Beverley Knight say that the most defining moment of her life so far was being up on stage with both Prince and Stevie Wonder. The famous British singer had been flown in to sing at an Oscar’s party and Prince flew her to LA specially.
“The great and good of Hollywood were there, in his rented house. He then invited Stevie Wonder to join us up on stage. I was floored, as you can imagine. So I’ve got two geniuses up on stage with me! Like, how does that happen, you know? It was the single greatest musical moment of my life,” she remembers.
So it seems only fitting that Beverley is now coming to Oxford’s New Theatre to sing Stevie’s songs accompanied by a full orchestra.
Having performed a special concert recorded for BBC Radio 2’s ‘Friday Night Is Music Night’ series at The London Palladium at the end of last year, Knight is taking the show across the UK with the Leo Green Orchestra to pay homage to one of the greatest songwriters of modern times.
Knight, who this year celebrates 25 years in music, is one of few vocalists with the ability to do justice to the genius of Stevie Wonder’s rich and varied catalogue, which was broadcast on BBC Radio 2.
So how does it feel to be celebrating 25 years in the business?
She laughs: “Some days, I feel old (laughs)! But honestly, I feel absolutely ecstatic that I’m in my 25th year. And not in the sense of “I’m in my 25th year, thank you, goodnight”, I’m in my 25th year, and it’s still on an upward trajectory. Somehow, it seems to be defying convention and expectation, that at my age, at this point in my career and in my life, it’s growing and building. It’s incredibly exciting.”
She must really relate to Stevie’s songs then to tour with his music, rather than her own/
“I have a very powerful connection to Stevie’s songs. The first song I ever heard on the radio was “Sir Duke”. I must’ve been…four? I didn’t know the words, I just knew that melody of the chorus, and drove everyone mad singing it. My whole life is defined by music, and Stevie’s was the first voice I ever heard on radio. He has been a constant in my life, since my very formative years, and still is.”
The tour came about because she did a one-off show for the BBC last year: “It was part of the Friday Night Is Music Night series that they’ve been doing forever. I thought it was going to be just a one-off, but they wanted to do it with a bit of a twist. Instead of doing it in Maida Vale studios, they asked if I would do it in front of a live audience at the Palladium, and I was thrilled, obviously. It’s much more interesting as an artist to be able to perform. It went so well that they asked if I would tour it, and I said “absolutely!”
Does she feel a sense of responsibility to do Stevie’s songs justice? “It’s a privilege and it’s a responsibility. The memories that are bound up in Stevie’s songs – in anybody’s songs if you’re a fan, are so tangible, that you can’t mess with people’s emotions like that.
“I have a job to do those songs justice, do them right, be true to myself, to interpret them in the way that I see is fitting for them to be interpreted. But at the same time, not go off so far that people listen and go, “that doesn’t sound like the Stevie song that I know”.
“But then I’m a Stevie fan too, so of course, I will faithfully reproduce some songs, some of the funkier songs, they will be as you know them. On some of the other songs, you’ve got a few key changes and things like that, so there will be a different resonance just for technical purposes because I’m a woman (laughs). But I will keep the melodies and the notes and all of that the same. And hopefully, people will walk away and have their memories enhanced.
Beverley had the chance to tell Stevie Wonder about her tour when she bumped him recently backstage at Hyde Park. “I gave him a cuddle, and took a photo, which is going in a frame. I told him I was doing this tour, and he said he’d like to hear it which I was thrilled about!,” she says.
It must be so different being supported by an orchestra though? “Stevie’s music is so full of orchestration, each song is different to the next, that the only real way to interpret them all is through an orchestra in. Because some songs are small and delicate and tiny, other songs are full-fat flavour.
“So, it is absolutely right that Leo Green – and particularly Leo Green himself, who is so funky – and the orchestra, are with me, we’re doing this together. Because when people say oh, “backed” by the Leo Green orchestra, I see it as I’m with the Leo Green orchestra, we are all doing this. It’s wonderful.
And now that Beverley has started this journey, is there anyone else on her list? “Well…Aretha (Franklin). Aretha would be astonishing. The absolute queen of soul. A unique and one-off woman, with an interesting life story as well, which you could bring into the music.
“And Prince – I’m literally the biggest Prince fan I know! I don’t know if I could do it because I’m so close to the music, I might fall apart and just be a mess,” she laughs.”
In the meantime, Beverley has got a live album out in November, which celebrates her 25 years, again, with the Leo Green orchestra. “It’s a lot of fun and we are doing lots of shows to support that.
“And next year, I will be putting my theatre hat back on, which I’m very excited about with my big return to the West End.
“So life is wonderful.”
Beverley Knight sings Stevie Wonder at Oxford’s new Theatre on Sunday night.
