Frederick Knight, born August 15, 1944, in Birmingham, Alabama, emerged as an American soul singer, songwriter, and producer whose career spanned several decades. After early work with Mercury and Capitol in New York, he signed with Stax Records in 1972, where his single "I've Been Lonely for So Long" entered the UK charts, remaining for ten weeks and peaking at number 22. The same year he released the album I've Been Lonely for So Long under Stax, followed by the albums Knight Kap (1977), Let the Sunshine In (1978), and Knight Time (1981) on his own Juana Records imprint, where he wrote and produced for acts such as The Controllers. Frederick Knight’s songwriting extended beyond his own recordings; he penned "Be for Real", first performed by Marlena Shaw in 1976, later covered by Leonard Cohen in 1992 and The Afghan Whigs for the 1996 film Beautiful Girls. In 1979 he earned a UK Number 1 credit as producer of Anita Ward’s "Ring My Bell". He also appeared in the 1973 documentary Wattstax, contributing to the cultural documentation of soul music. Throughout his career, Frederick Knight maintained a steady presence in the soul genre, with his work continuing to be recognized by collectors and historians of American R&B.
