Cliff Richard

Cliff Richard, 2013

Sir Cliff Richard , OBE (* 14. October 1940 in Lucknow , India as Harry Rodger Webb ) is a British pop singer . In his long and varied career from the late 1950s to the present day, he has sold around 250 million records worldwide. In 1995 he became the first pop star of Queen Elizabeth II. To beat Knight .

Career

Cliff Richard, 1962

Richard was discovered by music producer Norrie Paramor in July 1958 and produced until October 1972. When he released his first single, Move It, on August 29, 1958 , he was one of many British musicians trying to get on the rock and roll bandwagon. In 1959 he had his first two No. 1 hits in Great Britain with Living Doll and Travellin 'Light .

In the first years of his career until 1969, Cliff was mainly accompanied by the Shadows . As an independent formation from 1960 to the end of the 1970s, they also had a number of top 10 successes in Great Britain.

Cliff Richard, 1975

Cliff Richard, 2009

In the early 1960s he also sang many songs in other languages, because that was requested by the respective partners of his British record company. Japanese and German were the hardest for him. Richard had a total of three number 1 hits in Germany:One should kiss red lips ( Leiber / Stoller , German: Bradtke ) - the German version of Lucky Lips - was on one for seven weeks from December 7, 1963; That is the question of all questions, (Original: Spanish Harlem ), from January 30, 1965 for four weeks and finally We Don't Talk Anymore from October 15, 1979 for five weeks (Great Britain number one and USA number seven).

His biggest hits include Dreamin ', Some People, My Pretty One, Miss You Nights, Mistletoe and Wine (UK Christmas number one hit 1988) and many more.

In 1996 Richard and Tim Rice produced a musical version of Emily Brontë's novel Wuthering Heights entitled Heathcliff and played the title role in it. The musical was performed in London and Birmingham in 1996 and 1997.

In December 1999, Cliff Richard had his 14th and so far last number 1 hit with Millennium Prayer . Having also topped the UK for all four previous decades, he can claim to be the only artist to have # 1 hits in five decades. So far, only Elvis Presley , The Beatles and Westlife have achieved more number one hits there . In the USA, however, Cliff Richard was never really able to gain a foothold. His biggest hit there was a number six in 1976 with Devil Woman.

In 2006, Cliff Richard broke another record: With the single 21st Century Christmas he climbed to number 2 in the British charts, making him the only artist in the world who had top ten hits for six consecutive decades. Cliff Richard is by far the most successful British artist alongside Elton John . He holds the attendance record in almost all concert halls in the kingdom. He has represented Great Britain twice in the Eurovision Song Contest . On April 6, 1968 , he took 2nd place with the song Congratulations (the winner was the Spanish singer Massiel with the song La La La ) and on April 7, 1973 with Power to All Our Friends, 3rd place.

With more than 250 million albums sold, Cliff Richard is one of the UK's most successful singers.

In November 2018 Richard released the album Rise Up , his first studio album with new songs in over 14 years.

Personal

Richard is a professed Christian . His songs include numerous Christian titles, and he published a book of 50 Bible Stories for Children. He also played the lead role in the Christian film Two a Penny in 1970 . He also took part in evangelism and performed with the American preacher Billy Graham . In his private life, he devotes himself to many charitable organizations, as he announced in an interview entitled Knight on the Crusade to Jesus .

The media have speculated about Richard's sexual orientation for decades. In his autobiography, published in 2008, he writes: “It annoys me as hell how the media speculate about my sexual orientation. Is it anyone's business? I think my fans wouldn't care anyway. ”In any case,“ sex isn't the driving force ”for him.

On August 14, 2014, the British police raided Cliff Richard's property in Sunningdale and announced that it was a "sexual nature" allegation from the 1980s involving a boy who was not yet 16 years old. Richard dismissed the allegations as "completely absurd". In 2016 the police stopped their investigations.

Discography

British original pressing of the single Living Doll (1959)

German pressing of the single Congratulations (1968)

Studio albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks / months, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks / months, awards, notes)					Remarks
year	title	DE	AT	CH	UK	US	Remarks
1959	cliff	DE33 (1 month) DE	-	-	UK4 (31 weeks) UK	-	… And the Drifters First publication: April 1959 in DE only published in 1964
1959	Cliff Sings	-	-	-	UK2 (36 weeks) UK	-	... and the Drifters First published: November 1959
1960	Me and My Shadows	-	-	-	UK2 (33 weeks) UK	-	... and the Shadows First published: October 1960
1961	Listen to Cliff!	-	-	-	UK2 (28 weeks) UK	-	... and the Shadows First published: April 1961
1961	21 Today	-	-	-	UK1 (16 weeks) UK	-	... and the Shadows First published: October 1961
1962	32 Minutes and 17 Seconds with Cliff Richard	-	-	-	UK3 (21 weeks) UK	-	... and the Shadows First published: September 1962
1963	When in Spain	-	-	-	UK8 (10 weeks) UK	-	... and the Shadows First published: September 1963
1964	It's all in the game	-	-	-	-	US115 (7 weeks) US	First published: August 1964
1965	Cliff Richard	-	-	-	UK9 (5 weeks) UK	-	First publication: March 1965 in DE already published in November 1960
	When In Rome	-	-	-	-	-	First published: 1965
	Love is forever	-	-	-	UK19 (1 week) UK	-	... and the Shadows First published: November 1965
1966	Kinda Latin	-	-	-	UK9 (12 weeks) UK	-	First published: May 1966
1967	Don't stop me now!	-	-	-	UK23 (9 weeks) UK	-	First published: March 1967
1967	Good news	-	-	-	UK37 (1 week) UK	-	First release: October 1967 Gospel album
1968	Established 1958	-	-	-	UK30 (4 weeks) UK	-	... and the Shadows First published: September 1968
1969	Sincerely Cliff	-	-	-	UK24 (3 weeks) UK	-	First published: September 1969
1970	Tracks' n grooves	-	-	-	UK37 (2 weeks) UK	-	First published: November 1970
1976	I'm almost famous	-	-	-	UK5 gold (21 weeks)UK	US76 (15 weeks) US	First published: May 1976
1977	Every Face Tells a Story	-	-	-	UK8 (10 weeks) UK	-	First published: March 1977
1978	Small corners	-	-	-	UK33 (5 weeks) UK	-	First release: February 1978 gospel album
1978	Green light	-	-	-	UK25 (3 weeks) UK	-	First published: September 1978
1979	Rock 'n' Roll Juvenile	DE6 (23 weeks) DE	AT23 (1 month) AT	-	UK3 gold (22 weeks)UK	US93 (15 weeks) US	First published: September 1979
1980	I'm no hero	DE14 (12 weeks) DE	-	-	UK4th gold (12 weeks)UK	US80 (34 weeks) US	First published: September 1980
1981	Wired for sound	DE44 (4 weeks) DE	-	-	UK4th platinum (25 weeks)UK	US132 (4 weeks) US	First published: September 1981
1982	Now You See Me, Now You Don't	-	-	-	UK4th gold (14 weeks)UK	-	First release: August 1982 gospel album
1983	Silver	DE57 (2 weeks) DE	-	-	UK7th gold (24 weeks)UK	-	First published: October 1983
1984	The Rock Connection	-	-	-	UK43 silver (5 weeks)UK	-	First published: November 1984
1987	Always Guaranteed	DE9 (17 weeks) DE	AT23 (½ month) AT	CH21 (4 weeks) CH	UK5 platinum (25 weeks)UK	-	First published: August 1987
1989	Stronger	DE53 (16 weeks) DE	-	-	UK7th platinum (21 weeks)UK	-	First published: October 1989
1991	Together with Cliff Richard	-	-	-	UK10 platinum (7 weeks)UK	-	First published: November 1991
1993	The album	-	-	-	UK1 gold (15 weeks)UK	-	First published: April 1993
1998	Real as I Wanna Be	-	-	-	UK10 silver (10 weeks)UK	-	First published: October 1998
2001	Wanted	-	-	-	UK11 gold (8 weeks)UK	-	First published: November 2001
2003	Cliff at Christmas	-	-	-	UK9 platinum (10 weeks)UK	-	First published: November 2003 Sales: + 409,000
2004	Something's goin 'on	-	-	-	UK7th gold (9 weeks)UK	-	First published: October 2004
2006	Two's Company - The Duets	-	-	-	UK8th gold (9 weeks)UK	-	First published: November 6, 2006
2007	Love… The Album	-	-	-	UK13 gold (7 weeks)UK	-	First published: November 2007
2009	Reunited - Cliff Richard and the Shadows	-	-	-	UK4th gold (14 weeks)UK	-	... and the Shadows First published: September 18, 2009
2010	Bold as brass	-	-	-	UK3 silver (10 weeks)UK	-	First published: October 11, 2010
2011	Soulicious	-	-	-	UK10 silver (10 weeks)UK	-	First published: October 7, 2011
2013	The Fabulous Rock 'n' Roll Songbook	-	-	-	UK7th gold (8 weeks)UK	-	First published: November 11, 2013
2016	Just ... Fabulous rock 'n' roll	-	-	-	UK4th gold (9 weeks)UK	-	First published: November 11, 2016
2018	Rise Up	-	-	-	UK4th gold (9 weeks)UK	-	First published: November 23, 2018

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

Fonts

1968: As I see things (Engl. The Way I See It ), ISBN 3-417-00127-7 .
1969: The new song (Original title: New Singer New Song ).
1970: If you ask me ..., ISBN 3-417-00205-2 (Original title: Questions )
1990: my life in the spotlight. ISBN 3-87067-393-1 , (English Single-Minded ).
2008: My Life, My Way (Engl.), ISBN 0-7553-1588-X (German: Leben auf mein Art, Aussaat, 2009, ISBN 3761557469 ).

Awards

In 1964 and 1965 he received the Golden Bravo Otto from the youth magazine Bravo .
In 1980 he received the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire ) for his music merits.
1993: RSH Gold in the "Classic" category
In 1995 he was knighted as a Knight Bachelor by the Queen as the first pop singer ever for his services in the field of charity .
2006: Commander of the Order of the Infante Dom Henrique
2011: Honorary Award of the German Sustainability Award

Golden Compass Media Prize of the Christian Media Association KEP

Trivia

In 2001 Richard launched the first harvest from his winery in Portugal ( Algarve ). The red wine is called Vida Nova and is now also available as a rosé wine . This wine received the bronze medal at the International Wine Challenge in London - selected from over 9000 wines. All wines were blind tested by experts.

On the side, Cliff Richard sells his own perfume called Devil Woman.

During the cold season, Richard likes to stay in his villa on the island of Barbados , which he made available to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair on vacation.

In autumn 2006 he released the album Two's Company with half old (including with Elton John, Sarah Brightman and Olivia Newton-John) and the other half new (including with Anne Murray, Barry Gibb) duets.

Web links

Commons : Cliff Richard - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Official website of Cliff Richard
International website Cliff Richard Movement
Literature by and about Cliff Richard in the catalog of the German National Library
Cliff Richard at laut.de
full song list on cliffrichardsongs.com
One should kiss red lips , sound sample on YouTube

Individual evidence

^ Sir Cliff Richard profile: A career spanning five decades. August 14, 2014, accessed May 25, 2020 .
↑ Darmstädter Echo, August 15, 2014, p. 28
↑ Cliff Richard: The first album with new songs in 14 years: "Rise Up" will be released on Friday. November 20, 2018, accessed April 30, 2019 .
↑ Cliff Richard - Knight on a crusade for Jesus
↑ See Cliff Richard appeals to the church . On: queer.de, December 19, 2005; Cliff Richard mad about gay question . On: queer.de, February 11, 2007.
↑ Cliff Richard lives with ex-priest . On: queer.de, September 4, 2008.
↑ afp, August 14, 2014
↑ Darmstädter Echo, August 15, 2014, p. 28
↑ Police stop investigating Cliff Richard. The mirror. June 16, 2016, accessed January 21, 2020.
↑ Chart sources: Chartsurfer DE AT CH UK US
^ Rob Copsey: The Official Top 20 biggest Christmas albums of the century. In: Official Charts Company. December 14, 2018, accessed January 6, 2019 .
↑ RSH Gold Award 1993
↑ See the homepage of the winery www.winesvidanova.com .

personal data
SURNAME	Richard, Cliff
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Webb, Harry Rodger (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	British pop singer
DATE OF BIRTH	October 14, 1940
PLACE OF BIRTH	Lucknow , India

[1] Sir Cliff Richard profile: A career spanning five decades. August 14, 2014, accessed May 25, 2020 .

[2] Darmstädter Echo, August 15, 2014, p. 28

[3] Cliff Richard: The first album with new songs in 14 years: "Rise Up" will be released on Friday. November 20, 2018, accessed April 30, 2019 .

[4] Cliff Richard - Knight on a crusade for Jesus

[5] See Cliff Richard appeals to the church . On: queer.de, December 19, 2005; Cliff Richard mad about gay question . On: queer.de, February 11, 2007.

[6] Cliff Richard lives with ex-priest . On: queer.de, September 4, 2008.

[7] , August 14, 2014

[8] Darmstädter Echo, August 15, 2014, p. 28

[9] Police stop investigating Cliff Richard. The mirror. June 16, 2016, accessed January 21, 2020.

[charts-10] Chart sources: Chartsurfer DE AT CH UK US

[11] Rob Copsey: The Official Top 20 biggest Christmas albums of the century. In: Official Charts Company. December 14, 2018, accessed January 6, 2019 .

[12] RSH Gold Award 1993

[13] See the homepage of the winery www.winesvidanova.com .