He spoke about this on The Alan Titchmarsh Show on ITV in December , pointing out that while new bands needed airplay for promotion and sales, long-established artists such as himself also relied upon airplay for the same reasons. He also noted that s radio stations did play his records and that this went some way to help sales and maintain his media presence.
I'm in a Rock 'n' Roll Band! In , Richard received a Portuguese Order in which he was appointed Commander of the Order of Prince Henry ComIH , this in recognition of his 40 years of personal and business involvement in that country.
Richard finished No. Richard went to Nashville, Tennessee for his next album project in , employing a writers' conclave to give him the pick of all new songs for the album Something's Goin' On. The Shadows had decided to re-form for another tour of the UK. It was not to be their last tour together though, as they would re-form once again for a final tour five years later in In an interview with David Frost in , Richard said that his many good friends have prevented him from feeling lonely and he has always got someone he can talk to.
Richard has been a family friend of the Northern Irish broadcaster Gloria Hunniford for over 40 years. When Hunniford's daughter Caron Keating was diagnosed with breast cancer and chose to keep her illness private from the public, Richard was among a small close circle of friends who knew of Keating's condition.
Richard's next album, in , was a covers project, Wanted, followed by another top ten album, Cliff at Christmas. The holiday album contained both new and older recordings, including the single "Santa's List", which reached No.
In , Richard said: "John now spends most of his time looking after my properties, which means I don't have to. John and I have over time struck up a close friendship. He has also become a companion, which is great because I don't like living alone, even now. In , controversy again arose regarding radio stations refusing to play his releases when EMI, Richard's label since , refused to release his song, "The Millennium Prayer", having judged that the song did not have commercial potential.
Richard took it to an independent label, Papillon, which released the charity recording in aid of Children's Promise. The single went on to top the UK chart for three weeks, becoming his fourteenth No.
Richard said that his faith in God was tested in after the murder of his close friend, the British television presenter Jill Dando. He said: "I was really angry with God. It shook me rigid that someone as beautiful, talented and harmless could have been killed.
He said of Dando's murder: "It is very difficult to understand and I find it all very confusing. In , Chris Evans, the then breakfast show host on Virgin Radio, vowed he would never again play a record by Richard, stating that he was "too old". In June , British disc jockey Tony Blackburn was suspended from his radio job at Classic Gold Digital for playing records by Richard against station policy.
The head of programmes, Paul Baker , sent an e-mail to Blackburn stating that Richard "doesn't match our brand values. He's not on the playlist, and you must stop playing him. Classic Gold managing director John Baish later confirmed Blackburn's suspension from the show. In , he led the Wimbledon Centre Court crowd in singing during a rain delay when asked by Wimbledon officials to entertain the crowd.
On 17 June , Richard was appointed a Knight Bachelor invested on 25 October , becoming the first rock star to be so honoured. When asked in if he had ever considered the possibility that he might be gay, he responded: "No. All that counts is what your family and friends know and they all trust and respect me. What the people outside think, I have no control over.
Simply titled The Album, it debuted at No. In , the compilation The Hit List was released, meanwhile in the background, Richard was concentrating on bringing the musical Heathcliff to the stage.
Richard has also supported numerous UK charities over many years through the Cliff Richard Charitable Trust, both through donations and by making personal visits to schools, churches, hospitals and homes for special needs children.
Richard's passion for tennis, which was encouraged by his former girlfriend Sue Barker , also led him in to establish the Cliff Richard Tennis Foundation. The charity has encouraged thousands of primary schools in the UK to introduce the sport, with over , children taking part in the tennis sessions which tour the country.
The Foundation has since become part of the charitable wing of the Lawn Tennis Association. Later in , a live album titled From a Distance: The Event was released. It compiled highlights of the previous year's "The Event" show, and provided two live tracks as singles, "Silhouettes" UK No. The album itself reached No. In , Richard demonstrated that radio stations were refusing to play his music when he released a dance remix of his forthcoming single "Can't Keep This Feeling In" on a white label using the alias Blacknight.
The single was featured on playlists until the true artist was revealed. Richard then released the single under his own name as the lead single for his album Real as I Wanna Be, with each reaching No.
In May , Richard released his th single, "The Best of Me", becoming the first British artist to achieve the feat. The single peaked at No. It was also the lead single from the UK top ten album Stronger.
In June, he filled London's Wembley Stadium for two nights with a spectacular titled "The Event" in front of a combined audience of , people. Richard concluded his thirtieth year in music by achieving a UK Christmas No. It was the best-selling UK single of , shifting , copies.
The album was certified quadruple platinum, becoming Richard's first to be certified multi-platinum by the BPI since it introduced multi-platinum awards in February In , Richard's nephew Philip Harrison spent the first four months of his life in a children's hospital suffering from serious breathing problems. Richard later helped to raise money for the hospital in east London and said that his nephew "had a terrible time but the hospital saved his life.
In , Richard reached No. Along with the song, the recording contained comedy dialogue between Richard and the Young Ones. That same year Richard opened in the West End as a rock musician called upon to defend Earth in a trial set in the Andromeda Galaxy in the multi-media Dave Clark musical Time.
In August , Richard was involved in a five-car crash in torrential rain on the M4 motorway in West London. Richard's car was a write-off as another car swerved and braked hard. Richard hurt his back in the accident but was not seriously injured.
Police called for a cab from the accident scene so that he was able to perform that night in the "Time" musical. After the show, Richard said: "I'm lucky to be here". He said that his seatbelt had prevented him from flying through the windscreen. In , after Richard's romance with Barker had ended and she began dating tennis player Stephen Shaw , Richard said that he was still a friend of Barker. He said: "We have a mutual respect for each other and that means a lot to me.
Richard first met Barker in , when she was aged Their romance attracted considerable media attention after Richard flew to Denmark to watch her play in a tennis match and they were later photographed cuddling and holding hands at Wimbledon. In an interview in February , Richard spoke of the possibility of marriage with her.
He said: "I'm seeing Sue, the only girl I want to see at the moment and if marriage comes on the horizon, I shall relish it. He said: "It's not vital to get married and it's not vital to be a father. But I would like to settle down and have a family one day.
Although he has never married, Richard has rarely lived alone. For many years he shared his main home with his charity and promotion schedules manager, Bill Latham , and Latham's mother. In , Richard described them as his "second family". Latham's girlfriend, Jill, also lived at the house in Weybridge, Surrey, with them for a time. In , Bill Latham said of Richard's bachelor status: "His freedom has meant that he has been able to do much more than if he had a family.
He always goes the extra mile. If he was to have a relationship, he would give it everything. So because his commitments have been his career, his faith, and more latterly, tennis, he has given himself wholeheartedly to those three activities.
In , the single "Wired for Sound" hit No. To finish the year, "Daddy's Home" hit No. On the singles chart, Richard was having his most consistent period of top twenty hits since the mids. At the same time, he received the Officer of the Order of the British Empire from the Queen for services to music and charity. In the s, Richard considered asking Sue Barker , a former French Open tennis champion and Wimbledon semi-finalist, if she would agree to marry him.
In , Richard said of his relationship with Barker: "I seriously contemplated asking her to marry me, but in the end I realised that I didn't love her quite enough to commit the rest of my life to her.
Bryan Ferry added hummed backing vocals to the song. The record made Richard the first act to reach the Hot 's top 40 in the s who had also been there in each of the three previous decades. It was his first time at the top of the UK singles chart in over ten years and the song would become his biggest-selling single worldwide, selling almost five million copies throughout the world. With "We Don't Talk Anymore" in , Richard finally began to receive some extended success in the United States to follow on from the success of "Devil Woman" in After many years of limited success in the US, three of his singles simultaneously charted on the last Hot of "A Little in Love", "Dreamin'", and "Suddenly".
In , the decision was made to repackage Richard as a "rock" artist. That year Bruce Welch relaunched Cliff's career and produced the landmark album I'm Nearly Famous, which included the successful but controversial guitar-driven track "Devil Woman", which became Richard's first true hit in the United States, and the ballad "Miss You Nights". Richard's fans were excited about this revival of a performer who had been a part of British rock from its early days.
Many music names such as Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton and Elton John were seen sporting I'm Nearly Famous badges, pleased that their boyhood idol was getting back into the heavier rock in which he had begun his career.
Notwithstanding this, Richard continued to release albums with contemporary Christian music content in parallel with his rock and pop albums, for example: Small Corners from contained the single "Yes He Lives". On 31 December , he performed his latest single, "Hey, Mr. In , he released the single "Honky Tonk Angel," produced by Hank Marvin and John Farrar , oblivious to its connotations or hidden meanings.
As soon as he was notified that a "honky-tonk angel" was southern US slang for a prostitute, the horrified Richard ordered EMI to withdraw it and refused to promote it despite making a video for it. EMI agreed to his demand despite the fact the single was expected to sell well. About 1, copies are known to exist on vinyl.
His final acting role on the silver screen to date was in , when he starred in the film Take Me High. In , Richard was a leading supporter of the Nationwide Festival of Light, a movement formed by British Christians who were concerned about the development of the permissive society.
Richard joined public figures such as Malcolm Muggeridge , Mary Whitehouse and Bishop Trevor Huddleston to demonstrate in London "for love and family life, against pornography and moral pollution". Muggeridge criticised the media as being "largely in the hands of those who for one reason or another favour the present Gadarene slide into decadence and Godlessness.
With Richard's succession of hit songs and albums from the late s into the early s, followed by another strong run in the late s and early s, a strong fan base had been reestablished and Richard remained one of the best-known music artists in the country. Meanwhile, the Shadows later re-formed and again split. They recorded on their own, but also reunited with Richard in , and — When later asked why he has never married, Richard said: "I've had a few false alarms. I've been in love, but marriage is a big commitment and being an artist consumes a great deal of time.
Richard said: "At the time when I and many of us were in love with Olivia she was engaged to someone else. I'm afraid I lost the chance. Richard often declines discussion about close relationships and when asked about suggestions that he may be homosexual has stated categorically that he is not.
When the suggestions were first put to him in the late s, Richard responded by saying: "It's untrue. People are very unfair with their criticism and their judgements. I've had girlfriends. But people seem to think that if a bloke doesn't sleep around he must be gay. A citizen of Barbados, Cliff currently divides his time between the Caribbean island and Portugal. Cliff Richard was 'not concerned' about relationships says expert. How to get rid of flies from the house - the 3 key tricks Prince Harry 'shows signs of guilt' as he gives update on Lilibet.
The year-old will have a chat with the TV chef as he eats one of his delicious dishes. But how much money does Cliff have in the bank? John Lennon credited the song as being the first British rock record.
Michael Gove and Sarah Vine millionaire divorce: their net worth. Cliff was actually born Harry Rodger Webb at birth. He later went on to change his name. Cliff was chosen because it sounded like 'cliff face', which suggested 'rock. Read more: Celebrating 50 years of Dolly Parton. In fact, he spoke out recently at the end of some of his darkest years following the BBC investigation into child-sex abuse claims - which were proved false- to say his faith has become stronger than ever.
Speaking to Premier Christian Radio he said "I kept thinking to myself: 'I wonder how people who say they're atheists, how can they cope with something like this? When you're a Christian you know that you could speak to God whenever you want to, and I did. While you may have assumed that Cliff and Elvis Presley's paths would naturally have crossed, you'd be wrong! And as a result, the meet-up did not go ahead. I think none of us knew that was going to happen," said Cliff.
Having spent weeks of his life in the top 40, Cliff is the only act to have had a number one single in the UK in five consecutive decades.
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