15 October 2023 , 18:00
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Beverley Knight fans have been relishing in having her face back on screen in recent weeks as the star returned to the Starstruck judging panel.
This year the the Shoulda Woulda Coulda hitmaker celebrated her 50th birthday. Describing the milestone, Beverley said: “I’m not hiding being 50, I’m embracing it. It’s a privilege that I’ve got to this stage of my career." The star certainly celebrated in style with a huge party at Lafayette in London where she was joined by a host of celebrity friends, including Sir Lenny Henry and singer Louise Redknapp.
As Beverley rings in her fifth decade, we take a look at her life away from the showbiz glamour and some of the heartbreak she’s dealt with behind the scenes.
Glittering career
Beverley Knight is a Starstruck judge alongside Adam Lambert, Shania Twain and Jason Manford (Guy Levy/REX/Shutterstock)Beverley is currently enjoying time judging singers on the panel of Starstruck, but the songstress’ own career on the stage has spanned decades, having released her first album in 1995.
She’s pursued a dazzling career as a recording artist, scooping up three MOBO Awards and Platinum status for her 2016 Greatest Hits album.
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On the stage, she has also shone, with knock-out performances in stage productions of the Bodyguard, Memphis and Cats.
And in 2007 Beverley’s musical talents were recognised with an MBE from the late Queen.
Love story
Beverley Knight and James O'Keefe married in 2012 (Getty)
The singer was smitten with James as soon as she met him (beverleyknight/Instagram)The Olivier Award-nominated star is married to production technician James O’Keefe
The couple wed in 2012 after becoming engaged two years prior to James getting down on one knee.
Before tying the knot, Beverley announced on Twitter she was marrying “the man of my dreams”.
The couple have now been together for more than a decade.
Beverley met James while he was working as an electrician at a TV shoot. After chatting with the technician, she realised that she “just knew” he was the one for her.
She told the Daily Express last year: “I was so sure I’d end up with a big, strapping Idris Elba type, instead I married a lean, white man of Irish descent.
"I saw him up a ladder, beautiful face, beautiful smile. We talked and I just knew... but I didn’t dare get his details.
“Two months later, my team saw him at another video shoot and remembered I’d been ‘fangirling’ over him.
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“They got his number. We had our first date and I was freaking out. I could feel something happening straight away. Within a week I phoned my mum and said, ‘I think this is the one, you and Dad need to meet him’.”
Fertility heartbreak
Beverley Knight and her husband James O'Keefe (Dave Benett/Getty Images for Man)
Beverley does not have any children and has been through fertility heartbreak (WireImage)Beverley does not have any children and the couple have been through fertility heartbreak in recent years.
Wolverhampton-born Beverley was forced to have a hysterectomy in 2017 after she discovered she had uterine fibroids.
Uterine fibroids are muscular tumours which grow in the womb, and the singer was advised to have surgery in order to live.
Medics advised Beverley to undergo surgery soon after they discovered she had non-cancerous tumours in her womb to "avoid escalation of complications".
She spoke candidly about her experience in 2017 after undergoing a hysterectomy, which meant that after the surgery, the singer could not have children.
Beverley said she hadn’t wanted children, but she described the news of her needing surgery as a “thunderbolt, even at 44”.
She told You magazine: “I had never wanted children because I always felt my work was so full on, I couldn’t be the mother I wanted to be, but in the back of my mind there was always an option.
“Now everything was whirling: ‘That’s it. I am never, ever going to give birth.' My husband told me: ‘I just want you. And I want you well.’”