BEVERLEY Knight will celebrate the music, sounds and legacy of Memphis on her eighth studio album, next month's Soulsville.

Recorded in a week-long session in February at Al Green producer Willie Mitchell’s legendary Royal Studios in Memphis, Tennessee, it will be released on June 10, a week after the Wolverhampton soul singer plays the York Barbican.

Al Green recorded all his smooth soul classics in that studio; Mark Ronson and Bruno Marrs’ Grammy-winning Uptown Funk took glorious shape there too; and now Beverley has returned to the city she fell in love with as she prepared for her Oliver Award-nominated role in the hit West End show Memphis The Musical.

Named after the Memphis neighbourhood that housed the iconic Stax Records and where the Royal Studios still stand, Soulsville takes in original songs and a handful of Memphis classics as Beverley explores the sounds and reflects the soulful vibes of a city that gave us Al Green, Booker T, Howlin' Wolf and Aretha Franklin.

Beverley has co-written songs with the likes of Matty Benbrook, who has worked with Scottish soulboy Paolo Nutini, and Jimmy Hogarth, who has Adele and Duffy among his credits, and this time has jointly penned the lead-off single, Middle Of Love.

Soulsville, Knight’s first album for almost five years, also finds her celebrating the soul of Memphis with her takes on William Bell and Judy Clay’s Private Number and Big Momma Thornton’s Hound Dog, most famously a hit for Elvis Presley. Boogie-woogie pianist Jools Holland accompanies her on that track, and she joins forces with Memphis soul man Sam Moore for a high-energy rendition of Sam & Dave's stomper Hold On, I’m Comin'.

Beverley, a three-time MOBO award winner, is following in the illustrious footsteps of such artists as Dusty Springfield in taking the journey to Memphis to drink in the city’s musical vibes.

When she first visited there in 2014, to research her role in Memphis The Musical, she was struck by both the feeling and the music emanating from the bars of Beale St and the churches of the Memphis suburbs into the studios of Stax, Royal and Sun.

“As soon as I walked into Royal, I knew I had to record an album there. It had such a great vibe and it turned out the best recording experience I’ve ever had,” says Beverley, who sang on Al Green's microphone and recorded with original Hi Records and Al Green players such as brothers Leroy and Charles Hodges on bass and Hammond respectively.

Looking ahead, Beverley will appear at The Queen’s 90th birthday celebrations on ITV on May 15; tour Britain from May 21 to June 7; return to the West End musical The Bodyguard at the Dominion Theatre, London, on July 15 and guest-star in the new ITV drama The Halcyon in 2017.

Tickets for her June 3 concert in York are on sale on 0844 854 2757 or at yorkbarbican.co.uk