''Affirmation'' is the fourth studio album by British singer-songwriter

Beverley Knight Beverley Knight (born Beverley Anne Smith, 22 March 1973) is an English recording artist and musical theatre actress. She released her first album, '' The B-Funk'', in 1995. Heavily influenced by American soul music icons such as Sam Cooke an ...

. It was released by

Parlophone Records Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a German–British record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 192 ...

on 28 June 2004 in the United Kingdom. The album peaked at number 11 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

, while reaching number 83 in Switzerland. ''Affirmation'' was certified silver by the

British Phonographic Industry British Phonographic Industry (BPI) is the British recorded music industry's Trade association. It runs the BRIT Awards, the Classic BRIT Awards, National Album Day, is home to the Mercury Prize, and co-owns the Official Charts Company with ...

(BPI) on 2 July 2004, less than a week after the album was released, and had reached gold staus by December 2004.
It features three hit singles, "Come As You Are", "Not Too Late for Love" and "Keep This Fire Burning", which all entered the top 40 of the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

Reception

''Affirmation'' received generally mixed to positive reviews.

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

editor Jon O'Brien rated the album three and a half stars out of five and remarked that "''Affirmation'' clearly has one eye on dominating the airwaves." He found that "inevitably, with the attempt to cover several bases, tmay alienate fans of her more soulful first two records ..But overall, there are enough gems on here to suggest that ''Affirmation'' may achieve the commercial success it so obviously craves."

Track listing

Main personnel

*Beverley Knight – vocals, production, backing vocals, producer, piano *

Guy Chambers Guy Antony Chambers (born 12 January 1963) is an English songwriter, musician and record producer, best known for his work with Robbie Williams. Education Chambers attended Quarry Bank Comprehensive School sixth form in Liverpool. From 18, h ...

– piano, keyboards, production, bass guitar, arrangement, organ, synthesizer, clavinet, acoustic guitar *Chris Braide – production, keyboards, guitars, backing vocals *Dominic Glover – trumpet *Richard Flack – drum programming, production, arrangement, engineer, mixer *

Phil Spalding Philip Spalding (born 19 November 1957, London, England) is an English bass player. He is best known as a session musician and player of Fender Precision Bass guitars. He has played and appeared with performing artists such as Mick Jagger, Se ...

– electric guitar, bass guitar *Jimmy Hogarth – guitar, production, programming, percussion *Andy Ross – saxophone *Julian Burdock – electric guitar *Sam Dixon – bass guitar *David Nicholson – keyboards, programming, guitar *

Jeremy Stacey Jeremy Stacey (born 27 September 1963) is a British drummer and keyboard player. His early works included the 1990s band The Lemon Trees (with twin brother Paul Stacey on guitars, Guy Chambers and others) and Denzil. He has also played with ...

– drums *Paul Reid – guitar *

Frank Ricotti Frank Ricotti (born 31 January 1949) is an English jazz vibraphonist and percussionist. Early life and education Ricotti was born in London, England. His father was a drummer. Bill Ashton, founder of the National Youth Jazz Orchestra (NY ...

– percussion *Peter John Vettese – drums, guitar, production, programming * Ghost – production *

Martin Slattery Martin Paul Slattery (born 30 December 1973 in Blackburn) is an English multi-instrumentalist and composer. He plays electric guitar, acoustic guitar, keyboards, saxophone, and flute. Slattery was first a member of Joe Strummer's backing band T ...

– piano * Al Di Meola – guitar *Ashley Kingsley – keyboards, electric piano *Paul Stanborough – additional acoustic guitar *DJ Munro – production *Ian Thomas – drums *Billie Godfrey – backing vocals *Bryan Chambers – backing vocals

Charts

Certifications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Affirmation (Beverley Knight Album) 2004 albums Beverley Knight albums Albums produced by Ghost (production team)