official programme

OFFICIAL PROGRAMME
Hi Everyone,
2002 has been a year of fantastic
achievement for me and this
journey I’m on is certainly never
a predictable one.
I am always amazed at the
opportunities and places my
music can take me, never more
so than the events of this past
year. With Who I Am charting
Top 10, touring both with
Jamiroquai and headlining in the
spring, the Mercury Music Award
nomination and an inspirational trip
to Brazil with the charity Christian Aid
looking at problems over there with
poverty and HIV/Aids, the past 18 months
has allowed me to experience things that
will stay with me forever.
It has taken a lot of hard work, and there’s a lot
more striving still to do but it’s been worth it. I’d like
to thank all the people that have helped me along the
way and those that continue to support me. Your support
means the world to me.
I’d like to welcome you to the tour and I hope you enjoy
the show. What a great way to end the year - we love
being on stage and we aim to give you a great time!
See you next year with a new album and more shows…
Peace ‘n’ love
Beverley Knight
An awesome voice, an already great artist, yet one who has used that self-claimed time away to continue the all-important process of maturing and growing. Certainly, she’s been missed in her temporary absence, but the good news is that this three-times Mobo award-winner is here among us
again. Not only that, but, as a blossoming and very centred 29 year old, she’s sounding even better
than ever. Why wouldn't she be? Since last time around, she’s charmed (and been totally awed by)
Nelson Mandela, sung Happy Birthday to a delighted Mohammed Ali, duetted live and on record
with Jamiroquai’s Jay Kay, and done a whole lot of getting to know herself too. "All of which has
brought me to a very good place indeed!"
This much - and more - is evident from her fabulous album, ‘Who I Am’. The fact is that Beverley
Knight has made it back again, and triumphantly so. "I’ve been through many, many changes, and
you can hear them all right here", she admits of the living-and-learning process she has undergone
these past two and a half years. "I’ve found out lots about the industry I work in but also, and more
importantly, about me myself-and-I. Perhaps most significant in all of this was the fact that, during it
all, I came out of a long term relationship. That was a big old thing for me, believe me!
As the title suggests, it’s a collection which deals primarily with the question of identity. "With the
people and experiences that have shaped me, and with where I am headed next," she confirms.
That said, it’s a journey with a projected happy ending. "Because I’m pleased to say that I’ve come
out on the far side with my soul intact, with a clear sense of exactly who Beverley is, and (she
laughs here, as if in gratitude) with the smile still on my face!" Good news, then, for the university
graduate turned homegrown r’n’b heroine - a woman who, when looking for musical role models,
turns more readily to artists like Annie Lennox, (as well as greats such as Aretha and Chaka) than to
whoever it is that media opinion is electing as the latest funky diva-du-jour. "Man, that’s not where
I’m coming from at all! What Prodigal Sista did (with its two top 20 hits 'Made It Back'and 'Greatest
Day') was break me out of that specialised, ghettoised box that all British black women artists find
themselves dropped into, and which I’d been fighting for so long to escape from.
Those Mobo awards, (Best R'n'B act in ‘98 and ‘99 as well as a Best Album Award for ‘Prodigal Sista’),
were a start Then there was my insistence on playing live whenever and wherever possible. Yes, it
costs a whole lot more to take your music to the people in that way, but that’s how the women who
inspired me did it. They didn’t just sing and dance to backing tracks in a club. They were out there
fronting a real band, holding a show together and working on captivating their audience. And that’s
how I intend to do it too."
If the picture that you’re forming is of an artist more interested in developing her own talents than in
following fashion, you are on the right track. Says Beverley, "My feeling about all of that is that when
something or someone is super-hot, it or they can very soon grow cold. I prefer to see myself as kind
of a back-burner, quietly keeping up a steady but intense heat!"
And true enough, on the top selling singles so far, the temperature is near-enough at boiling point.
They provided the perfect taster for 'Who I Am', a set that showed just how far the girl from
Wolverhampton had come. The album features one strong song after another - some written and
recorded in collaboration with top industry names here in the UK (D-Influence, Dodge and C -Swing
for example) others with the cream of the crop in the U.S. From Nashville - Country Music Award
winner Craig Wiseman with whom Beverley co-wrote the classic ‘Shoulda Woulda Coulda’ – or
Philadelphia (James Poyser, who has worked with the likes of D'angelo, Lauryn Hill and Jill Scott).
"Songs are the key to it all with me, that’s why I’ve taken my time in coming back with this. Quality is
appreciated by record buyers, and quality can’t be rushed. Hopefully, when the results are out there
for everyone to hear, fans will feel that their patience has been rewarded."
Among those waiting patiently to hear ‘Who I Am’ was a steadily-growing list of famous admirers
from Bowie and Prince to Michael Stipe who she met at London’s open-air Celebrate South Africa
Day concert back in April 2000. Jay Kay has to be more than a little smitten too. He invited Bev to
guest on two of the tracks from his recent Jamiroquai album ‘A Funk Odyssey’ and support him on
his UK & European arena tours.
All of which is great, of course. But perhaps the best measure of where the sista herself is coming
from can be taken from the reaction to finding herself at a private audience with the truly legendary
Nelson Mandela. "It knocked me sideways that, through music, I had got to meet one of history’s living legends, a man who future historians will still be writing about in 500 or more years’ time. And
how had it happened? It was because I, a woman from Wolverhampton, had dared to have a
dream that was bigger than those that everyone else around me was carrying with them." By her
own self-assessment, Beverley Knight has come a long, long way. And who would dare to set a limit
on just how far that extraordinary talent could carry her still?
Alan Jackson
‘Who I Am’ entered the UK album charts at number 7 on March 17th 2002 and was certified gold status within a
few weeks, the sales are now verging on platinum status. The first single, ‘Get Up’, was released in October 2001
and was a top 20 hit and a club smash, riding high in the club/dance charts. The video was nominated for a CAD
(creative design award) for ‘Best Urban Video’. The second single, ‘Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda’, was Beverley’s first
UK Top 10 hit. A huge Top 5 airplay record, it was one of the highest rotating singles of the year.
The third single, ‘Gold’, was released on 24th June 2002. It scored Bev another top 30 hit and sent ‘Who I Am’
back into the Top 20 album chart. Following highly successful support tours in Europe and the UK with
Jamiroquai, Beverley undertook a headline tour of the UK in May. This was followed by appearances at various
European festivals through the summer including Glastonbury, T In The Park and V2002 in the UK.
The latter stages of 2002 see no sign of Beverley slowing down. She was recently nominated for the prestigious
2002 Mercury Music Award. In October Beverley returned from a life-changing trip with the charity Christian Aid to
Salvador in north-eastern Brazil, an experience that she found both moving and extremely informative.
Beverley's trip allowed her to experience first hand the amazing projects that have been set up to combat a country
plagued with extreme poverty and illness. Whilst in Brazil she visited organisations including GAPA-BAHIA, an AIDS
prevention project, and CESE, an organisation that campaigns against domestic violence.
Upon returning from her Christian Aid Trip, Beverley had the honour of performing at a benefit event for a Nelson
Mandela Children's fund, which again allowed her to meet with her idol and inspiration.
Beverley has also recently travelled to New York where she recorded a new version of her single ‘Shape of You’ with
Wyclef Jean. Originally planned as a straightforward remix, Wyclef and Beverley soon reworked the entire track -its
production, lyrics and melody – hence "Shape Of You - Reshaped’. The pair also shot the video, (which also features
new Clef signing, 19 year old rapper ‘Hollywood’). Already the highest new entry in the urban chart the track is
scheduled for release in the new year.
www.beverleyknight.com
‘Shape Of You - Reshaped’ feat. Hollywood, produced by Wyclef Jean - released Feb 24th 2003
PHOTO - © JAMES DIMMOCK
PHOTO - © JAMES DIMMOCK
PHOTO - © JAMES DIMMOCK
PHOTO - © JAMES DIMMOCK
PHOTO - © JAMES DIMMOCK
In October Beverley returned
from a life-changing trip with
the charity Christian Aid to
Salvador in north - eastern
Brazil. Christian Aid is one of
the UK’s leading international
development organisations. It
works wherever the need is
greatest, irrespective of religion, and supports local
organisations that are best
placed to respond to people’s
needs.
“I
think anybody who
initially is put off by
the name Christian Aid,
kind of needs to go
back to the drawing
board and re-think and
see the work that’s
being done.”
"I’ve seen extreme poverty I’ve seen desperate cases and
situations, the way that people are forced to live their lives,
mainly due to poverty, everything seems to stem from poverty
there. But in that kind of desperation I’ve also seen some
inspirational characters, some rays of hope and some of the
most genuine and strong willed people I’ve ever met. I hope
people continue to support Christian Aid in this amazing
work."
"Strongest British R&B set in years from
the Beverley Sista"
- Sunday Mirror
"Funky, souly, R&B’y .. in a word Excellent"
- CD:UK Magazine
" 'Who I Am’ is as definitive and forthright as it’s
title suggests. To hear Knight open her lungs and
let rip is to experience something like R&B heaven"
- Sunday Times
'Operating at the point where pop and soul collide
and hip-hop gazes on approvingly, the voice soars,
swoops and sometimes just hovers with a power
and grace that separates the blessed from the
merely good.'
-Q
"remarkably confident.. fantastic voice.. flamboyant
stuff. The sparkling 'Who I Am’ gives the impression
of a star about to go stellar."
-Q
'Utterly infectious'
- The Guardian
"In musical breadth and emotional scope,
it’s way beyond anything in it’s field this
country has ever produced, damn near
perfect"
- Attitude
'If there was ever a competition to find the woman
with the most impressive live performance,
Beverley Knight would surely win hands down.'
- The Daily Star
Paul Reid- Guitar
'They call me Reidy, funky by nature. Bev is my lil baby, second to no one it is my pleasure
to be part of her story, she is by far the most gifted and talented artist around. I have
worked with the likes of Shola Ama, Usher, Brandy, Winans, Mark Morrison, Helen Bayler,
Gloria Gaynor, Whitney Houston amongst others.
Carlos Hercules – Drums
'Bev is one of my favourite artists. Her work and vibe is uplifting and refreshing. We have
a great time on and off the stage! I have worked with Marti Pellow, Belinda Carlisle,
Lynden David Hall, Heather Small, and many others. I'm like the Daddy of the team!'
L to R: Louise Marshall, Steve Walters, Billie Godfrey, Ashley Kingsly, Beverley, Paul Reid, Lucy Jules, DJ Pogo, Carlos Hercules.
Lucy Jules – Backing Vocals
'Determined to stay eternally young!! Love anything to do with music. Favourite pastime=
laughing!
Steve Walters – Bass
On planet bass my path has taken me to share music with Chaka Khan, Rod Stewart,
Everything But The Girl, Kylie and George Michael. Play for real, listen for keeps, dance for
joy, love for peace."
Ashley Kingsly- Keyboards
'It's a pleasure playing for Bev - her energy is great. Prior to this I have worked for Chris
Rea, Mica Paris, Shola Ama, Mark Owen and many other wonderful people'
Billie Godfrey – Backing Vocals
Before working with Beverley I have sung with artists including Lionel Richie, Sting, Lisa
Stansfield and The Weather Girls. You can also find me on Kylie Minogue’s album ‘Fever’.
Louise Marshall- Backing Vocals
I studied piano at Chetham’s and Guildhall School of Music & Drama. It’s great working
with Beverley and the whole band. In the past I have worked with artists including
Martine McCutcheon, Marti Pellow and Michael Ball.
Band
Paul Reid
Carlos Hercules
Steve Walters
Ashley Kingsly
DJ Pogo
Lucy Jules
Billie Godfrey
Louise Marshall
Guitar
Drums
Bass
Keyboards
DJ
Backing vocals
Backing vocals
Backing vocals
Management
Dave Woolf
Alan Edwards
DWL
Outside Organisation
Also thanks to Karen Brosh at Outside Organisation, and Kizzi
Alleyne-Stewart and James Windle at DWL.
Big thank you to Parlophone Records for their continuing support.
Website (thanks Marcus!) - www.beverleyknight.com
Band Credits
Paul Reid: Many thanks to Framus Guitars, Godin Guitars, Mesa
Boogie and Boss. Also Ben from M.A.D Music you are a star in
your field. Carlos Hercules: Zildjian Cymbals & Pearl Drums,
Protection Racket. Thank you for more than a decade of top gear
& fantastic support. Steve Walters: Many thanks to Warwick,
Washburn, Rotosound and Yahama. Also James Barker, James
Howe & Ben Yourreall. DJ Pogo: Many thanks to Vestax, Shure,
Anne Springerfrom Etnies & Nikita- thanks for all your support.
Lucy Jules, Billie Godfrey and Louise Marshall: Many thanks to
Iman Cosmetics, Jo, Ruth & Claire @ Faith, Korres Natural Products,
Palmers Skincare. Shure Microphones. You all are lifesavers!
Tour Manager
Andy Bernstein
Production Manager
Matt Napier
Tour Production
Production Assistant
Lighting Design
FOH
Monitors
Drum Tech
Guitar Tech
Vari*Lite Tech
Vari*Lite Tech
Rigger / Set
Skan PA Rigger
Caterer
Caterer
Merchandise
Band Bus Driver
Crew Bus Driver
Truck Driver
Truck Driver
Truck Driver
Chris Fitch
Adam Berlyne
Steven Abbiss
Denny Vidal
Rob Webster Reed
Trapper
Martin Herbert
Simon Lynch
Simon Anderson
Steve Bellfield
Nick Stagg
Suzy Coll
Pauline Austin
Jessica Fischer
Ray Valks
Matty Haberjam
Dan Gobey
John Burgess
Paul Edwards
Trucking
Lighting Company
PA Company
Catering
Staging
Travel Agents
Accountants
Merchandise
Many thanks to:
Simon Lynch @ Vari*Lite tech
Simon Anderson @ Vari*Lite tech
Jessica Fischer @ Blue Grape
Suzy Coll @ Eat to The Beat
Pauline Austin @ Eat to The Beat
Billy Bowman @ MBA
Rob Wood @ Times Studios
Matt Snowball
JHE
Music Bank
Publicity & Display
Fly By Night, Birmingham
Vari*Lite, Middlesex
Skan PA Hire, Reading
Eat To The Beat, Hertfordshire
Steeldeck, London
MBA, London
Dales, Evans. London
Blue Grape