'His legacy is seismic': Beverley Knight pays tribute to Cyrille Regis

“His legacy is so seismic because there was no-one like him at the time.”

Black Country soul star Beverley Knight has paid her own moving tribute to Cyrille Regis ahead of his funeral today.

Beverley, from Wolverhampton, is due to perform a solo version of gospel classic ‘Going Up Yonder’ at a celebration of Cyrille’s life at The Hawthorns.

Despite growing up a Wolves fan, Beverley could not help but be inspired by the performances of Cyrille and his fellow Three Degrees stars Brendon Batson and Laurie Cunningham.

And the songstress has said she was honoured to be invited to perform at the service at the ground Cyrille viewed as home turf.

Brilliant

Beverley said: “I didn’t know Cyrille really well but as a young child growing up I saw him on the TV all the time playing for the Albion – even though I was a Wolves supporter.

“There wasn’t a black person in the country who didn’t absolutely love the Three Degrees. And there wasn’t a young black lad in the country who didn’t want to be like Cyrille.

“His legacy is so seismic because there was no-one like him at the time.

“He cut down a path to make way for black British footballers. The words black and British didn’t even sit comfortably at those times.

“It was testament to Cyrille that we now comfortably talk about black British footballers and don’t even think twice about it.

“He came along in a really, really tough time and won people over just by being brilliant, graceful and skilled on the pitch and being lovely off it.

“I am honoured to be singing at the service.”

Legacy

Alongside Beverley’s performance, the celebration event in the East Stand from 10.45am will include tributes from across the sporting world.

It follows a private family funeral earlier this morning.

The Cyrille Regis Memorial Choir is set to perform two ‘celebration in songs’ during the proceedings.

The eulogy will be read by Cyrille’s widow, Julia. Mrs Regis said it is comforting to know how many people’s lives her husband touched.

She said: “The fact that fans are impacted by his death so much that they want to come and pay their respects makes me proud. It’s amazing those who didn’t know Cyrille have been so impacted by his legacy and short interaction by him at the stadium.

“We were at The Hawthorns on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve for the Everton and Arsenal games, and you see the love pouring out to him.

“He said hello to everyone, there was not one person he ignored – that’s his legacy, he was a really nice guy.

“I’m immensely proud, obviously I know he was a great guy. The level and the depth of outpouring was immense.”