Beverley Knight Quotes

My mother played Sam Cooke and he was the first voice I ever heard on record. His was the first voice that directly had a big impact on me, vocally. He still makes me cry. He'd take the very simple Bible stories that I grew up with and just make them into a two-and-a-half-minute song and yet with an intensity and a passion that the world had never heard before. He really was a major influence on my life.

Aretha taught me my phrasing and the way I carry emotion. She makes me cry and then she brings me into the throes of musical ecstasy - with the same voice! I Never Loved A Man hurts, and the Amazing Grace album, which is the epitome of my childhood, will stay with me for ever."

"Prince goes back to me listening to preachers when I was a child, who tell a story to illustrate a point...the first song I heard by him was "Little Red Corvette", when I was nine. Of course, I didn't have a clue about what he was singing about; the sexuality is implicit and I love that."[