After stealing the kids’ chocolate eggs York needed a way to burn off the excess calories – cue Beverley Knight.

On the first note, the three backing singers roused the audience to their feet for five songs segued together in a tour de force featuring the uplifting Greatest Day Of My Life.

The seven-piece band were the perfect complement to the material, keeping their powder dry until needed with powerhouse Carl Hercules on drums.

The audience demographic highlighted the wide appeal of Miss Knight – half Galaxy, half Radio 2, but all joined in with her slick audience participation.

Beverley avoids the Maria Carey diva dog-whistle fest, understanding, as a writer, the importance of the song.

Her vocals had such a range of sensitivity and raw power throughout the evening that I could hear echoes of Anita Baker, Whitney and Randy Crawford when singing with the piano and a more aggressive Tina Turner, Lulu and Aretha in the bigger tunes.

If Berry Gordy had made Motown records in Wolver-hampton, Beverley Knight would be an international star.

As BB King said: “If you never whisper, nobody will listen when you shout.” Miss Knight can whisper but hell can she shout – delivering a masterclass in light and shade throughout the evening.

For years, Beverley has been on everybody’s undercard, supporting the likes of Take That, and been the darling of Radio 2. Despite critical success and a mantelpiece full of MOBOs, for some reason, she has never achieved the success her undoubted talent demands. She is, as the song suggests, A Soul Survivor – and York fans received a rare treat.

She looked amazing, moving like a young Tina Turner and playing with your emotions like BB King’s fingers.

She performed Come As You Are, co-written with Guy Chambers in the style of Can You Feel It by the Jacksons, and encored Shoulda Woulda Coulda with all of the dynamic of Prince’s Purple Rain, much to the appreciation of the crowd.

Yet this was not a sell out.

Why must we take 16 weeks to find disposable talent without the X Factor when we have quality like Beverley Knight under our noses – or does it take Jay Z rattling over your music to make you successful in 2010?

Beverley Knight is not a firework that the talent show spits out that burns brightly and then disappears back to asking if you want to supersize. Beverley is more a Knight to remember.