''Who I Am'' is the third 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 and ...

. 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 19 ...

on 29 March 2002 in the United Kingdom. The album entered 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 C ...

at number 7, becoming Knight's first top ten album. It went on to be certified gold 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 th ...

(BPI), and earned Knight several awards nominations, most notably the prestigious

Mercury Music Prize The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize, is an annual music prize awarded for the best album released in the United Kingdom by a British or Irish act. It was created by Jon Webster and Robert Chandler in association with the B ...

in 2002, and Best British Female and Best Urban Act at the 2003

BRIT Awards The BRIT Awards (often simply called the BRITs) are the British Phonographic Industry's annual popular music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain", or "Britannia" (in the early days the awards were sponsored ...

Critical reception

''Who I Am'' received generally favorable reviews from music critics.

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 databas ...

editor Jon O'Brien rated the album four out of five stars, calling it "a well-produced collection of contemporary R&B songs that is just as confident and self-assured as her more celebrated US contemporaries." He found that "overall, ''Who I Am'' is still a colossal leap. After seven years of being an also-ran, Knight now has the material to back up her world-class vocals. The big time surely awaits." In her review for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', Caroline Sullivan wrote that "every song bubbles with the kind of expensive, polished confidence that often eludes British contenders, and she sings with the poise of an artist at the height of her powers ..The one thing missing from this luscious album is a killer single, which may keep it from achieving the success it deserves." ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' found that "the album as a whole smarked by an impressive restraint that's far more persuasive than the ghastly histrionics of her American peers."

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 2002 albums Beverley Knight albums Albums produced by Wyclef Jean Albums produced by Jerry Duplessis