Cliff Richard There can be few artists who can claim to have had at least twenty five number one hits in the UK music charts throughout their career, to have been knighted by Queen Elizabeth II and to have performed with all time greats such as Elton John and Paul McCartney. Born in Lucknow, India on October 14th 1940, Cliff Richard is one of the United Kingdom’s best loved performers known for his music, his acting and his dancing. His parents, Rodger and Dorothy, were living in India at the time of his birth and when Cliff was just a year old they moved from Lucknow to Calcutta but in 1947, after India gained its independence from the UK, Cliff, his parents and his sister moved to England. From comparative wealth in India, they had to adjust to a much lower standard of living in England and no longer had the luxury of servants as they had in India. Cliff began his musical career with a small skiffle band and soon moved on to become the lead singer in a group, ‘The Drifters’. In later years they had to rename the group ‘The Shadows’ after a legal battle involving the American group by the same name. As Cliff’s popularity grew in England he was often likened to Elvis Presley for his style of dress, hair and the rock and roll attitude. Long before The Beatles became a massive success in the 1960’s, Cliff had a clear run at the charts and at the adoring female fans.
Unlike The Beatles, Cliff’s success did not transfer to the USA even after an appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show which had become a vehicle for The Beatle’s success with American fans. However, in England, Cliff remained the mainstay of the rock and roll revolution and was firmly established at the time of The Beatle’s advent, so much so, that his fan base was little affected. After a string of hits, many of them at number one, in 1964 Cliff made his conversion to Christianity and at that time was undecided as to whether to continue as a performer or whether to become a teacher. On the advice of his friends he remained a performer but his image as a sex symbol was somewhat toned down. As time progressed, Richard balanced his faith and work, which enabled him to remain one of the most popular singers in Britain as well as one of its best-known Christians. In 1968 Cliff represented the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest with a song entitled, ‘Congratulations’, but lost out to the Spanish entry by just one point. However, the song was a massive hit throughout Europe and made it to number one in the UK music charts. In the 1970’s Cliff hosted his own television show called ‘Its Cliff’ and established himself as a TV personality and went on to star with Australia’s Olivia Newton John in the movie, ‘Take me High.’. Later in 1980 he recorded a duet with Olivia entitled, ‘Suddenly’, which became a top 20 hit in the USA.
In 1976 Cliff made the decision to re-invent himself as a ‘rock’ artist and released the album, ‘I’m Nearly Famous’ on which he recorded his first big American hit ‘Devil Woman’ . Many of Cliff’s rock star friends, Elton John, Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page were seen wearing badges stating ‘I’m Nearly Famous’ in support of Cliff’s new career. At this time Cliff still released his gospel music on albums such as ‘Small Corners’ and ‘Yes He Lives’. Cliff was actually christened Harry Webb but used the stage name Cliff Richard and in 1980 he officially changed his name by deed poll from Harry Webb to Cliff Richard. After thirty years in the music business Cliff was able to celebrate with yet another number one hit, the Christmas hit “Mistletoe and Wine’ and at the same time he held the number one position in the album charts with ‘Private Collection.’ During the eighties Cliff worked with many of the greats in the music business, Elton John, Mark Knopfler, Julian Lennon, Freddie Mercury, Stevie Wonder, Phil Everly, Janet Jackson, Sheila Walsh, and Van Morrison and reunited with Olivia Newton John. The 1980’s also brought Cliff the chance to perform with another one of Britian’s musical greats, Barry Gibb, in the duet, ‘I Cannot Give You My Love’. The 1990’s still brought great success and recognition for Cliff when he was Knighted by the Queen of England and became the first rock star to receive the award ahead of Paul McCartney, Elton John and Bob Geldof. After the sudden death of Princess Diana in 1997 Cliff performed at a tribute concert at Althorp, her family home, in 1998 in memory of Diana. In the new millennium Cliff still commands a huge following and his fans are known to camp out for several nights at a time in order to buy tickets to his performances. He has also branched out into the world of investment becoming a joint owner of a hotel in Manchester, UK. He owns a home in Barbados which he has lent to Prime Minister Tony Blair and his family as a holiday home. Cliff’s most recent adventure has been to produce an album of duets with many newly recorded songs with other stars such as, Brian May (formerly of the UK group Queen) Dionne Warwick, Anne Murray, Barry Gibb and Ireland’s Daniel O’Donnell. Cliff has never married but has been romantically linked to several women, Olivia Newton John and UK tennis player Sue Barker being among them. ABB |
