‘I’m no diva. I do everything with a smile’
Singer Beverley Knight talks about Starstruck, getting her stubbornness from her mum – and meeting her idol, Prince…
Talented, driven and someone for whom family is at the heart of everything, Beverley Knight is a one-woman force of nature. One of the panellists on singing show Starstruck, she’s also dazzling audiences in the West End in The Drifters Girl. Here Bev, 48, opens up about the fun she’s been having with Olly Murs and co, her kick-ass stage role and getting her strong spirit from her mum…
How was working with Olly Murs and the rest of the Starstruck panel?
Amazing. We all got on so well. The banter between Sheridan
Smith and Olly was unreal… Jason Manford’s a joke a second and I loved chatting music with Adam Lambert. We built up the best rapport. It was lovely not to be in a show about trashing people’s performances, either.
If you were a contestant, who would you sing as?
Prince, every time. He’s my idol. Such incredible songs. I can’t sing like him for toffee, but that’s the closest I’m going to get to real music artistry.
You worked with him, right?
I opened for him at London’s O2 and sang at a party for Oscar winners at his house in LA. People think he was quiet – and he was softly spoken. But when the cameras weren’t rolling, he came alive. It’s amazing to be in
the presence of someone like that. The magnetism and charisma… The Starstruck winner takes home a £50,000 cash prize. What would you buy with that amount of money?
I’d get my mum, Deloris, a new kitchen. If her kitchen’s all done, that means even more entertaining for all the big family get-togethers we have at hers… There’s method to my… altruism!
You’re starring in the musical The Drifters Girl, as the group’s formidable manager, Faye Treadwell...
Yes, she was the first powerful African-American woman to become a major music manager. She did that at a time when women were still expected to be the decoration on the arm of a powerful man – when black people weren’t even full citizens in their own country. She smashed through that. It’s a magnificent show to be a part of.
Did you hear The Drifters’ music growing up?
Oh yeah. My dad Edward, who passed away 12 years ago, used to sing Save The Last Dance For Me to my mum. He had a fine voice. When I hear that song in the show, I think, ‘Dad, you would love this…’ He wasn’t a demonstrative man – but he was very proud of me.