Beverley Knight: “My rider? Herbal teas and genuine manuka honey – I’m a diva don’t you know!”

What did you eat growing up in Wolverhampton?
I grew up on Jamaican food. Oxtail, stew peas, jerk, fish escabeche, bully beef, curry goat… Both my mum and dad could really cook. They even tried to get us to eat ‘cow foot’, which I refused to do. Just “no”. That’s proper old-school Jamaican.

Was it difficult to get the proper ingredients?
We’d go up the market and you knew who to go to. Wolverhampton is so diverse: a huge Sikh community with Muslims and Hindus too. We share similar herbs and spices in our cooking, and things like yams, green banana… We’d go to Mrs Patel, my friend’s mum, for goat.

When it comes to food, what for you is the Flavour Of The Old School [a song from Beverley’s first album]?
When I think of home and growing up, the first thing I think of is my Sunday dinner. It was rice ’n’ peas, chicken – and carrot cutlets, my mum’s invention: grated carrots, bound together with egg, seasoned, then roasted in the oven. Deee-licious.

Did you eat traditional British food too?
School dinners were when I first tasted traditional British food. Sticky toffee pudding, toad in the hole… They sounded very odd to me. It was also my first exposure to convenience food. At home my mum would say “You’re not having that rubbish!”

Do you cook at home?
My husband does most of the cooking. He trained as a chef originally. But I’ve taught him the ways of Jamaica… He cooks ackee and saltfish better than me – and it really upsets me to say that! He upgraded it by using freshly salted fish from the fishmonger’s instead of the packet job most of us get from the supermarket.

We hear you’re a shepherd’s pie fan?
Shepherd’s pie is one of the best things out of England. Especially when my friend James Lloyd, who’s an outrageously good private chef, does it, because he mixes in sweet potato. Ah, heaven.

It’s 30 years since your first album. How has the music industry changed in that time?
I hardly recognise it. I recorded reel-to-reel back then. You made a mistake, you went back to the beginning. So you sang it right – as close to the first time as you could. Typically, I don’t do more than three takes, ever. That discipline has helped my live work.

What’s on your rider?
It’s all very boring – but good. Herbal teas, ginger, lemon, nuts and honey – of the genuine manuka variety, because I’m a diva don’t you know! I’m trying to be healthy. The rider for my band is markedly different: crisps, wine, Haribo, Courvoisier… All the fun stuff that’s gonna do me in.

You’ve said in the past you’re into sweets. Presumably you’ve conquered that urge now?
I’ve made an effort not to eat sweets. They go in the band room. And if they’re not in the room I can’t eat them. Sweets are a metaphor for being disciplined in what I do, maintaining standards.

What’s your drink of choice?
A cuppa. Strong, zero sugar. The milk should never go in first, either – always last so you don’t risk it being milky. I like matcha when I’m being posh – and when I’m performing I like a little kombucha. If it’s herbal, I adore roiboos and I like things with liquorice because it’s good for the voice. Pukka peppermint and liquorice is delicious.

You’re a famous fan of Wolverhampton Wanderers FC. What do you eat when you go to Molineux Stadium?
You can’t say you’re a Wolverhampton Wanderers fan if you haven’t joined in with my mate Manny Singh Kang’s ‘Samosa Saturday’ at the ground [he sells samosas to raise money for charity]. He won a Pride Of Britain Award. He’s a legend.

You’re playing Rosetta Tharpe, the ‘godmother of rock ‘n’ roll’, in May this year. Excited?
So excited. I always do deep-dive research when I have a stage role. I couldn’t believe how she was treated after she was gone. For a while she didn’t even have a marker on her grave. Back in the 1930s, she virtually invented the guitar solo!

You’ve said before your upbringing was strict. Were your parents okay about you going into the music industry?
I’m a total nerd – and I don’t care. I was all over my studies as a child. That’s why my parents gave me free rein to throw myself into theatre, into singing. They were strict but loving – more forward-thinking than other Jamaican parents of their generation. I owe a lot to my parents.

Beverley performs at Cheltenham Jazz Festival on 4 May and the Nocturne Live concert series, Blenheim Palace, on 20 June.