Beverley Craven has established herself as one the UK’s most respected and gifted singer/songwriters.
Born in Sri Lanka in 1963, Craven and her family moved to Hertfordshire when she was two. Her formative years were spent learning classical piano and taking part in regular swimming competitions.
Craven’s taste in music developed slightly late and bought her first record, ‘Telephone Line’ by ELO at the age of 15. As her tastes developed, she began listening to Elton John, Kate Bush and Stevie Wonder, writers who she believed “made pop records that were very musical and very personal”.
After leaving school Beverley ventured to London where she began writing her own songs and recording demos.
Bobby Womack who heard the demos was so impressed that he offered to bring Beverley to the US and sign her to his own production company. She politely declined, but toured Europe as one of Bobby's backing vocalists.
Beverley continued to search for the right people to guide her career and handed out cassettes to anyone she met. One such tape fell into the hands of John Glover (Manager of Go West) and he decided that he should be the one to sign her for management a deal.
Beverley's self-titled debut album was released in July 1990. By the end of her first tour (famously sponsored by tampax), in February 1991, her album began to sell steadily and the single "Promise Me" reached number 3 in the U.K. singles chart on May 20th.
Her album reached the 1 million sales mark in January 1992 and turned double platinum in the UK. It reached Gold status in France and Ireland, and Silver in Holland. In February 1992, a heavily pregnant Beverley performed at the Brits Awards where she was nominated in three categories (Best British Newcomer, Best Female Artist, Best British Album) and winning the Newcomer award .
Her second album "Love Scenes", featuring the hit singles “Love Scenes”, “Mollie’s Song” and her take on the ABBA classic “The Winner Takes It All” was released in 1993 and reached number 4 in the UK album charts.
Craven undertook a tour of the UK taking such prestigious venues as Birmingham’s Symphony Hall, Edinburgh’s Usher Hall and London’s Royal Albert Hall.
Following such rapid success, Beverley decided to step back from the hectic pace of her career and spend time with her young family.
After a lengthy break, she returned with her third album "Mixed Emotions" in 1999. The album was well received by fans and critics alike and Beverley embarked on a lengthy UK tour. Following this, Beverley once again decided to take time out from her career and despite a greatest hits package released in 2004 and a series of low key appearances, Craven has remained fairly quiet.
In the winter of 2007, Beverley Craven will release an autobiography which will focus on her life, career, music and battle with cancer. She hopes to have an accompanying CD with the book and will once again perform a series of much anticipated concerts throughout the year.
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