Cliff Richard

I thought long and hard before presenting today's artist. I felt that I would be opening a can of worms if I did. But then again, I'm not one to back away from a challenge, so here's Cliff Richard.

I mean, we're not talking about just anyone. Sir Cliff Richard has been appointed a Knight Bachelor. He has had the most charted singles in the UK after Elvis. He has sold more than 250 million records worldwide. He has total sales of over 21 million singles in the United Kingdom and is the third-top-selling artist in UK Singles Chart history, behind the Beatles and Elvis.

On the other hand, he has been forever dogged by rumours that he is gay, to which he never admitted. He has recently stated: “I don’t mind talking about things but there are things that are mine. That will go with me to my grave. And I’ve given up for instance, I don’t talk about my family, I certainly don’t talk about my sexuality." So, should we characterize a living person as gay, even if he refuses to admit it?

I think that the answer to that would be that this blog is about gay culture, which isn't always about openly gay people. There were enough gay people growing up in the 60s and 70s that took courage and inspiration from their belief that Cliff was one of them. If he indeed is and doesn't want to add his name in the coversation going forward towards progress, its his prerogative, although it doesn't make him very likeable. (His being a devout Christian only complicates things - but that's another can of worms, let's not open that as well). If he is straight and is playing coy, well that sort of defies logic, as well as being perversly humorous.

There is also the no small matter of the allegations against him for sexual abuse. Since being accused of old sexual acts with teenage boys between 1958 and 1983, Sir Cliff’s home in Berkshire was raided by police in an operation that was filmed and aired by the BBC.

Richard said that seeing the raid on his home in August 2014 was “like watching my home being broken into – on television” and that he was not given the benefit of being presumed innocent until proven guilty.

The statement continued: “The situation was made more distressing by the fact that I had to sit by and helplessly watch police officers go through my possessions. I just collapsed.

In June 2016, the Crown Prosecution Service announced that after reviewing "evidence relating to claims of non-recent sexual offences dating between 1958 and 1983 made by four men" there was "insufficient evidence" to charge Richard with an offence, and that no further action against him would be taken. It was subsequently reported that during the 22-month police investigation a man was arrested over a plot to blackmail Richard. The unnamed man in his forties contacted Richard's aides and threatened to spread "false stories" unless he received a sum of money.

On 21 June 2016 the BBC apologised publicly to Richard for causing distress after the controversial broadcast. On 27 September 2016, the Crown Prosecution Service announced that the decision not to prosecute Richard over claims of historical sex offences had been upheld. The CPS reviewed the evidence following applications by two of his accusers, and concluded that the decision not to charge Richard was correct. It was later reported that Richard is suing the BBC and South Yorkshire Police. Legal papers were filed at the High Court in London on 6 October 2016.

So, the man has not been prosecuted. Some may say that "there's no smoke without fire", but being part of a tribe that has been accused of ridiculous things and has been prosecuted, jailed and even murdered for being what nature intended us to be, has made us sensitive to accusing people of sexual crimes without proof. So I'll let the matter drop here, and just concentrate in Cliff Richard illustrious career.

On a related subject, there's another can of worms that I'm quite reluctant to open, so I really want your opinion on this: does Michael Jackson fit in this series of presentations? Sound off in the comments.

Harry Rodger Webb was born in India on 14 October 1940. In 1948, following Indian independence, The Webbs moved to Carshalton in Sutton. In his teens, Harry Webb became interested in Skiffle. His father bought him a guitar at 16 and he formed the Quintones vocal group in 1957, before singing in the Dick Teague Skiffle Group.

Then, Harry Webb became lead singer of a Rock and Roll group, the Drifters (not to be confused with the US group of the same name). The 1950s entrepreneur Harry Greatorex wanted the up-and-coming Rock 'n' Roll singer to change from his real name of Harry Webb. The name Cliff was adopted as it sounded like "cliff face", which suggested "Rock". It was Move It writer Ian Samwell who suggested that the former Harry Webb be surnamed "Richard" as a tribute to Webb's musical hero Little Richard.

For his debut session, Norrie Paramor provided Richard with Schoolboy Crush, a cover of an American record by 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. The single went to #2 on the UK Singles Chart. John Lennon credited Move It as being the first British Rock record.

It was on Living Doll that the Drifters began to back Richard on record. It was his fifth record, and became his first #1 single. By that time, the group's line-up had changed with the arrival of Jet Harris, Tony Meehan, Hank Marvin and Bruce Welch. The group was obliged to change its name to The Shadows after legal complications with the American group the Drifters as Living Doll entered the American Top 40, licensed by ABC-Paramount. Living Doll was used in Richard's debut film Serious Charge, but it was arranged as a Country standard, rather than a Rock and Roll standard.

The Shadows were not a typical backing group. They became contractually separate from Richard, and the group received no royalties for records backing Richard. In 1959, the Shadows (then still the Drifters) landed an EMI recording contract of their own, for independent recordings. That year, they released three singles, two of which featured double-sided vocals and one of which had instrumental A and B sides. They thereafter had several major hits, including five UK #1s. The band also continued to appear and record with Richard and wrote many of his hits. On more than one occasion, a Shadows instrumental replaced a Richard song at the top of the British charts.

Here's the song that made them recording stars, a #1 all over Europe in 1960, called Apache:

Here's one of their biggest #1s, Wonderful Land (1962):

Richard's fifth single Living Doll triggered a softer, more relaxed, sound. Subsequent hits, the #1s Travellin' Light and I Love You and also A Voice in the Wilderness, lifted from his film Expresso Bongo, and Theme for a Dream cemented Richard's status as a mainstream Pop entertainer along with contemporaries such as Adam Faith and Billy Fury. Throughout the early 1960s, his hits were consistently in the Top 5.

Here's Travellin' Light (#1, 1959):

Here's Please Don't Tease (#1, 1960):

Here's I Love You (#1, 1960):

Here's Theme for a Dream (#3, 1961):

Richard and the Shadows appeared in six feature films including a debut in the 1959 film Serious Charge but most notably in The Young Ones, Summer Holiday, Wonderful Life, and Finders Keepers. These films created their own genre, known as the "Cliff Richard musical", and led to Richard being named the No. 1 cinema box office attraction in Britain for both 1962 and 1963, beating that of even James Bond. The title song of The Young Ones (1962) became his biggest-selling single in the United Kingdom, selling over one million copies in the UK.

Summer Holiday was an equally successful movie. Filmed in Greece, the locale became an added interest. The first hit off the film was a double-A-sided single that went to #1. Here's The Next Time:

The other side, Bachelor Boy, became Cliff's theme. "The confirmed bachelor for life". Well, OK.

It was the next single, Summer Holiday, that was the biggest hit from the film. It remained at the top of the charts for 3 weeks.

As with the other existing Rock acts in Britain, Richard's career was affected by the advent of the Beatles and the Mersey sound in 1963 and 1964. He continued to have hits in the charts throughout the 1960s, though not at the level that he had enjoyed before. Nor did doors open to him in the US market; he was not considered part of the British Invasion, and despite four Hot 100 hits (including the top 25 It's All in the Game) between August 1963 and August 1964, the American public had little awareness of him. Here's It's All in the Game (UK #2, US #25):

Cliff's 1965 UK #12 hit On My Word ended a run of 23 consecutive Top 10 UK hits between A Voice in the Wilderness in 1960 to The Minute You're Gone in 1965, which, to this day, is still a record number of consecutive Top 10 UK hits for a male artist. Here's The Minute You're Gone, a UK #1 in 1965:

Richard continued having international hits, including 1967's The Day I Met Marie, which reached #10 in the UK Singles Chart and #5 in the Australian charts. Here's The Day I Met Marie:

Cliff's music was becoming more MOR. In 1968, he sang UK's entry in the Eurovision Song Contest, Congratulations, written and composed by Bill Martin and Phil Coulter; it lost, however, by one point to Spain's La La La. According to John Kennedy O'Connor's The Eurovision Song Contest—The Official History, this was the closest result yet in the contest and Richard locked himself in the toilet to avoid the nerves of the voting. Nevertheless, Congratulations was a huge hit throughout Europe and Australia, and yet another UK #1 in April 1968.

Cliff entered the 70s with a hit titled Goodbye Sam, Hello Samantha (1970, #6 UK, #1 Ireland):

In 1973, he sang the British Eurovision entry Power to All Our Friends; the song finished third, close behind Luxembourg's Tu Te Reconnaîtras and Spain's Eres Tú. The song went to #1 in the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden, #2 in Ireland and Belgium, and #4 in the UK and Germany.

In 1975 he showed us his sensitive side with Miss You Nights:

It was his next single however that re-introduced him to the US. Devil Woman made #3 in Australia, #5 in New Zealand, #6 in the US and Ireland, #7 in Norway and #9 in the UK.

His biggest hit of the 70s came at 1979. We Don't Talk Anymore went all the way to #1 in the UK, Germany, Ireland, Norway and Belgium, #3 in Australia, #4 in the Netherlands and Sweden, #5 in New Zealand, and #7 in the US.

He had lots of hits in the early 80s, like Carrie:

... Then there was Dreamin:

Suddenly was a duet with his friend Olivia Newton-John:

His next hit was A Little in Love:

Wired for Sound also came in 1981:

His final big hit in the US (#23) was Daddy's Home, the 70s hit by Jermaine Jackson. It made #2 in the UK:

Cliff went on to have four more #1s in the UK: his re-recording of Living Doll with The Young Ones and Hank Marvin (1986), Mistletoe And Wine (1988), Saviour's Day (1990) and The Millennium Prayer (1999). His last big hit (#3 UK) came in 2008, a full 50 years after his first hit, and was called Thank You For A Lifetime, a summation of his career.

I leave you with a quote from the man himself. In a 2014 interview, he asked "Would you not come to my concerts because I was gay? I hope not. If I was gay would it make any difference?"