Beverley Craven. Remember being “Woman To Woman” with her? I ‘promise’ you will be “Holding On” from now on…
British singer Beverley Craven was born in Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, in 1963 and began her music career in 1988. The initial singles and her debut album, released in the Summer of 1990, failed to ignite any interest, and Beverely had to wait until the Spring of 1991 for her music to be heard and bought. Beverely’s favourite artists included Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Kate Bush and Judie Tzuke, someone with whom she would later record with. It was in April 1991, that her debut single, “Promise Me”, now a year old, finally broke the UK charts and went all the way to No.3.
“Promise Me” also found favour across much of mainland Europe, as did her self-titled debut album, which also peaked at No.3, gaining a double Platinum certification for 600,000 sold. It has shifted 1.2 million copies worldwide. “Beverely Craven” featured five more singles, the non-charting “Joey”, “Holding On”, originally released in 1990 and later going to No.32, “Woman To Woman”, which followed the same path, eventually to No.40, “You’re Not The First” and “Memories”, which made No.68 in the UK. Beverely was nominated for three Brit Awards the following year, winning Best British Newcomer. Her second album, “Love Scenes”, followed in 1993 and was preceded by the title track, which charted at No.34, while the album peaked at No.4 in the UK and included a song written about her daughter, “Mollie’s Song” (UK No.61) and her version of ABBA’s classic “The Winner Takes It All”.
Beverley disappeared for a number of years, while she gave birth to two more children, returning in 1999 with the album “Mixed Emotions”, which featured the singles “I Miss You”, “Say You’re Sorry” and “We Found A Place”. Sadly, people seemed to of forgotten about her and the singles flopped, while the album stopped at No.46 in the UK. Beverely left Epic Records soon after and announced she had ‘retired’ from music. A best of was released in 2004 and five years later, she was back in the studio producing her fourth album, “Close To Home”. Five years on, her fifth album, “Change Of Heart” was issued, which made it on to the UK chart at No.90, her first entry since “Mixed Emotions”, fifteen years earlier, possibly helped by her daughter Mollie’s appearance on the dating show Take Me Out, which Beverley made a rare TV performance of “Promise Me”.
Beverley, together with British singers Julia Fordham and none other than Judy Tzuke, would record a new, collective album, “Woman To Woman” in 2018, singing on the song “Safe” together. The album has peaked at No.42 in the UK and was due to be toured. Sadly, Beverley was diagnosed with breast cancer and had to pull out while receiving treatment and chemotherapy. The tour resumed in 2019, when Beverley was deemed to be strong enough to perform. Beverley has recently announced she will be taking to the road in 2021, on her own, for her ‘Strings Attached’ tour of the UK. Catch her if you can!
Stay in touch with Beverely through her WEBSITE and her FACEBOOK page
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