In 2006 Knight starred in BBC1 music TV show, Just The Two Of Us, and is the host of the Radio 2 show Beverley's Gospel Nights, which explores the origins and impact of gospel music. Now in its second season, the show has featured interviews with stars such as Destiny's Child and Shirley Caesar.
Knight is an ambassador for many charities such Christian Aid and has travelled to areas affected by disease and poverty to help raise awareness. She is an active campaigner for anti-Aids organisations such as the Stop AIDS Campaign and The Terrence Higgins Trust and is also a vocal campaigner against homophobic lyrics in urban music. She became an MBE in 2006, the only musician to be granted such an honour in the Queen's eightieth birthday honours list.
In February 2006 Knight consolidated her move into the mainstream audience by appearing on BBC1 music show, Just The Two of Us. The show, featuring celebrities who duet with established singers, ran for two weeks and proved to be a relative disappointment in terms of audience figures – averaging between fifteen and twenty-five percent audience shares.[17] Nevertheless it provided a platform for Knight to reach out to a bigger audience and demonstrate her talent by performing a different array of songs than she would otherwise be known for. Reaching out to new audiences was also a driving force behind Knight’s decision to join Take That on their reunion arena tour. Take That - The Ultimate Tour 06, which ran from April to July 2006, sold 270,000 tickets in less than four hours on sale at the box office and featured Knight as a support act.
In March 2006 Beverley released her fifth album, a compilation set featuring the majority of her top forty UK singles entitled Voice - The Best Of Beverley Knight. The album, which was certified Gold less than a month after its release,[19] became her second highest charting of her career when it entered the UK albums chart at number ten and rose to number nine a month later. It was preceded by the single "Piece of my Heart" – a cover of the Erma Franklin classic made famous by Janis Joplin and entered the singles chart at number sixteen, spending eleven weeks inside the UK top 75 singles chart and becoming her longest-running chart single to date.
In October 2006, Knight recorded her fifth studio album, Music City Soul, in Nashville. Completed in less than five days, the album was released on 7 May 2007 and features collaborations with musicians such as Ronnie Wood and Scotty Moore. It has spawned three singles thus far, "No Man's Land", released on 16 April 2007, "After You", released on 2 July 2007 and "The Queen of Starting Over", released on 15 October 2007.
Beverley will be releasing her next album in spring 2009.
Sites: YouTube
Southern Freeez
Beverley Knight Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Sensed it in your smile
Boy I like your style
Oh yeah
When I saw you on the floor doing the southern freeez
Then I knew you were the one the only one for me
In the way you move
I like it very much yes I do
Time time is moving on
Guess it’s getting late
Soon you’ll take me home
People everywhere doing the southern freeez
Laughing all the time this is the life for me
Heartbeat whisper in my ears
Now it won’t be long no
Just you and me my dear yeah
Sweet darling making love so slow
Your so beautiful yes you are
You got me all a glow
When I saw you on the floor doing the southern freeez
Then I knew you were the one, the only one for me
The lyrics to Beverley Knight's Southern Freeez describe a moment where the singer falls in love at first sight with someone who catches her eye on the dance floor. She notices love in his eyes and senses it in his smile. The way he moves and touches her gives her an electric feeling of excitement, and she can't resist the urge to be with him. She knows that he is the one for her because of what she sees on the dance floor, as people around them are laughing and having a great time doing the Southern Freeez.
As the night progresses, time seems to be running out, and soon he will take her home. She is excited about the prospects of spending time with him, and the heartbeat whispers in her ears makes her feel like she is on fire. She can't wait to be alone with him and make love so slow, and the way he makes her feel is so beautiful.
In conclusion, this song is an ode to falling in love and finding happiness with someone on the dance floor. It shows that love can come at any time when we least expect it and that it is the things we do in life that make us happy, like dancing the Southern Freeez.
Line by Line Meaning
Love saw it in your eyes
I could sense your love for me through your eyes
Sensed it in your smile
I could sense your love for me through your smile
Boy I like your style
I really like the way you carry yourself
When I saw you on the floor doing the southern freeez
When I saw you dancing with such grace to 'Southern Freeez'
Then I knew you were the one the only one for me
I knew right at that moment that you were the one I had been searching for, the only one for me
Love feel it in your touch
I feel your love for me through your touch
In the way you move
The way you move your body is so captivating
I like it very much yes I do
I really like it a lot, yes I do
Time time is moving on
Time is moving fast
Guess it’s getting late
I think it's getting late
Soon you’ll take me home
You'll soon take me home with you
People everywhere doing the southern freeez
Everyone is dancing to 'Southern Freeez'
Laughing all the time this is the life for me
We're all having so much fun, this is the perfect life for me
Heartbeat whisper in my ears
I can hear your heartbeat whispering in my ears
Now it won’t be long no
We won't have to wait too long
Just you and me my dear yeah
It'll just be the two of us, my darling
Sweet darling making love so slow
We'll make love slowly, my sweet darling
Your so beautiful yes you are
You're so beautiful, yes you are
You got me all a glow
You've got me feeling so warm and happy inside
Then I knew you were the one, the only one for me
Once again, I knew right then and there that you were the one for me, the only one
Contributed by Victoria V. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Colum Rogers
Once again, Beverley has put so much heart and soul into a classic song. Love BK & Freeez ;)
Billy Malabre
Love it!!
Joanna Mitchell
Love this song <3
Tracy Howard
Nice remake! That's how I would sing it even tho I love the original version BEST
wayne wood
Really great tune and love it just as much now as i did back then. Cheers Wayne from Wickford in Essex.
Iansfavmusic
I may well still opt for the original arrangement and I know that Ingrid Mansfield Allmans vocals had a special quality to them BUT if I could, I would put Beverley Knights vocals over the top. Such a good, no great, voice!
JJMMWGDuPree
Yeah. The brass section's OK, but the rhythm section really let it down, it sounds like they're working to the dots rather than feeling it. The live version's much better.
arthur verbraak
couldnt say it better
Vinesy68
Top tune!
bobbitt187
damn - bev did nt do this the justice i expected !