phase of my career,” says Beverley, looking svelte and stunning in figure-hugging jeans and killer Alejandro Ingelmo heels. “Everything has to be 100% on point or it gets left behind.”

“And now it’s my own label, it’s so much easier. There’s so much red tape at major labels, every part of the process is a negotiation. Now if I want to work with someone, I don’t need to worry about label politics, I can just pick the phone myself and dial them up.”

Judging by the names collaborating with Ms Knight on 100%, her phone’s been ringing off the hook. Some of the biggest names in the business have lined up to work with Beverley including legendary R&B producers Jam & Lewis (the force behind Janet Jackson’s breakthrough success through to million-sellers from everyone from Mariah Carey to Usher), the mighty Chaka Khan, original Bee Gee brother Robin Gibb, and her old songwriting buddies Guy Chambers (Robbie Williams) and Jimmy Hogarth (Duffy, Adele) as well as chart-topping songsmith Amanda Ghost.

“Me and Amanda have wanted to write together for years,” says Beverley of the co-writer of hits like James Blunt’s ‘You’re Beautiful’ and Beyoncé & Shakira’s ‘Beautiful Liar.’ “I knew we could come up with something special.” She’s not wrong. Their song ‘Beautiful Night’ - the lead single from 100% - is an utterly anthemic, state-of-the-art pop-R&B record that’s bound to turn a few heads in perceptions of what Beverley is all about.

“That’s why I wanted it as the lead single, absolutely,” says Knight. “Coming after my last record, Music City Soul, which was completely old school in concept, I wanted something that wasn’t just contemporary and hooky, but had real weight to it as well. A lot of people will take the lyric as the end of a relationship, which is fine, but it works on a deeper level too. Both me and Amanda had suffered losses of loved ones and wanted to celebrate their lives. So on one level the song’s completely joyous, but underneath there’s this bittersweet sadness to it.”

In fact Beverley reveals a range of emotions through the album’s 13 tracks - from the unbridled joy of the dancefloor missile ‘Breakout’ (”I was thinking about House of Knight with all my divas behind me on that one. Okay, I can’t vogue to save my life, but in my head Paris was totally burning!”) to vulnerability (the sparse, utterly beautiful ‘Bare’) to defiance (the uncompromising self-belief of ‘Square Peg’) and submission (a gorgeous, creamy take on the Bee Gees’ ‘Too Much Heaven’ anointed by an appearance from Robin Gibb himself).

There’s always a strong element of biography to Beverley’s compositions and no more so than on the mighty ‘Soul Survivor’ where she is joined by the force of nature that is Chaka Khan.

“When me and Guy (Chambers) first wrote that we thought ‘oh Tina Turner might like this’ - then I thought ‘sorry Tina, I’m keeping it for myself!’. I recorded it alone initially, but I knew there was another dimension to it - and Chaka was that dimension. She’s incredible.”

Clearly both women could relate to a song about keeping your head high and pushing on, sometimes against the odds.

“Everyone knows there are ebbs and flows in a career in the music industry. People fall in and out of favour all the time. The thing that gets you through is the love of what you do. It’s 15 years since my first single (the Brit swing classic ‘Flavour Of The Old School’) and now I’m more focused than ever.”

It¹s been quite a ride for Beverley since those early days. Try one platinum and 4 gold albums, 3 MOBO awards, Brit and Mercury nomination and an MBE for a starters. And that’s before you get to shared stages with the likes of Prince (Beverley performed with him on several of his sell out 21 Nights dates), performances for the likes of Nelson Mandela and Quincy Jones, and racking up 14 Top 40 hits proving commercial longevity and British black music needed be mutually exclusive terms. By the time of 2006’s platinum-shifting ‘Voice - The Best of Beverley Knight’ she had won over thousands of new fans touring with Take That on their comeback arena tour (she more than filled Lulu’s shoes) and appeared (somewhat reluctantly) on hit BBC sing-off show Just The Two of Us.

This year, Beverley can add a new string to a bow that also includes radio presenter (BBC2’s Beverley’s Gospel Nights) and philanthropist (she’s a active campaigner for Christian Aid and Terrence Higgins Trust and outspoken in her position on racism and homophobia) with the launch of her own cosmetics range: ‘K by Beverley Knight’.

“I wouldn’t do something for vanity, it had to be about supplying a real need, and there’s not many widely available make-up ranges that cater for black skin,” says Beverley. “So I was involved in every step of the process - the formulations, the packaging everything. I had to own it.”

And one song that’s sure to own airwaves soon is the delicious percolating groove of prospective future-single ‘In Your Shoes’, cleverly sampling Orange Juice’s 80s gem ‘Rip It Up.’ “That’s a funky song for a bloody punk band!’ laughs Beverley. “I’ve worshipped that song forever and always thought one day it would be great to sample it, and now all things 80s are oh-so-cool it makes more sense then ever”.

Not only does it possess the inherent funkiness of Beverley’s best singles, it’s also about shoes. A seemingly trivial point perhaps, but anyone who knows anything about Beverley will know there are two things she loves. Prince and shoes. (She even namechecks her Jimmy Choos elsewhere on the new album).

” Oh yes, shoes are huge. Everyone who knows me knows I don’t do drugs, I don’t get wasted, it’s just not me. Shoes, that I do,” she laughs. “If I could buy a pair of shoes a day, I would and I’d never run out of shoes to buy.”