Neo-soul diva Beverley Knight channeled the sound and spirit of classic R&B to emerge as one of Britain's biggest new pop stars of the '90s. Born Beverley Anne Smith to Jamaican parents in Wolverhampton, England, on March 22, 1973, she grew up in a strict Pentecostal environment and sang in her church choir throughout adolescence. Raised on a steady diet of gospel music and forbidden to listen to its secular counterpart, she nevertheless discovered crossover legends Sam Cooke and Aretha Franklin and began writing her own original songs at age 13. By 17, Knight was headlining local nightclubs and singing advertising jingles for a local radio station; the exposure earned her a recording contract offer, but she declined, instead studying religious theory and philosophy at the University of Wolverhampton.