Beverley Knight tells Chris Evans about her affinity with 'the unbelievable' Tina Turner

Virgin Radio

2 Oct 2023, 14:46

Beverley Knight opened up about why she feels connected to the late great Tina Turner during her visit to Virgin Radio last week.

Speaking with Chris Evans on The Chris Evans Breakfast Show with cinch in-between live performances, Beverley revealed she feels connected to the ‘River Deep - Mountain High’ singer due to how she seemed to hit her prime aged around 50.

“She was always this unbelievable, tour de force,” Beverley said clearly. “But it took her to the age I am right now before the world truly got to see who she was.”

The 50-year-old ‘Shoulda Woulda Coulda’ artist described Turner, who died in May 2023 aged 83, as her “spirit animal” and celebrated how “when [the world] connected with her” she “just flew.”

This she connected with her own feeling that recently she has really hit her stride with her latest album, The Fifth Chapter. 

“I just feel as though I’ve got the same sense of ‘Oh my God’ optimism, joy, you know - fullness,” she told Chris earlier on the show.

Beverley described her latest music as “very celebratory,” explaining that she feels “like I’m ready for the next level” now.

The musician’s 11-track album celebrates her 50th birthday, and marks her first collection of original material in fourteen years.

Speaking on her birthday in March 2023, Beverley said: “My career is not a big shiny billboard poster that gets replaced with the next star in waiting. Mine is a novel, and I just entered the fifth and most exciting chapter of it.”

Beverley performed one of the album’s singles - ‘Systematic Overload' - live on air on Friday morning’s show. She also performed a cover of U2’s ‘With or Without You’, and her hit song ‘Shoulda Woulda Coulda’.

For a chance to hear Beverley Knights’ amazing voice in person, tickets for her almost sold out tour are available at beverleyknight.com. Her ninth album The Fifth Chapter is out now.

For more great interviews and live music listen to The Chris Evans Breakfast Show with cinch weekdays from 6:30am on Virgin Radio.