My Legends of Pop Music – Part Four – Cliff Richard

6th August 2021 Philthetestmanager 20th Century, Arts, History, Music 0

If I get this right, there will be many cover versions by future bands. I shall try and link live versions if they exist from the tellybox or a film, the sound quality may not be the best, but there is nothing like watching a real talent live.

So, in a sort of chronological order, my fourth legend is Cliff Richard

Some brief notes first, courtesy of Wiki: Cliff Richard

Sir Cliff Richard OBE (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is an English singer, musician, actor, and philanthropist who holds both British and Barbadian citizenship. He has sold more than 250 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. 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.

Cliff was originally marketed as a rebellious rock and roll singer in the style of Presley and Little Richard. 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. 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 film career with films including The Young Ones and Summer Holiday. Increased focus on his Christianity and subsequent softening of his music led to a more middle-of-the-road image, and he sometimes ventured into contemporary Christian music.

Over a career spanning 60 years, 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. Richard has had 67 UK top ten singles, the second highest total for an artist (behind Presley). He holds the record, with Presley, as the only act to make the UK singles charts in all its first six decades (1950s–2000s). He has achieved 14 UK No. 1 singles and is the only singer to have had a No. 1 single in the UK in each of five consecutive decades. He also had four UK Christmas No. 1 singles, two of which were as a solo artist; “Mistletoe and Wine” and “Saviour’s Day”, (but the less said about those the better!)

A full list of his songs is here: Full list of Cliff Richard songs.

The featured track is from Sunday Night at the London Palladium in 1960. I remember watching this with my family. I would have been about 6 and had permission to stay up and watch him.

In addition to this classic, some more of my favourites are:

Cliff Richard & The Shadows – Move It

Cliff Richard & The Shadows – Travellin’ Light

Cliff Richard & The Shadows – Please Don’t Tease

Cliff Richard – The Young Ones

Cliff Richard and The Shadows – Do You Wanna Dance

Cliff Richard – The Next Time

Cliff Richard – Summer Holiday

Cliff Richard – Miss You Nights

Cliff Richard – We Don’t Talk Anymore

As a special treat: Phil Everly & Cliff Richard – All I Have To Do Is Dream (live) – 1994

Singalong, enjoy and be happy!