Name: Beverley Smith [aka. Beverley Knight]
Date Of Birth: 22nd March 1973
Born: Wolverhampton, England
An
awesome voice, an already great artist, yet one who has used
that self-claimed time away to continue the all-important process
of maturing and growing. Since releasing the album Prodigal
Sista in 1999 Beverley Knight has blossomed into a very centered
29 year old and has returned sounding even better than ever!
Why wouldn't she be? Since last time around, she's charmed [and
been totally awed by] Nelson Mandela, sung Happy Birthday to
a delighted Mohammed Ali, duetted live on record with Jamiroquai's
Jay Kay, and done a whole lot of getting to know herself too.
"All of which has brought me to a very good place indeed!"
This
much - and more - is evident from the fabulous album, 'Who I
Am'. The fact is that Beverley Knight has made it back again,
and triumphantly so. "I've been through many, many changes,
and you can hear them all right here", she admits of the
living-and-learning process she has undergone these past two
and a half years. "I've found out lots about the industry
I work in but also, and more importantly, about me myself -and-I.
Perhaps most significant in all of this was the fact that, during
it all, I came out of a long-term relationship. That was a big
old thing for me, believe me!
As
the title suggests, it's a collection which deals promarily with
the question of identity. "With the people and experiences
that have shaped me, and with where I am headed next," she
confirms. That said, it's a journey with a projected happy ending.
"Because I'm pleased to say that I've come out on the far
side with my soul intact, with a clear sense of exactly who Beverley
is, and [she laughs here, as if in gratitude] with the smile still
on my face!" Giid news, then, for the university graduate
turned hometown r'n'b heroine - a woman who, when looking for
musical role models, turns more readily to artists like Annie
Lennox, [as well as guests such as Aretha and Chaka] than to whoever
it is that media opinion is electing as the latest funky diva-du-joir.
"Man, that's not where I'm coming from at all! What Prodigal
Sista did [with its two top 20 hits 'Made It Back' and 'Greatest
Day'] was break me out of that specialised, ghettoised box that
all British black women artists find themselves dropped into,
and which I'd been fighting for so long to excape from.
Those
MOBO awards, for a start [judged Best RnB act not only of '98,
but of '99 as well - 'Prodigal Sista' picked up Best Album also]
were a start. Then there was my insistence on playing live whenever
and wherever possible. Yes, it costs a whole lot more to take
your music to the people in that way, but that's how the women
who inspired me did it. They didn't just sing and dance to backing
tracks in a club. They were out there fronting a real and, holding
a show together and working on captivating their audience. And
that's how I intend to do it too." If the picture that you're
forming is of an artist more interested in developing her own
talents than in following fashion, you are on the right track.
Says Beverley, "My feeling about all of that is that when
something or someone is super-hot, it or they can very soon grow
cold. I prefer to see myself as kind of a back-burner, quietly
keeping up a steady but intense heat!"
The album 'Who I Am' is a set that shows just how far the girl
from Wolverhampton has come. It features one strong song after
another - some written and recorded in collaboration with top
industry names here in the UK [D-Influence, Dodge and C-Swing
for example] others with the cream of the crop in the U.S. From
Nashville - Country Music Award winner Craig Wiseman with whom
Beverley co-wrote the classic 'Shoulda Woulda Coulda' - or Philadelphia
[James Poyser, who has worked with the likes of D'angelo, Lauryn
Hill and Jill Scott]. "Songs are the key to it all with me,
that's why I've taken my time in coming back with this. Quality
is appreciated by record buyers, and quality can't be rushed."
Beverley has a steadily growing list of famous admirers from Bowie
and Prince to Michael Stripe who she met at London's open-air
'Celebrate South Africa Day' concert back on April 29th 2001.
Jay Kay has to be more than a little smitten too. He invited Bev
to guest on two of the tracks from his Jamiroquai album 'A Funk
Odyssey' and support him on his UK & European arena tours.
All of which is great, of course. But perhaps the best measure
of where the sista herself is coming from, can be taken from the
reaction to finding herself at a private audience with the truly
legendary Nelson Mandela last April. "It knocked me sideways
that, through music, I had got to meet one of history's living
legends, a man who future historians will still be writing about
in 500 or more years' time. And how had it happened? It was because
I, a woman from Wolverhampton, had dared to have a dream that
was bigger than those that everyone else around me was carrying
with them."
Who
I Am' entered the UK album charts at number 7 on March 17th 2002
and was certified gold status withing a few weeks, the sales are
now heading towards platinum status. The first single 'Get Up',
was released in October 2001 and was a top 20 hit and a club smash,
riding high in the club/dance charts. The video has been nominated
for a CAD (Creative Design Award) for 'Best Urban Video'. The
second single 'Shoulda Woulda Coulda', was Beverley's first UK
Top 10 hit, and a huge Top 5 airplay record.
The third single 'Gold' was released on 24th June 2002. It scored
Bev another top 30 hit and sent Who I Am back iinto the top 20
album chart. Following highly successful support tours in Europe
and the UK with Jamiroquai, Beverley undertook a headline tour
of the UK in May. This was followed by appearances at various
European festivals through the summet including Glastonbury, T
In The Park and V2002 in the UK.
The latter stages of 2002 saw no sign of Beverley slowing down.
She was nominated for the prestigious 2002 Mercury Music Award.
In October Beverley returned from a life-changing trip with the
charity Christian Aid to Salvador in the north eastern Brazil,
an experience that she found both moving and extremely informative.
Beverley's trip allowed her to experience first hand the amazing
projects that have been set up to combat a country plagued with
extreme poverty and illness. Whilst in Brazil she visited organisations
including GAPA-BAHIA - an AIDS prevention project and CESE - an
organisation that campaigns againest domestic violence.
Upon returning from her Christian Aid Trip, Beverley had the honour
of performing at a benefit event for a Nelson Mandela Children's
fund, which again allowed her to meet with her idol and inspiration.
Knight
has also recentley travelled to New York where she recorded a
new version of her single 'Shape Of You' with Wyclef Jean. Originally
planned as a straightforward remix, Wyclef and Beverley Knight
soon reworked the entire track - its production, lyrics and melody
- hence 'Shape Of You - Reshaped'. The pair also shot the video,
[which also features new Clef signing, 19 year old rapper 'Hollywood'].
Already the highest new entry in the urban chart, the track is
scheduled for release on March 3rd 2003.
[Written
by Alan Jackson. Taken from the Official Beverley Knight Tour
Programme 2002.]
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