RUBY Turner, one of the country’s best-loved soul and gospel divas, stops by for an up-close-and-personal night at the Wyvern Theatre tonight.

The singer, who gives sell-out tours with the Jools Holland Orchestra, will sing plenty of the earthy, warm, heart-rending ballads which made first made her name back in the 1980s, we well as her own songs and some R&B covers.

Ruby Turner was born in Jamaica and moved to Britain when she was nine, where she has lived ever since. In 2012 Ruby she performed You Are So Beautiful with Jools Holland at the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Concert outside Buckingham Palace in London, and autumn that same year she was a guest judge on the BBC programme The Choir: Sing While You Work.

Her major break came in the mid 1980s, when she joined Culture Club at the height of their stardom. As a solo artist, she released four albums and a Best Of compilation album to critical acclaim, making her a household name. Ruby's hits included I'd Rather Go Blind, If You're Ready (Come Go With Me) and in the American R'n'B chart, the number one hit single It's Gonna Be Alright - one of fewer than ten British records to achieve this.

She went on to release her hit album The Motown Songbook, performing with some of the truly great stars of that era - The Four Tops, The Temptations and Jimmy Ruffin.

To date, Ruby has released 17 albums, along with the BBC's Live From Glastonbury, as well as appearing on releases by the likes of Brian Ferry, UB40, Steve Winwood and Mick Jagger.

Tickets are £25.50. To book, call 01793 524481 or visit swindontheatres.co.uk.