Interview - Beverley Knight

This was one of those 'name' interviews which my bosses got all excited about because it was someone they'd heard of, as opposed to third drummer's cousin in a little indie band.

Words - Suzy Sims
Previously published on Native.tv http://www.native.tv in May 2007
(c) Niche News & Publishing Ltd

BEVERLEY KNIGHT

We caught up with soul singer Beverley Knight in London for a chat about her charity work, touring with Take That and the joy of new shoes

It’s nice and cool in Parlophone headquarters, away from the bustle of the London streets. Inside the interview room, Beverley Knight calls me ‘darling’, kindly offers me a drink and bids me sit next to her on the sofa so the dictaphone can pick up what she’s saying.

She’s tall and slender, wearing a dark vest top and olive short skirt. Her highlighted hair is kept in place with a neat lemon-coloured hairband. Occasionally she gives a friendly wave to whoever is walking past the glass doors.

It’s lunchtime and she’s trying to eat a fruit salad while chatting to me, which proves difficult because Beverley likes talking. From an interviewer’s point of view, this is a very good thing as I barely have to say a word.

A nice and easy conversation opener is ‘Just The Two Of Us’, the reality show where celebrities were paired with singing professionals to perform duets. Beverley laughs uproariously. “OK! Yes!” I didn’t even realise she was in it until one of my friends pointed it out. “It might have passed a lot of people if they were on their Christmas holidays still, like New Year’s and that. It was interesting, I had a lot of good laughs on there.”

In the first series she was partnered with Nicky Campbell, and second time round she was paired up with Brendan Cole. “He actually helped it and made it a lot of fun because he really did want to learn about singing a song and how to express a song.”

On 'Strictly Come Dancing' he came across as a bit of a loveable troublemaker. “When people discovered I was going to be partnered with Brendan their reactions were quite severe. It was either ‘Oooh, the bad boy of Strictly Come Dancing… you’ll be in the papers, you know!’ and then other people were like ‘Brendan Cole, oh I can’t stand him’. You know what I mean?”

He doesn’t seem that bad. “No I don’t think so. And actually he’s just a man who wants to be brilliant. He wants to be brilliant and that makes him work very hard which often rubs people up the wrong way as well. But makes great viewing!"

In the end, Beverley and Brendan came second to Hannah Waterman and Marti Pellow. Beverley isn’t remotely disappointed at being runner-up. “I’m actually glad that they won because it would have been ‘Soul singer and winner of Just The Two Of Us, Beverley Knight’. Nah! I got all the publicity, without having the moniker fixed to me. I did everything as far as I could go, I just didn’t go home with the trophy, which was a bit of a blessing.

“But I was surprised at how those shows get people round the throat. I mean, folk were phoning up saying ‘You deserve more points than you got!’ and this that and the other, and ‘I really loved this performance it was amazing!’ People get into them! And I’m like (all sweet) ‘It’s just a TV show! Don’t take it so personally!”

Calm down and make yourself another cup of tea. “Exactly. ‘You sit down and have a rest’. Funny.” Would you ever be tempted to go into one of those shows as a contestant rather than a mentor? “No way,” she says firmly. “No way on this earth. I’d never do the dancing, never go in the jungle, never be in the Big Brother house. I’m not interested. The thing that persuaded me of this show was it’s me singing and I’m not being judged or anything like that, I’m helping somebody else to improve on what they’ve got. In Brendan’s case, definitely pull out what he’s got, you know what I mean! But I couldn’t do any of those shows and I wouldn’t do anything else.”

‘No Man’s Land’ was the first single off new album ‘Music City Soul’. It begins gently before sweeping into a rousing chorus, and is a beautiful song. “Thank you,” she says. “It’s a song about being in a state of limbo. I don’t know anybody who doesn’t know how this feels. If you have ever been in a relationship, you know how it feels when it comes to an end and you’re so wanting to move forward in your life. And you’re so stuck because the feelings don’t disappear overnight.

”You know the right thing to do was for the relationship to end, so you know you’re not going to go backwards into it, but you can’t get moving forwards. And I called it ‘No Man’s Land’, that feeling of, you know, ‘how do I get out of this, I’m buggered both ways’. I wrote it from a place I was in at that time. I’m not there anymore, thank Christ for that, but I’m happy-and-single-and-living-free type thing. But then I was single but certainly confused.”

It’s very cathartic letting it out through song. “So cathartic, to be able to sit down and write how you feel, and then hopefully other people can say ‘Yeah that’s me, that’s how I feel’. I’m proud of it. Also on a technical level it opens the door to the concept of what this new album’s about, ‘cause it’s so live and emotive and all of those things. So you hear that and you get an idea of the album, for sure.”

What was it like making the video? Because it looked like you walked miles. “Mmm. I didn’t really,” she says in between bites of fruit. “I walked the whole day, but I was sauntering. It wasn’t like I was marching.” In your heels. “They were wedge heels, that was easy enough on my poor little feet. It was wonderful, it was so hot. So when the breeze was blowing on me I was like thank God for that!” she adds. “The minute the breeze stopped, it was like…” Ice lollies. “Exactly. It was really hot. It was wonderful. I shot it in Cape Town, it looks like the American South.”

Yeah it does, I say in a quavering voice, after a brief coughing fit probably caused by the London air. “We went there because it’s cheaper than shooting in America, less problematic; and if you edit out Table Mountain and all the obvious South African references it could be anywhere. It has that universal appeal. I was so pleased to go over and do the video there. Brilliant.”

Any sightseeing? “A little bit of sightseeing, yeah!” she says excitedly. “Having a chance to go around and visit different places – and a little bit of shopping,” she adds naughtily. Just a little bit? “Just a little bit. Didn’t have enough time to shop, God damn it. But hey. Bloody cheap over there, which is another great reason for shooting the video over there.”

Time for a random easy question - five items Beverley always carries in her handbag. “Boring things like Blackberry, mobile. I’ve got this little mirror which opens up into a brush as well. Always, always, always in my bag ‘cause you never know when you’re gonna get sprung in Sainsbury’s by someone going ‘Can I take a picture?’ and you know it’s going to end up on MySpace or somewhere.

“That did happen to me, I was in Sainsbury’s with my housemate and this woman stopped me and took a picture. I didn’t think anything of it until my housemate shouted me: ‘Bev, that picture’s online now!’ I was like, oh my God. What else… Always got lipbalm, I have to talk a lot and sing a lot,” she giggles. “Got to make sure my lips are nice and not too cracked and horrible. Always got chewing gum, and I’ve always got a pen. Don’t quite now why. Oooh, me purse! That too.”

There’s a pause. “I’ll just have a strawberry,” she says, trying to eat some more. I apologise for making her talk too much on her lunch. How’s your salad? “It’s good! Good old fruit salad. Love it.” There’s a fruit bowl in the hall but it’s covered over with clingfilm, probably to stop pesky journalists from nicking bits. There’s a sheet over Beverley’s salad bowl as well. “Sure this isn’t exactly environmentally friendly,” she says, poking at it. “But anyway…”

Beverley, you were awarded the MBE in February 2007. Congratulations. “Thank you.” You don’t seem to be wearing it. “Er, no!” Not expecting to bump into the Queen today. “Not today. I’ve got the little medal thingy in its box at home in one of my bedrooms. That was a mad day. You have to keep it all secret and everything, so I knew about this and couldn’t tell anyone until it became official news. My mum literally slumped into the sofa and dad couldn’t speak for ages. They just were like knocked out.

“But the day itself was a proud moment for them. I kind of was more excited watching their reactions ‘cause I knew how much it meant for them. It was a really surreal day, I had to be debriefed…” So much etiquette. “So much… like walking backwards away from the monarch and curtsey and this and I’m like, well you try doing it in 4 ½ inch heel platforms!”

Can you just stand back and go: ‘You all right?’ “Yeah,” she smiles. “‘You got my album?’ But it was a great morning. I did feel proud. And when I saw the pictures that were everywhere in the press I was like ‘awww’. Everybody in my band has been coming up for what the MBE stands for, outside of Member of the British Empire. And my favourite is Most Baddest Entertainer.”
We both laugh. I ask if she’s going to get that on her stationery. “Everyone’s saying ‘Oh put it on your credit card, MBE’ but it don’t know. It’d be a bit… weird. It’ll be like (posh voice) ‘Hello I’m Beverley Knight, MBE.’ I don’t know,” she says and giggles again.

She’s received quite a few awards, including a Lifetime Achievement one, which isn’t bad considering she’s not… “An old granny.” I think it means, you can stop now. “That accolade was because with black British artists there aren’t any of my generation who have been around for a long time. Gabrielle, who I think has just stopped making music now…” She just seemed to fade out a few years ago. “Yeah. And Sade, but then there’s me who’s been consistently there so that’s more what that was about, you know what I mean. As opposed to ‘Right, shut up now, we’ll give you this gong! For god’s sake, stop making music!’ I’d like to think so anyway. I’d be mortified if it was anything else.”

Beverley is heavily into charity work. “It’s not because I’m this wonderfully fabulous, altruistic human being, it’s more like I feel compelled. A lot of my charity work is focused and based around HIV/Aids, it’s like something within me spurs me to do it. Probably because I watched - helplessly, really - as one of my best friends slipped away and died. I don’t want anybody else to go through that and I know people are going through that every single day of the week.

“But the thing with HIV, it is so unnecessary. There are measures, there are steps you can take to keep it at bay from your life, keep the risks a lot lower. And the fact that people are just so apathetic and blasé, you know? It really distresses me greatly ‘cause I’m like, you don’t want to see what I’ve seen. Some of the reactions people have to the antiretroviral drugs and when combinations stop working and there’s nothing more that can be done and that whole side of it.

"I’m like, if you knew what your life could be, you would be so careful. But people don’t, they just think ‘oh a couple of pills and I’ll be fine.’ Of course it’s not like that. So that drives me on, that thing it galvanises me to do as much as I can.” She is speaking very seriously and from the heart.

“I’d like to think I’m a nice girl but it’s more than just being a nice person, it’s something else. So yeah, and it’s so important to me. It’s almost as though the platform that I’ve been given and the greater good that it serves is the work I’m able to do.

“Is that all right?” she asks uncertainly, checking she hasn’t given a rubbish answer. Yes, of course it’s all right.

‘Music City Soul’ is Beverley’s fifth studio album and was recorded in Nashville, Tennessee. According to fruit-munching Beverley, it’s a place of deep contrasts. “On the one hand, it’s this very right-wing, Republican, flag-waving – Confederate flag-waving – place, and everybody goes to church on a Sunday, and of course listens to good wholesome country music. On the other hand, it’s a musical hub of musicians and songwriters. A lot of those musicians are hard drinking and come from other cities. They were cooler than all of that and had cool stories to tell.

”I stood out like a sore thumb ‘cause I was English and black. You know what I mean, they were like ‘We don’t get this’,” she says and laughs. “’They have black people in England? Oh my God.’ It was just mad. But I really enjoyed it as well, I just found it somewhere that was bemusing at times.”

There’s so much musical heritage there, it must have been fascinating. “It really, really was. And you got things like the Grand Ole Opry where everybody in country music has been, and people who have done the country/soul crossover like Ray Charles and Al Green. It was a really interesting place to go to and had a lot of history of music there.”

Nashville is known as Music City, hence the name of the album. “It sums up a concept. I came to this album wanting to make a record that was utterly soulful, utterly stripped back, free of programming, you know, if the song speeds up naturally and slows down naturally who gives a damn. Organic in every way. And we achieved it so I’m thrilled and just the title ‘Music City Soul’, apart from having a great ring to it I think, sums up that. You know you get an idea of what you’re going to get.”

What tracks do you like best on it? Or is it too hard to choose? “It is difficult. ‘Black Butta’ is a key track which is a bit like ‘Nutbush City Limits’, it’s very up-tempo and great to perform live, everybody loves it. But then I have really enjoyed doing all the promotion where I’ve been singing. I’ve really enjoyed singing ‘No Man’s Land’ because it has this journey. It starts soft, gets very powerful then goes really quiet again. I really love that and there’s a lot in this album which lends itself to that. It’s so difficult to choose a favourite. It changes all the time.”

What was the last thing you bought? She lifts up her legs and points at her shoes before letting out joyful, almost demented laughter. They’re gorgeous yellow sandals on woven platform heels and they look oh so clean. “Big old wedges! Oh, I love them! They’re so comfy-rumfy, and inexpensive.” Yeah all these cork heels are back in at the moment and they’re so much nicer to walk in. “So nice. I like these kind of blocky heels and I never thought I’d like them. I was always like, oh God will they make my ankles look really skinny and funny. But they just look nice. Very happy with my purchase!”

They go well with your hairband, I see you co-ordinated well today. “I thought to myself, ‘Oh yellow wedges, I’ll put my yellow hairband on as well.’” She giggles.

Beverley recently supported Take That on their massive comeback tour across the UK. “I knew that would be in there!” I’m sorry. “No, it’s fine. My boys! My boys… isn’t it great what’s happening with them? It’s great and it’s wonderful and it’s unprecedented actually, I don’t know anybody who’s come back after ten years to such success.” There’s a definite Wolverhampton twang to her voice which becomes more pronounced when she says Jason’s name.

She was playing on every date on their tour and they’ve become good friends. “It was just wonderful because you don’t expect that on a tour. You go on the road, you do your thing and that’s that, thank you very much and you’re off. That was a nice bonus to have, and I couldn’t be more thrilled for them. And a great platform for me because obviously huge audiences.”

How did their fans take to you? “You know, it’s funny with us girls, because there are some girls that we just kind of don’t like and fold our arms, but I was very much one of the girls. They were excited and I was excited. I was treated really nicely. I don’t think there was any horrible… not that I’m aware of anyway! You know I’m sure if you look on some website there’ll be ‘Bitch Beverley, I hate her!’, you know something like that!”

This is what she looks like in Sainsbury’s... “Exactly. But as far as I know, it was like a camaraderie there which is great because that’s obviously what you go on the tour for.” You want it to be fun. “Yeah, you want people to warm to you and obviously discover your music that way, so it was a great opportunity for me. Really brilliant.”

Let’s finish off with a bit about Beverley's 2007 tour, which is a few months off yet. It’s a long tour, starting in October and going on through until early December. Beverley describes the tour as ‘magnificent’.“And my last show is on World Aids Day, so I’d like to do some kind of party or something which is a fundraiser as well. That would be really cool, I’m going to talk to someone about that,” she says thoughtfully.

“But I’m so excited about taking this album on the road. I’m playing a lot of places that I know really well and lots of venues that I’m very familiar with which is wonderful.” It also gives everyone time to listen to the album and learn the words. “That’s right. A new experience for me this time will be doing the Royal Albert Hall, which’ll be the first time I’ve done that place by myself. It’ll be incredible I’m sure. It’s going to be brilliant. God. What else is there to say? I don’t know!”

We have a quick chat about local rivalries – people in Wolverhampton and Birmingham tend not to visit each other’s cities for concerts, the same as Portsmouth/Southampton – and then I leave Beverley to prepare for a phone interview. I probably help brighten her day further when I unsuccessfully try to push and pull the glass door which only opens when you slide it. She’s still upbeat and cheerful despite the long hours of promotion. Most Baddest Entertainer indeed.

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Album 'Music City Soul' is released through Parlophone on May 7th

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