b. Beverley Ann Smith, 22 March 1972, Wolverhampton, England. Knight grew up singing in church, but by the time she was in her late teens had progressed to performing in clubs in and around her home town. Aided by her producer cousin Don E she signed to the independent Dome Records in 1994. The following year's debut single, "Flavour Of The Old School", was a hot slice of UK swingbeat co-written with production team 2B3. The song became a big club hit and also scraped into the national Top 50 in April. Follow-up singles "Down For The One" and "Moving On Up (On The Right Side)" were lesser hits, but a re-released "Flava" peaked at number 33 in March 1996, buoyed by the critical acclaim heaped on her debut album The B-Funk.
Disagreements with her label over musical direction briefly interrupted Knight's career, before she landed a major label contract with Parlophone Records in February 1997. She enlisted producers 2B3, Don E and Carl McIntosh (ex-Loose Ends) for the recording of Prodigal Sista, which on release was hailed as one of the greatest UK soul albums of the 90s. The album featured several UK Top 40 hits, including "Made It Back", "Rewind (Find A Way)" and the peerless "Greatest Day", which climbed to number 14 in July 1999. Standing out amidst a wealth of inferior swingbeat acts, Knight's gospel-influenced old school soul was deservedly rewarded with two MOBO awards for best R&B artist and best album.
Knight finally made her commercial breakthrough in March 2002 when "Shoulda Coulda Woulda" reached the UK Top 10. The attendant Who I Am was only a moderate seller, however, and failed to match the artistic success of Prodigal Sista. Knight enlisted Robbie Williams' songwriter Guy Chambers to help write several tracks on the follow-up, Affirmation. She was awarded an MBE in February 2007.
