Beverley Knight talks the NHS, singing during the coronavirus lockdown and her home - with video
The coronavirus pandemic has hit the lives of people all over the world, with no one left unaffected by the virus.
Wolverhampton-born singer and actress Beverley Knight can speak from personal experience, having seen her mother Deloris and brother Adrian taken to hospital after contracting coronavirus.
Beverley gave her thoughts on reactions to the virus and how she wanted to help after the treatment her mum and brother received.
She said: I don't think people understood the seriousness or gravity of the situation that we were in until people around them started passing away.
"New Cross Hospital has been inundated and I think Wolverhampton realised too late that there was a very serious problem.
"I've already said to a few people who I know who work on the operational end of the NHS and said 'I've got to do something'.
"This was while Mum and Adrian were really ill and everyone was coming to our help.
"I just felt so so overwhelmed because I was so frightened that we might lose Mum, and, in my head, I said, when this is over. I'm doing something."
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She added: "I've seen how a GP came out of hours to make sure Mum was alright and checking on her, and the comms people who made sure there were people there to help her.
"I've got so many people to thank and I'd like to thank them in the best way I know how which, for me, is always in music."
The pandemic has had an effect on Beverley's work, with tour dates and festival appearances cancelled and rehearsals for The Drifter Girls postponed.
She said that while she had done what she could to adapt to lock down, the changes to her working life have been a challenge to get used to.
"It's a funny one because when you're creative soul, you'll still create, but it's very strange not having a stage by which I'm singing to people," she said.
"Singers have a need to sing, actors have a need to act and we have a need to perform in front of a crowd as that's what we do that and is innate in us, so this is all very alien.
"However, thank God we've got things like Instagram and Facebook Live and we can still do what we do, to a lesser extent, not earning a penny but at least we managed to fulfil the creative edge."
Since the lock down began, 47-year-old Beverley has been involved in a number of projects and collaborations, including a virtual duet with Gary Barlow, a friend from her days touring with Take That.
Since then, she has become an ambassador and lead for a campaign backing the NHS through a recording of the Bill Withers song Lean On Me.
Watch the video to Lean on Me here:
The campaign was started by brothers Dominic and Alexander Lyon from Young Guns Entertainment, who brought together friends in the industry to coordinate and produce the song and video.
The song has been recorded across 30 studios by producers Ben Mitchell and Billie Godfrey, with more than 100 voices, all in isolation.
Beverley explained how she came to be a part of the single and an ambassador for the project.
She said: "The brothers were hearing sirens constantly as one of them lives in in South London, right near the St George's hospital.
"That gave them the idea that they wanted to do something in the entertainment world to raise some money for NHS charities as the toll that this whole thing must take on nurses, doctors is heavy.
"They approached a friend of mine. Ben Mitchell, who is a multi-instrumentalist producer and whose wife happens to sing background vocals for me.
"They asked me if I would be the person to anchor the campaign, to which I agreed immediately.
"The song has a great power to it and I don't know anybody who doesn't like Lean On Me.
"It's a simple message of the ultimate expression of friendship in a really simple way and Bill Withers gave us such a gift with that song.
"It's an honour to sing the song at this time for this cause."
Beverley also looks at previous charity singles like Do They Know It's Christmas and We Are The World, and said she hoped the uniqueness of Lean On Me would be a similar inspiration.
She said: "I remember those singles first time around as I remember running out and buying Do They Know It's Christmas and waving my hands to We Are the World.
"I think the uniqueness about Lean On Me is that, as far as I know, this is the first time that we've had an entirely virtual performance and each individual element has been recorded in isolation.
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That, hopefully, is of interest enough for people to check the end result, with the ultimate goal to raise as much money as we can.
"We look at Captain Tom Moore, who's been incredible, as who knew a 99-year-old man walking up and down in his garden could generate 20 million pounds?
"We're finding new ways to express ourselves to do charitable acts and that's just phenomenal."
Beverley has achieved a great deal of success as a performer, with three top 10 albums and two top 10 singles, as well as winning three MOBO awards and becoming a star on the West End.
She has also been awarded an MBE for services to music, as well as an active campaigner for anti-Aids organisations and an ambassador for many charities such as Christian Aid.
Although she now lives in London, Beverley has always called Wolverhampton home, with members of her family still living in the city.
She said: "Yes. I live in London, and my home is here in London with my husband James and my dog, but I'll always be a Wolverhamptoner.
"If a crisis happens, I think of home and home in my head is Wolverhampton, as I think of my mum's house and of all of us being there."
In terms of help she can provide in the future, Beverley has thought about a fundraising concert, with suggestions of playing at Molineux drawing an excited reaction from the lifelong Wolves fan.
She said: "Can you imagine? I'd be a mess!
"To me, that would be a double whammy that I get to be in the mighty Molineux and hopefully put smiles on the faces of people.
"That will be incredible and I'd love to do something along those lines.
"Seeing players such as Ruben Neves donating equipment to people in Portugal and Steve Bull donating masks to New Cross, this is why we all love Wolverhampton."
To find out more about NHS Relief visit uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-display/showROFundraiserPage?userUrl=NHSRelief&isTeam=true
