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Singer Knight's 'heart full' after hometown shows

Susie Rack
BBC News, West Midlands
Scott Bird Singer Beverley Knight smiling broadly in a theatre stalls, with red seats. Her hand is next to a gold plaque with her name on it stating Beverley Knight, Marie & Rosetta, 2025.Scott Bird
Wolverhampton Grand Theatre staff surprised Knight with a plaque on a seat in the stalls

Acclaimed soul singer Beverley Knight has said her "heart is full" after a week of shows in her hometown.

Knight starred in Marie & Rosetta at Wolverhampton Grand last month, 40 years after performing on the same stage with the city's youth theatre at 12 years old.

Staff said the singer "gave back to the community in bucket-loads" by inviting students who had never visited a theatre before and singing for visitors with dementia.

After visiting a mural of herself in the city for the first time, Knight wrote on Instagram: "I don't know if I will ever find the words to explain how much being at home in Wolverhampton meant to me."

Knight invited 20 students from her old school, Highfields, while 20 others came from Star King Solomon Academy in Birmingham, 90% of whom had never been to a theatre.

Scott Bird, the theatre's head of marketing, said the singer performed at the Grand's Memory Café for people living with dementia, and assisted blind and partially-sighted audience members on to the stage to get closer to props and costumes.

Scott Bird Beverley Knight singing in front of a microphone, her eyes shut. She is wearing a beige tight fitting long-sleeved dress and her hair is long and in braids. She is accompanied by a woman on a piano and a man on guitar to her right. The backs of five people's heads, who all have white or greying hair, can be seen watching from tables. They are in a cafe and there are blue, purple and red helium balloons by a brick wall on the far right.Scott Bird
Knight performed to people with dementia at Wolverhampton Grand's Memory Cafe

"Wolverhampton is so blessed to have Beverley Knight, a proud Wulfrunian, so visibly championing the city," he added.

"The audience response to her Grand Theatre debut in Marie & Rosetta was proof of the appreciation the local community have for her."

Jonathan Hipkiss Two women standing on a stage smiling. The woman on the left is wearing a pink lace dress and cape. The one on the right is wearing a fifties style flared white coat and is clapping. The stage is covered in a royal blue carpet and there is a wooden casket behind the women.Jonathan Hipkiss
Knight, pictured right, during her curtain call on opening night with co-star Ntombizodwa Ndlovu

The singer's mural, on Victoria Passage just off Skinner Street, was painted on the side of a shop last September by Wolverhampton-based creator Jack Sankson, also known as GraffitiForU.

He paid for the artwork out of his own pocket and said he appreciated Knight taking the time to look at it.

"It is also great to be recognised by her," he added.

Jack Sankson A mural of singer Beverley Knight on the side of a shop. It is painted in purple and shows the singer smiling.Jack Sankson
Graffiti artist Jack Sankson, who painted a mural of Beverley Knight, said he would love to see more artwork around Wolverhampton

Knight said being recognised with the mural and a plaque at the theatre was "just beautiful".

She added: "More than anything, [to] the audiences that just kept coming and coming and coming, I can't thank you all enough.

"My heart's full, it's full."

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