British singer-songwriter and actor Sir Cliff Richard was born 84 years ago as Harry Roger Webb in British India and is single.
In 1948, Cliff and his family moved to England, and he started attending school and when finished got his first job as a clerk. At the age of 16, he was gifted with a guitar by his dad and later formed the group ‘The Quintones’ with some of his schoolmates.
A year later, Richard joined the group ‘The Drifters’ as lead singer and debuted with the song ‘Move it’ which peaked to number 2 in the UK charts. At the time, Cliff was compared to ‘The King of Rock and Roll’ Elvis Presley and even dressed like him. The band released several hits like ‘High Class Baby’, ‘Livin’ Lovin’ Doll’ and ‘Mean Streak’. Meanwhile, the group’s name was changed to ‘The Shadows’.
During the 60s, Cliff continued releasing songs with the group and even as a solo artist and had several successful hits reaching the Top 10, making him a popular star. In 1968, he represented his country in the Eurovision Song Contest with the song ‘Congratulations’, placing 2nd. He participated again 5 years later, placing 3rd with the song ‘Power to All our Friends’. Apart from music, he also starred in a some movies and appeared in numerous TV productions.
Richard decided to become a Christian and this affected his career in certain ways. He focused on Christian work and as time went by, he managed to find a balance between his religious beliefs and his career.
In the next two decades, Cliff recorded several albums and had numerous hits which reached the Top 20 both in the UK and US in particular. These include ‘We Don’t Talk Anymore’, ‘Devil Woman’, ‘Carrie’, ‘She’s so Beautiful’, ‘Some People’, ‘My Pretty One’, the Christmas song ‘Mistletoe and Wine’ as well as ‘Suddenly’ sung in duet with Olivia Newton-John and ‘All I ask of You’ sung in duet with Sarah Brightman.
To date, Richard had 135 albums spread amongst studio, live, compilation, soundtrack, video, re-issues, cast recording and remix, 47 EPs, 49 compilations, 12 box sets, 62 music videos and 201 singles (22 of which are in the German language).
Richard is an active philanthropist and all through his career has supported many charitable institutions regarding world poverty, Alzheimer’s disease and tennis (his favourite sports). He had also founded the Cliff Richard Charitable Trust which supports various philanthropic organisations throughout the UK.
During his +60-year career, Cliff received a large number of awards and honours and is considered as one of the best-selling artists ever, with his records selling over 250 million copies globally.
*Image: no infringement intended. Source: cliffrichardsongs.com