Beverley Knight

Beverley Knight (2005)

Beverley Knight (* 22. March 1973 in Wolverhampton , England as Beverley Ann Smith ) is a R & B - / Soul singer from the UK .

biography

Her deeply religious Jamaican parents indulged in religious music and so Beverley Ann Smith grew up listening to gospel . She joined the choir of the local Pentecostal Church. Although her parents forbade listening to non-religious music, Smith discovered Sam Cooke and Aretha Franklin for herself, and at the age of 13 she wrote her first songs.

At the age of 17 she performed, now under her stage name Beverley Knight, in nearby discos and sang jingles for a local radio station . When she was offered her first record deal , she initially turned it down. Instead of studying theology and philosophy at the University of Wolverhampton as planned , she signed a record deal with the Dome label . The debut album The B-Funk was released in 1995. It could not place in the music charts , but received good reviews, which meant that the releases Flavor of the Old School and Down for produced with Neville Thomas and Pule Pheto ( 2B3 ) the One entered the UK charts. A short time later, Knight separated from Dome and switched to EMI .

The 1998 album Prodigal Sista was a chart success , as were the singles Made it Back , Rewind (Find a Way) , Greatest Day and Sista Sista . Get Up was released in late 2001 and Shoulda Woulda Coulda in early 2002 . The two hit singles heralded the album Who I Am , with which Knight entered the top 10 of the British album charts for the first time.

For the next album, Affirmation , Knight worked with Guy Chambers and Peter-John Vettese. The record was released in 2004 and with 11th place just missed the top 10 in the home country. The singles Not Too Late for Love and Keep This Fire Burning were also successful. Knight then received a Lifetime Achievement Award . Affirmation was marked by their platonic friendship and kinship to Tyrone Jamison, the host of the BBC telecast The Gay Show , the 2003 from the consequences of AIDS died disease infection.

Knight then became involved in various charities , including Stop AIDS, Christian Aid and the Terrence Higgins Trust. Because of her charity work, she became a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 2006 . In the same year Knight was part of the BBC1 music show Just the Two of Us .

The 2006 top 10 album Voice - The Best Of features a cover version of the Erma Franklin Soul classic Piece of My Heart , which entered the UK Top 20. In 2007 the long player Music City Soul and the release No Man's Land also became hits. In 2008 Prince released his live album Indigo Nights , on which Knight was a guest singer. In 2009 she released her album 100% and in 2011 Soul UK .

In 2012, Beverley Knight performed at the opening ceremony of the Summer Paralympic Games in London .

Trivia

David Bowie , Michael Stipe and Paul McCartney are also among the admirers of Knight, as is Nelson Mandela , who invited them to a private audience.

Discography

Albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)			Remarks
		DE	CH	UK
1998	Prodigal Sista	-	-	UK42 gold (19 weeks)UK
2002	Who I Am	-	CH29 (9 weeks) CH	UK7th gold (25 weeks)UK
2004	Affirmation	-	CH83 (1 week) CH	UK11 gold (14 weeks)UK
2006	Voice - The Best Of	-	-	UK9 platinum (21 weeks)UK
2007	Music City Soul	-	CH86 (1 week) CH	UK8th silver (4 weeks)UK
2009	100 percent	-	-	UK17 (3 weeks) UK
2011	Soul UK	-	-	UK13 (5 weeks) UK
2016	Soulsville	-	-	UK9 (5 weeks) UK
2019	BK25: Beverley Knight at the Royal Festival Hall	-	-	UK71 (1 week) UK	with the Leo Green Orchestra

More albums

• 1995: The B-Funk
• 2009: The Collection (compilation)

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)			Remarks
		DE	CH	UK
1995	Flavor of the old school	-	-	UK33 (4 weeks) UK
	Down for the one	-	-	UK55 (2 weeks) UK
1996	Moving on Up (On the Right Side)	-	-	UK42 (2 weeks) UK
1998	Made it back	-	-	UK21 (3 weeks) UK	feat. Redman
	Rewind (Find a Way)	-	-	UK40 (2 weeks) UK
1999	Made it Back '99	-	-	UK19 (5 weeks) UK
	Greatest Day	-	-	UK14 (6 weeks) UK
	Sista Sista	-	-	UK31 (2 weeks) UK
2001	Get up	-	-	UK17 (7 weeks) UK
2002	Shoulda Woulda Coulda	-	CH57 (7 weeks) CH	UK10 (12 weeks) UK
	gold	-	-	UK27 (4 weeks) UK
2004	Come as you are	DE100 (1 week) DE	-	UK9 (11 weeks) UK
	Not Too Late for Love	-	-	UK31 (2 weeks) UK
2005	No more	-	-	UK26 (4 weeks) UK	Roni Size feat. Beverley Knight
	Keep This Fire Burning	DE94 (1 week) DE	-	UK16 (8 weeks) UK	First published: 2004
2006	Piece of My Heart	-	-	UK16 (13 weeks) UK
2007	No Man's Land	-	-	UK43 (2 weeks) UK
2009	Beautiful night	-	-	UK96 (1 week) UK

More singles

• 1996: Mutual Feeling
• 1997: Cast All Your Cares
• 2003: Shape of You (Reshaped)
• 2003: Same (As I Ever Was)
• 2005: Sometimes (with Aphrodite )
• 2007: After You
• 2007: Queen of Starting Over
• 2008: The Pressure (Haji & Emanuel Feat. Beverly Knight * & Bryan Chambers)
• 2008: Running Free ( Ali Campbell feat.Beverley Knight)
• 2009: Soul Survivor
• 2009: Every Step
• 2009: In Your Shoes
• 2001: One More Try
• 2011: Cuddly Toy
• 2011: Mama Used to Say
• 2013: Not Taking This No More ( Nervo & Ivan Gough feat.Beverley Knight)
• 2014: I Found Out (with Bimbo Jones)

swell

1. ↑ ^{a b} biography at laut.de
2. ↑ ^{a b} Chart sources: DE CH UK
3. ↑ Music Sales Awards: UK

Web links

• Beverley Knight - Official Homepage
• Beverley Knight at Allmusic (English)
• Beverley Knight at Discogs (English)
• German-language review of the current album "100%"