On this day, 14 August 2011, English soul star Beverley Knight played Cardiff’s Big Weekend also included on the bill that weekend was Chesney Hawkes, Hazel O’Connor, The Christians and Modern Romance.
Heavily influenced by American soul music icons such as Sam Cooke and Aretha Franklin, Knight has released eight studio albums. Widely labelled as one of Britain's greatest soul singers, Knight is best known for her hit singles "Greatest Day", "Get Up!", "Shoulda Woulda Coulda" and "Come as You Are".
In March 2011, Knight announced in that she would be releasing her seventh studio album later that year and that it would be a collection of British soul covers. She also announced a one-off gig to be held at Porchester Hall, London, which would be filmed for her first live DVD, to be included with the album release. Knight confirmed the album would be entitled Soul UK at the Porchester Hall show.
The first single to be released from the album was "Mama Used to Say", a hit single originally recorded by Junior Giscombe. The single was released on 27 June 2011, with the album following on 4 July.
The album was the highest new entry on the UK albums chart in its week of release, peaking at #13.
Three further singles were released from Soul UK, "Cuddly Toy" (originally by Roachford), "One More Try" (originally by George Michael) and "Round and Around" (originally by Jaki Graham).
Other artists whose songs were covered on Soul UK include: Soul II Soul; Loose Ends; Omar; Jamiroquai, with whom she had previously recorded the song "Main Vain" with; Princess; Lewis Taylor; Heatwave; Freeez; and Young Disciples.
