Possibly the nicest woman operating in popular music today, Beverley Knight is the singer's singer, a campaigner for AIDS charities and a bloody good laugh into the bargain. Boyz talked to her about her Brit nominations, her gay mates and whether she's ever put lip to a lady…

You and Boyz should have hooked up for a cover feature before, surely?
I would have loved it. I guess it's just about people kind of knowing about me, knowing about my views. To be fair, sometimes some people see me in the 'urban music' catergory - although I see myself as an individual - and it's got a seriously bad homophobic rap, especially hip-hop. And I hear it all the time around me, but when you come out and say, 'Well actually, my soul brother, my best mate in the whole world, is gay, most of my friends are gay, and if you open your mouth I will close it for you'. I think people have seen me out - Fiction, Heaven…

Do people approach you?
People see me in the club and they're like, 'Ooh, that drag queen looks good, looks just like Beverley Knight - oh, it is Beverley Knight!' I'm joking! But people see me about and they know that it's not about being a fag hag, they just know I'm down. And I think in very recent times, me going to Brazil and working with HIV charities, they're like, 'Actually, this is not a PR move, this isn't a 'Let's go and sit next to the gay boys and look like I'm trendy', I'm just living my life.

So how did you get involved in the Christian Aid AIDS work?
They came and found me because of work I'd done with other HIV charities like Blackliners. They thought I'd be good to go abroad and to highlight the problems over there and how HIV and poverty in some parts of the world are inexticably linked. We went to Brazil, and it helped me to tackle my own personal experiences with HIV and to relate them over there. And it kind of highlightened our apathy over here, how blasé we are.

Do you think people have forgotten about AIDS here?
It's not 'in fashion' anymore: People don't want to know. Now times have changed: The highlight is South Africa, and people somehow think that it's some third world issue, not a global one. That's why the cases of new HIV diagnosis have gone through the roof again over here. We're still humping around and not protecting ourselves. While I've got breath inside of me, I'm going to do my bit.

Does performing sometimes seem trivial in comparison?
Yes it does. It puts everything into perpective and you think, 'Well, Dior or Versace today: Is it really that important in the grand scheme of things?' No, but, it's those little things that make the world turn. Sometimes you find it very difficult to reconcile a lot of the trappings of fame and of wealth - it really makes you think, 'How shallow are you?'

The Beverley phenomenon has just got bigger and better, hasn't it?
Yes it's grown, it's developed, it hasn't exploded. Sometimes people are coming on saying, 'Yeah, it's an explosion, Beverley Knight': and I'm like, 'No love, I don't know any explosions that have happened over nine years', do you know what I mean? This has been nine years coming, and it's just developed old-schools style.

Do you wish it had exploded?
No. I'm glad the way my career's gone, because it's built to last. There was a small number of people who were into me in the beginning, and those same people are still there. The numbers have just been added to - much like the Mormon religion, or something equally crazy like that.

Do you like all the drama that celebrities create?
Some of the drama is real good. Walking into Dior and getting a discount is drama - and it's great drama, let me tell you! The kind of drama I don't welcome at all is when I want my private moments and can't have them. Sometimes it's difficult remembering you've got to put on a mask 24 hours a day, seven days a week, when you go and meet the public - all they want to see is Beverley Knight with the funky hair and the voice.

Have you had your diva moments?
No. I'm not really that kind of yelly, shouty… But I've had bloody good reason sometimes, let me tell you.

So what about the Brits?
I'm going there expecting to come back with the two empty hands that I came in with. That's my philosophy: I didn't make music to win awards, I make music because it's cathartic and I think people can relate to what I'm signing. I could have 25 Brits up in my house, but it will not ever take the place of standing on a stage.

Do you think, 'Always the bridesmaid, never the bride'?
Not so much me. Ocassionally I think, 'Oh, I'd love to have been nominated for Best Album', because it's your baby, isn't it? And then you get on with it. My mates around me, they get mad, but I get more mad about what I see in the industry doing to talented folk and not-so talented folk.

Oh, and finally, we have to ask whether our lady readers can live in any kind of hope?
Depends if they've got lips like Missy Elliot! Girls are cute, but I'm saying nowt: I'm going to plead the fifth on that. Never say never.

But has there been Beverley-on-woman action in the past?
Check you out! Didn't I just plead the fifth? In your teenage years, there comes a time when it's, 'Am I man, woman or fish? What am I? And yeah, I've been there, I've had that kind of 'What am I about?' - not wobble, but just 'What am I about? - and come through the other side and just said, 'I know what I am: I'm Bev!' That's who I am, and that's it.