Beverley Knight

Most recording artists have singers that they admire and who have inspired them musically.

But what happens when an iconic musician you revere not only invites you to open up for him in concert, but includes you in an exclusive Oscar party where you sing for Hollywood's who's who?

In the case of British soul siren Beverley Knight, it puts you in a constant state of disbelief and reaffirms to you that dreams do come true.

Knight is a veteran R&B star on the UK music scene and was able to fulfill a lifelong dream of not only meeting her idol Prince, but collaborating with his purpleness on a series of concerts, as she shared with me when BV Buzz traveled to London with VisitBritain.com as part of their Transatlanticism Campaign (www.transatlanticism.org).

The 36-year-old vocalist released her first CD, 'The B-Funk' in 1995 and has released four additional gold and platinum certified CDs in the UK since.

With a new CD called '100%' on the horizon, Knight, who Queen Elizabeth II awarded an Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in acknowledgement of her service in music and philanthropic work, sat down to chat with me about her accomplished career at a London Starbucks.

So Prince is your idol, huh?

He knows it and everybody in Britain is sick of me talking about it, but I don't care because I love Prince. We performed together when he was here for the '21 Nights' at the O2 Arena. He had me open for him and I did four of the after shows and then he flew me to Los Angeles to do his Post-Oscar party. It was bloody amazing. The biggest shock outside of the Oscar Party in LA if you can imagine that, was getting the '21 Nights' coffee table book that had a free CD in it and one of the songs was me singing 'Rock Steady' with the band and Maceo Parker. We had no idea!

How does it feel to have your idol invite you to work with him?

It's a limitation of the English language because I cannot find the words to describe how it feels to have someone who you worship and have since I was nine to really endorse you to the point where he would fly you out to LA or put you on a CD of work that is his is unbelievable.

What other artists have influenced the Beverley Knight sound?

It started with Sam Cooke – the father of all things soulful. In my household, it was gospel or it was nothing. That's how it was and that's what you had to listen to. Apart from when we'd take the radio out of mom and dad's room and listen to what we wanted to. The first recorded voice I heard was Sam Cooke and the love for what he did, especially with the Soul Stirrers, led me to Aretha Franklin and her 'Amazing Grace' album. It was the big voices. Thomas Dorsey had written songs and the Mahalia Jackson's. When I got older and I really started to get into radio stuff, then it was Chaka Khan and great pop stuff like Shalamar and Earth, Wind & Fire. But the person who has stayed with me for a number of reasons and has become my idol is Prince.

There's this whole thing in America where gospel and mainstream music genres are so separated, however artists like Coko, Kelly Price, Dave Hollister and Ann Nesby are helping to change that. I singer named PJ Morton wrote a book called 'Why Can't I Sing About Love?' and how the church ignores the Songs of Solomon in the Bible. How different is it in London? Because you grew up singing gospel but now sing R&B.

It was strange. It's that weird kind of push and pull thing because that same spiritual experience and ecstasy that you would have singing secular music is the same feeling that you would have singing gospel. You couldn't tell that to the church elders because they're not having it. They've never had it. It's interesting that you would say that about the Songs of Solomon because they are totally descriptive love songs and it gets deep. For me, I had to look at people like Marvin Gaye who had that turn to his death with his dad who was a strange guy. The two were kind of bedfellows and they sat equally comfortably with Marvin. Sam Cooke was the exact same way where he sang gospel and he sang pop with as much love and feeling in both along with Aretha Franklin. I have to follow what my natural instincts were. I had to do it otherwise it's denying a side of me, which is huge. I didn't normally grow up with those gospel sounds, but the fact that I love Prince, [David] Bowie, Sly & The Family Stone and The Rolling Stones, there was a whole rock side in the midlands that I grew up in was heavy in rock history with Iron Maiden and Metallica. There was a whole side that I understood, but you try to explain that musicology to the people in the church and they didn't want to know. It was difficult, but I got there and mom and dad supported it. I think ultimately they knew that I wasn't going to be taking a load of Class A's and trashing hotel rooms. It wasn't the rock 'n' roll lifestyle that I wanted. I just wanted to do the kind of music that I wanted to do.

Your impact on the UK music scene has been impressive, so much so that the University of Wolverhampton gave you an honorary Doctor of Music degree. How does it feel to have such impact?

Some days I think that I do what I do and I can't think of anybody else that does what I do even when I compare what I'm doing musically to some of my contemporaries in the States. I don't quite fit the Erykah Badu or the Jill Scott mold or the Mary J. Blige mold. A lot of people think of Tina Turner when they see me here, but I'm many years after she's been here and is still killing them. I realize that what I do is very specific to me, but I still feel that I'm climbing and growing and still trying to consolidate a name for myself even in the UK. It's a matter of joining the dots. Some people will know my name and some people will know my face and some will know both. Others will know the songs and not connect all of those things together and I'm still trying to work on that. It's been 15 years and I'm proud of that.

Your new CD you've recorded independently. Why independent and why now?

That is pretty easy. The major label route was tough. It enabled me to reach parts of Britain that I couldn't have done on my own back then easily. Now, the digital age has exploded and it's easy to get inside of people's homes and computers through the World Wide Web and I've taken the major label route as far as I could go. They have an understanding of me and know that I did good at what I do, but I don't think they really understand the flesh and bones of me and where I want to go and what else I want to do. The other thing is that financially it made more sense and to reach more corners of the Earth like the States made more sense because they never commercially released me in the States which I do not understand, but they didn't.

Do you hope this new CD affords you the chance to finally break in America? Because you have all the makings of what we like in an artist in the States.

Completely and it has been for years, but when you're locked into a major label and they sign you for the world, but the world doesn't get to hear you, it's bloody hard. All I could do was buy my time and crack on with what I was doing until such time that I could do it by myself and establish licensing deals with people in the States. I'm desperate to come over there. The feedback that I've had from my US contemporaries and some of the superstars like Prince has been amazing. I think I could do something over there and here's my chance. I'll been doing it on my terms which is the other part that creatively I can record on my own terms. The irony is that you are signed on the strength of your creativity and what you bring. The minute that you have success with that, the very thing that you have success with, they want to control, change and dilute. That is the eternal struggle that you have so it's come full circle for me and now I am back in control of that creative process.

Tell me about the new music. What's this new record going to sound like?

This time the music is a very contemporary record. I was glad that my last album was a conceptual, back to basics album because it was wonderful and it worked and it was right for that time. This time around I was like, 'I have done that, now it's time to get up to date.' It's not circa Keri Hilson or Ciara, because obviously I have a good decade-plus on those ladies and they do a good job at what they do. I wanted to do something that was up-to-date contemporary and a bit more grown. It was inspired by love, happiness and the relationship that I am in right now which I have given 100 percent too for the first time. It was also the credit crunch that we are all going through right now. I didn't want to write an album that was 'woe is me.' I wanted it to be something that made your foot shake and I had the freedom to do that. I do feel like I have a new energy and spirit. I am reinvigorated. I've done a lot of my work here and I've done bits and bobs in the States. On this album, I did one particular song in the States and that was because [Jimmy] Jam & [Terry] Lewis were on the production so I went to LA to work with them and it was amazing. I worked with Big Jim Wright as well. I absolutely adore and have to hug him and not let go because I love him so much. It was great. I've mostly worked over here. I think I'm conscious of the fact that I'm a British artist and that I perhaps have more of an Anglicized sound and nature than perhaps Lemar or Jamelia or Craig David. I'm inspired by a lot of things that happen here musically. I wouldn't want to take away from that and it's not to say that I wouldn't want to work with folks in the States because there are some amazing people to work with in the States obviously, but I'm very anxious to retain the thing whatever that is that sets me apart from being me as opposed to anybody else. I've been very conscious to do that.

Tell me about the honor your received from Queen Elizabeth II.

I can not begin to tell you how mental it was to get an MBE. It's the kind of thing that someone my age just doesn't get. I was stunned. It's not something that you hear many Black folks get every day of the week and not someone from my area of music. It was shock and shock again. Even my dad shed tears and came to Buckingham Palace and watched the Queen pin it on to me and they got to bow and all of the pomp and circumstance. My parents were blown away. It really was such a big deal. It took me a while to really accept it because first you're offered the MBA and then it's down to you to accept the nomination. Because of the strained relationship that Britain has had with the West Indies some people refused it for various things. I looked at my parents and their struggle that had this daughter who went on and did these things to the point where her majesty herself was recognizing it. I felt that even if I wondered if I was personally worthy, my parents certainly are because my story is their story. It was so big.

As a proud British artist, what do you think the biggest misconception is about UK recording artists?

I think the biggest misconception is that what we do is the diluted, corruptive version of what US contemporaries do. My argument is that it's certainly not. It's different to what happens in the States because our influences are a bit diverse. We live in Britain and Britain is very much of a integrated place in terms of racially and culturally because there you have every nation under the sun and everybody lives within their own pocket. What you get over here is the mixing and blurring of genres which is the hallmark of British music and Black British artists are no different. You only have to come here once and listen to Ms. Dynamite or Dizzie Rascal and it doesn't sound like what comes out of the States. If you listen to perhaps what I do and while I am completely influenced by similar things that have their roots in the States, I am also influenced by things that definitely have their roots over here. I would say listen with a bit more depth and you'll see and hear the differences.

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VIDEO: Watch Beverley Knight's new music video for her single 'Beautiful Night' from her new album, '100%.'