Cliff and Friends

With heavy hearts we report very sad news to legendary singer Cliff Richard, goodbye Cliff Richard

#cliffrichard

Sir Cliff Richard OBE (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is an English singer who holds both British and Barbadian citizenship.[3] He has total sales of over 21.5 million singles in the United Kingdom and is the third-top-selling artist in UK Singles Chart history, behind the Beatles and Elvis Presley.[4]

Richard was originally marketed as a rebellious rock and roll singer in the style of Presley and Little Richard.[5] With his backing group, the Shadows, he dominated the British popular music scene in the pre-Beatles period of the late 1950s to early 1960s.[6] His 1958 hit single “Move It” is often described as Britain’s first authentic rock and roll song. In the early 1960s, he had a prosperous screen career with films including The Young Ones, Summer Holiday and Wonderful Life and his own television show at the BBC. Increased focus on his Christian faith and subsequent softening of his music led to a more middle-of-the-road image, and he sometimes ventured into contemporary Christian music.

In a career spanning nearly 65 years,[7] Richard has amassed several gold and platinum discs and awards, including two Ivor Novello Awards and three Brit Awards. More than 130 of his singles, albums, and EPs have reached the UK Top 20, more than any other artist.[8] Richard has had 67 UK top ten singles, the second highest total for an artist (behind Presley).[9] He holds the record, with Presley, as the only act to make the UK singles charts in all of its first six decades (1950s–2000s). He has achieved 14 UK No. 1 singles,[10] and is the only singer to have had a No. 1 single in the UK in each of five consecutive decades.[11] He also had four UK Christmas No. 1 singles, two of which were as a solo artist; “Mistletoe and Wine” and “Saviour’s Day”.

Richard has sold more than 250 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time.[12] He has never achieved the same popularity in the United States despite eight US Top 40 singles, including the million-selling “Devil Woman” and “We Don’t Talk Anymore”. In Canada, he had a successful period in the early 1960s, the late 1970s and early 1980s, with some releases certified gold and platinum.[13] He has remained a popular music, film, and television personality at home in the UK as well as Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Northern Europe and Asia, and retains a following in other countries. When not touring, he divides his time between Barbados and Portugal.[14] In 2019, he relocated to New York.

Harry Webb became lead singer of a rock and roll group, the Drifters (distinct from the US group of the same name). The 1950s entrepreneur Harry Greatorex wanted the up-and-coming rock ‘n’ roll singer to change his name. The name Cliff was adopted as it sounded like “cliff face”, which suggested “Rock”. It was “Move It” writer Ian Samwell who suggested the surname “Richard” as a tribute to Webb’s musical hero Little Richard.[5]

Before their first large-scale appearance, at the Regal Ballroom in Ripley, Derbyshire in 1958, they adopted the name “Cliff Richard and the Drifters”. The four members were Harry Webb (by then going under the stage name “Cliff Richard”), Ian Samwell on guitar, Terry Smart on drums and Norman Mitham on guitar. None of the other three played with the later and better known Shadows, although Samwell wrote songs for Richard’s later career. Agent George Ganjou saw the group perform in London, and recommended them to Norrie Paramor for an audition.[25]

For Richard’s debut session, Paramor provided him with “Schoolboy Crush”, a song previously recorded by American Bobby Helms. Richard was permitted to record one of his own songs for the B-side; this was “Move It”, written and composed by the Drifters’ Samwell while he was on board a number 715 Green Line bus on the way to Richard’s house for a rehearsal. For the “Move It” session, Paramor used the session guitarist Ernie Shears on lead guitar and Frank Clark on bass.

There are various stories about why the A-side was replaced by the intended B-side. One is that Norrie Paramor’s young daughter raved about the B-side; another was that influential TV producer Jack Good, who used the act for his TV show Oh Boy!, wanted the only song on his show to be “Move It” as opposed to “Schoolboy Crush”.[26] Richard was quoted as saying:

It’s wonderful to be going on TV for the first time, but I feel so nervous that I don’t know what to do. I shaved my sideburns off last night… Jack Good said it would make me look more original.

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