Tender Is The Night (Voice Online)

It has nearly been a decade since Beverley Knight dropped her classic debut single Flavour of the Old School to an extremely receptive, if relatively small, ‘swingbeat’ audience. Things were very different on the black music scene then. It was still unusual to see a credible black artist on prime time mainstream TV – especially a British one. 

The B-Funk, her debut album, never achieved the terrific sales of her later releases, despite its undeniable quality and Beverley’s powerful voice. 

Looking back makes Knight nostalgic. “There was me, there was Rhythm’n’Bass, Truce – you know Michelle Escoffery – Mark Morrison hadn’t released Crazy or Return of the Mack yet. It was just a few of us all struggling to get through,” she recalls. 

“The mainstream completely didn’t want to know. Britpop was beginning to really explode, Oasis had released Cigarettes and Alcohol, which was the biggest hit in the world. 

She stops to laugh. “Those days were fun and I was young and I really didn’t know nuttin’ and I didn’t care about marketing or image. I just cared about music and that was that. 

“Ten years later we’re in a much more sophisticated, marketing-driven world – too much so – and R’n’B is the top of every chart. That’s a massive turnaround.” 

Her career has itself undergone something of a turnaround. While her second album, 1998’s Prodigal Sista, sold respectably and yielded the hits Made It Back and Greatest Day, it was the 2002 release Who I Am that broke the glass ceiling, selling over a quarter of a million copies in the UK alone. 

Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda and Gold were both top ten singles, she played Glastonbury and big festivals across Europe, was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize and won plenty of awards. She certainly played her part in helping R’n’B become the new pop music. 

“The success was great but it was a double-edged sword, ’cos people who had ignored me for the past eight years suddenly became experts in what I was all about, and that was very uncomfortable. Suddenly everyone wants to know what size underwear you are wearing. 

“But the reason the media has gone for R’n’B in such a big way is not ’cos they believe R’n’B is fantastic. It’s a way of controlling the music and the artists. It’s a way of keeping us in that specialised box and we’ll never break out of it – which is why my album is so diverse.” 

The new album Affirmation features writing from Guy Chambers (of Robbie Williams fame) and, while it’s far from being middle of the road, there are no club bangers on it. Long-time collaborator Dodge is nowhere to be found on the credits. 

Is Knight bothered about purists who might say “she’s not the same as she used to be” or “she don’t represent for us anymore”? 

DIVERSE
“It doesn’t bother me, because anybody who has ever seen me on a stage will know I didn’t come from this tiny little area of music. What I do is so diverse. I’m about blurring the lines of genre. I’m a soul artist, but look at Sly Stone, look at The Isleys. 

“When they turned on the guitars and turned them up, you know black people looked at them funny, like, ‘Ronald, what are you doing?’ And look at Prince. Purple Rain is a genius album and that didn’t have all the typical soul stylings, but you tell me that wasn’t a soulful album. 

“I’m never going to lose sight of who I am and where I’ve come from. I’ll always be a soul vocalist and I’ll always have soul inflections in my voice – thank God. I came from soul and gospel but I don’t need to be a slave to a particular sound.” 

Much of the writing on Affirmation was inspired by the Aids-related death of one of Knight’s close friends. The anguish is clear on songs like No One Ever Loves In Vain, Under the Same Sun and the title track. 

“He was my life, he was wonderful. We were like the black Will and Grace. We’d be walking down the street and see some finery walking past and both of us would be peeking. We were flatmates for years – every morning when I woke up he would be there, and when he died I felt like I’d lost everything. 

“I’m not into alcohol – it’s not my thing – and I don’t really go for the whole coke thing or whatever as well, that’s not my bag either. I did what I do whenever I’m down, sing and write, and that’s what dragged me back to reality again.” 

There are lighthearted moments on the record, too, the kind long-time fans have come to expect. Tea and Sympathy is one. 

“OK, you know how it is,” she says, her smile returning. “A relationship breaks down and there’s always the friend, the female friend – of course I’m writing from a female perspective – who’s on hand to comfort the boyfriend with a little tea and sympathy. 

“She ain’t no friend really, she wants him for herself. I knew that bare people would be able to relate to that.” 

Voice Online

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