Beverley Knight

The title of Beverley Knight’s single “Flavour of the Old School” (1995) is fitting for a performer whose sound is deeply rooted in vintage soul yet always feels utterly contemporary. Born in Wolverhampton in 1973, she grew up singing gospel in a church-going family before discovering the more secular songs of Sam Cooke and Aretha Franklin. Knight’s love of neo-soul, R&B and hip-hop was all just as clear on her 1995 debut, The B-Funk, and its 1998 follow-up, Prodigal Sista: albums that established her as one of the country’s most versatile new performers. A collaboration with Robbie Williams producer Guy Chambers that became a hit in 2004, the rock-oriented “Come As You Are” demonstrates her eagerness to keep expanding her sound. After establishing herself as a musical-theatre star in West End productions of The Bodyguard and Cats, Knight returned to her original well of inspiration with her powerfully rich covers of songs made famous by Ann Peebles and Ben E. King on 2016’s Soulsville.