Cliff Richard biography Cliff Richard biography Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Webb in Lucknow , India , on October 14 , 1940 ) is the stage name of one of the UK 's most popular singers of all time. Cliff Richard was one of the founding members of The Drifters (not to be confused with the American group of the same name), who later changed their name to Cliff Richard and the Drifters and then Cliff Richard and the Shadows . Cliff was a guitarist and lead singer in the band. It was suggested to the group that they put a name out in front of the group's title, as this was the common thing at the time, and hence 'Cliff Richard and the Drifters' came about. The group gained a contract and went into Abbey Road Studios to record their first record in 1958 . They were given a non-rocking number called 'Schoolboy Crush' to record, but were allowed to record one of their own for the B-side. This was "Move It", written by Ian "Sammy" Samwell, who was the first new member of the group. There are a number of stories about why the A-side song was replaced by the B-side.

One of these stories says that their producer Norrie Paramor , played the record to his daughter, and she raved about the B-side song instead of the A-side. Another possible reason for the flip was that influential tv producer Jack Good, who grabbed the act for his TV show "Oh Boy!", said the song to be sung on his show had to be "Move It!" The single was flipped and went to number 2 in the charts. After some more songs, the band's line up changed considerably, though it wasn't a new band. Often mistaken, people say that the Drifters/Shadows were just a backing band which played on their own and also 'backed' Cliff. In fact, it was simply a gradual change in the line up that eventually left Cliff as the only remaining original member. As Jet Harris , Tony Meehan , Hank Marvin and Bruce Welch gradually emerged in the band, some very significant 'lucky events' happened, for the band, and also for the world. Popular music could have been totally changed if certain events did not happen, especially in one single day in Soho . On that day, Cliff's manager, John Foster, was looking for a new lead guitarist.

He went back to the 2I's where the Drifters and various other later members had played. He was looking for someone, whom if he had been found, the Beatles would never have been known of. The man being looked for was Tony Sheridan , who the Drifters knew, and who later played with the Beatles in Hamburg and led them to getting a recording contract in Britain. Strangely, Tony wasn't there when Foster arrived, and Foster was in a hurry and couldn't wait long. Foster was then told of a guy who was a brilliant guitarist, and so Foster met Hank Marvin. Hank then said he teamed with Bruce Welch, and so Foster on that day brought in two new members to the Drifters. Tony Meehan and Jet Harris eventually left the group and teamed up very successfully in the charts. One member of Jet and Tony's band was John Paul Jones, later a member of Led Zeppelin , and Jimmy Page also recorded with them. A serious accident halted Jet's success, but he later re-emerged with Jeff Beck ( Yardbirds ), Ron Wood ( Rolling Stones ), and Rod Stewart ( The Faces ); however this group didn't last long.

The Shadows had a few more bass players and also took in Brian Bennett on drums. In the period between 1958 and 1963 , Cliff Richard and the Shadows stood as the biggest thing in Britain. They toured the United States and stole the show even over all of the accompanying American acts of the time. The problem was that the record company didn't get behind them strongly enough with distributing albums etc and so the chances were lost. It was the same with their appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show (which was responsible for much of the Beatles success, but didn't really help Cliff and the Shadows). Cliff and the Shadows basically re-wrote convention in British recording companies and opened EMI up to the importance and strength of rock n roll. It was due to them that Parlophone were looking for a 'second' Cliff and the Shadows, and eventually took the Beatles. Most well known groups of the 1960s and 1970s started off as imitators of Cliff and the Shadows, singing and playing only Cliff and the Shadows' material, and groups were trained by following how they did things.

The Beatles were taken to Cliff and the Shadows concerts and instructed about clothes, stage presence and various other things, and being of the same fold at Abbey Road, were good friends with the band. Cliff and the Shadows appeared in a number of films, most notably in The Young Ones (which would give its name to 1980s TV sitcom The Young Ones ), Summer Holiday, Wonderful Life and Finders Keepers. Cliff's best lead role took place in the midï¿½late-'60s film Two a Penny, which saw Cliff as a young man who gets involved in drug dealing while questioning his life after his girlfriend changes in her attitudes. He also represented the UK twice in the Eurovision Song Contest , both times unsuccessfully, though his first attempt, Congratulations, was a massive hit in Britain and has become a standard, still sung on suitable occasions. Cliff was led to record sometimes without the Shadows, mainly to cater for other styles such as strings, and this helped to give people the incorrect view that Cliff was now separate and the Shadows merely backed his songs. In fact, a great number of the songs sung by Cliff and the Shadows were written by the Shadows and Cliff.

In 1960, the Shadows (though having previously recorded as the Drifters without Cliff) released 'Apache', which saw the birth of British rock guitar instrumental music. Again, although people claim the distinction between Cliff and the Shadows, it was still Cliff and the Shadows, as Cliff still played on the recording, but didn't put his name to it. The record set the Shadows on a path of their own, and soon became the greatest instrumental group of all time. Throughout the 1960s, Cliff stayed at the top, even at the height of Mersey music, however he did not have the advantage the new acts had of being able to release music and having it go directly to the USA as well. The Beatles had became huge once America took to them, and this in turn opened up the path across the Atlantic. During the 1970s , Cliff became heavily involved in tv shows, like 'It's Cliff Richard', many of which also starred Hank Marvin. The tv shows made Cliff into a tv personality and not necessarily primarily a recording singer.

He was in everyone's homes, and gave enjoyment to all the family, and although still recording and being successful, Cliff and others like his former Shadow Bruce Welch decided that they would once again bring Cliff out as a "rock" artist again. The collaboration produced the landmark Cliff album "I'm Nearly Famous", which brought about the classic rock guitar driven track "Devil Woman" and the haunting "Miss You Nights". It wasn't just Cliff and the fans who were excited that the man who had begun and led British rock from the start, was back in strength, but also a host of big music names. People like Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton , and Elton John began being seen sporting big "I'm Nearly Famous" badges on their clothes, so pleased that their icon was getting heavily back into the heavy rock that he began his career in. A number of other strong albums were produced, and in 1979 he went to number one with We Don't Talk Anymore. A true Cliff revival was happening. In the next years into and through the 1980s , Cliff was the biggest pop star in the country, and he became a magnet for other music greats.

In the space of a few years he had worked with Elton John , Mark Knopfler , George Harrison , Julian Lennon , Freddie Mercury , Stevie Wonder , Phil Everly , Janet Jackson and Van Morrison , to name a few. He also did more work with Olivia Newton-John , and to cap the decade off, filled the Wembley Stadium for a few nights with a spectacular simply titled "The Event". Another important aspect of Cliff's life was his conversion to Christianity in about 1966 . To stand up publicly as a new Christian was a big and brave decision which affected his career in various ways. First of all Richard believed that he should quit rock n roll, as he thought he could no longer be the rocker who had in the early years been called a 'crude exhibitionist' and 'too sexy for TV' and a threat to parents' daughters. Although his image had already become tamer due to his film roles and well spoken voice on radio and TV, he still rocked on stage. After intending to become a teacher instead, Christian friends told him that he didn't have to give his career up just because he had become a Christian.

Soon after, Cliff re-emerged and performed with Christian groups and recorded some Christian material. He still recorded secular songs with the Shadows, some of which introduced revolutionary recording techniques which influenced the Beatles and other groups, but he gave a lot of his time to Christian work. As time progressed, he balanced his life and work out, enabling him to still be the most popular singer in Britain while also one of the best known Christians. After the Shadows split in 1968 , resulting also in the split of Cliff Richard and the Shadows, Richard had to record without his band. Cliff had already become used to not having his Shadows with him in recording sessions, and was able to record in any setting. Although many fans, such as John Lennon , had in the early 60s regretted Cliff trying out songs which were not strictly in the rock n roll area, this process of slowly getting used to recording with the Shadows as the "rock group", while at other times singing with other musicians, without a doubt is at least partly responsible for Cliff becoming what he has become.

He has become an artist who has not been categorised in one single mould, but has been a wild rock n roller, a ballad singer, a heavy rock singer, who even found it natural to move into dance beats. Strangely enough, those who were initially sceptical of his move into other types of songs, later changed in their own beliefs and did similarly on their own records. The Shadows later re-formed (and later again split), and recorded on their own, but reunited with Cliff in 1978 and 1984 for some concerts. In 1974 , he denied the rumor that he had asked his good friend Olivia Newton-John for her hand in marriage. Later, his relationship with Sue Barker was the subject of much gossip, but they disappointed those who expected them to marry. Cliff remained a tennis fan, however, delighting Wimbledon crowds with an impromptu singalong on one rainy afternoon in 1996 . He reached the pinnacle of his career when he was knighted . Sir Cliff appears in the 2002 list of 100 Great Britons (sponsored by the BBC and voted for by the public).

The Ultimate Pop Star , a Channel 4 programme screened in 2004 , revealed that Cliff Richard had sold more singles in the UK than any other music artist, ahead of the Beatles in second place and Elvis Presley in third. Sir Cliff has become joint owner of the Arora International Hotel in Manchester , which opened in June 2004 . After having not performed as Cliff and the Shadows since 1989 / 1990 , Cliff joined the Shadows on stage on June 14 , 2004 , at the London Palladium . The Shadows had decided to re-form for one final tour of the UK, with this concert heralded as their final ever concert as the Shadows. Britons are always surprised that he is a virtual unknown in America. Cliff Richard on Apple Music To preview a song, mouse over the title and click Play. Open iTunes to buy and download music. Biography In the years after Elvis Presley but before the Beatles, Cliff Richard was the biggest thing in British rock & roll -- and in the years after the Beatles, he was never far from the top of the U.K. charts.

Arriving in 1958, just a couple of years after skiffle swept across Britain, Richard was the first English singer to approximate the hip-shaking rebellion of American rock & roll with his 1958 debut single "Move It." A smash hit right out of the gate, "Move It" kicked off an astonishing five decades' worth of hits (his last time in the U.K. Top 10 was, as of this writing, in 2008, when "Thank You for a Lifetime" went to three). The earliest recordings, most made with his backing band the Shadows, were his hardest-rocking and undoubtedly his most influential, making an impression on nearly the entire first generation of British rock & rollers. Like Presley, who was certainly Richard's key influence, Cliff's popularity wound up pushing him ever so gradually to the status of an all-around entertainer. He moved into movies quickly -- the first came just a year after "Move It" -- and the Shadows tamed their rockabilly, but the real shift into the mainstream came after the Beatles opened the floodgates for homegrown British rock & roll, banishing Richard to the status of an older generation.

Cliff continued to have hits in the '60s, even after he and the Shadows disbanded in 1968, but he split his time between pop and Christian music; then in the early '70s he focused on hosting a variety show on the BBC. Toward the end of the '70s, he made a big pop comeback with 1976's "Devil Woman," which became his first Top 10 hit in the U.S., and over the next five years he racked up several intercontinental soft rock hits, including 1979's "We Don't Talk Anymore," 1980's "Dreamin'," and the Olivia Newton-John duet "Suddenly," taken from the 1980 soundtrack to Xanadu. This period was his first and last time at the top of the U.S.

charts but throughout the '80s, '90s, and 2000s he remained an institution in the U.K., regularly appearing in the Top Ten charts and on television, releasing 100 full-length albums in the process and, in 1995, he was made a Knight Bachelor in the British kingdom, proof of his iconic status. Cliff Richard was born Harry Rodger Webb in Lucknow, India which, on October 14, 1940, was part of the British Empire. His father, Rodger Oscar, worked for a catering contractor employed by Indian Railways and the Webb family remained in India until the country gained its independence from Britain in 1948. Relocating to a semi-detached in the London suburb of Carshalton in Surrey, Harry Webb, like so many teenagers of his era, became interested in music thanks to the skiffle phenomenon of 1956/1957. A quick succession of groups came and went -- he formed the Quintones in 1957, then joined the Dick Teague Skiffle Group -- before settling with the U.K.

group called the Drifters, who became popular enough to attract the attention of manager Harry Greatorex. He suggested a name change -- the Cliff came from Greatorex, the Richard came from Drifters guitarist and songwriter Ian Samwell, who penned "Move It" -- and soon the band became Cliff Richard & the Drifters, playing larger shows and landing a record contract. "Schoolboy Crush" was planned as the A-side with "Move It" as its flip, but momentum built for the raucous B-side and, soon, the record galloped to number two on the U.K. singles chart. "Move It" turned Cliff Richard into a star and it ushered in a boom in British rock & roll, of which Richard was the undeniable leader.

"High Class Baby" made it to seven by the end of 1958 and, after a slight dip in early 1959 with "Livin' Lovin' Doll" (which only made it to 20), he brought "Mean Streak" to 10 and had back-to-back number ones with "Living Doll" and "Travellin' Light." "Living Doll" was not only was Richard's first number one, it was the first to feature his band -- now including guitarist Hank Marvin, guitarist Bruce Welch, bassist Jet Harris and drummer Tony Meehan -- on record (previously, he recorded with studio musicians). Not long after the number one success of "Living Doll," the band faced legal action from the U.S. R&B group the Drifters, so they change their name to the Shadows; as Richard's career maintained momentum, the Shadows would have their own side success as an instrumental outfit, with the band's lineup shifting slightly but always anchored by Marvin and Welch. Richard was quick to capitalize on his popularity, starring in his first film Serious Charge in 1959, and softening his sound slightly to appeal to a broader audience.

Throughout the early '60s, the singles and albums came quickly and so did the films. In 1960, he had five hit singles, all reaching the top three -- "Please Don't Tease" and "I Love You" topped the charts, "A Voice in the Wilderness" and "Fallin in Love with You" reached two, "Nine Times Out of Ten" peaked at three -- and he started to cultivate a fan base in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. Richard took a stab at America, touring the country in 1960, but he never made any inroads in the U.S. This lack of stateside success was easy to ignore as Richard was not only the biggest recording star of the early '60s in the U.K.

-- from 1960 to 1965, every one of his singles reached the Top 10, with "The Young Ones," "The Next Time," "Bachelor Boy," "Summer Holiday," and "The Minute You're Gone" all reaching number one -- he was also a huge movie star; 1961's The Young Ones confirmed his silver screen appeal, and 1963's Summer Holiday and 1964's Wonderful Life were also equally popular. His popularity took a hit in 1964 once Beatlemania kicked in and a wave of guitar groups flooded the British charts. Richard survived 1963 and 1964 without slipping from the Top 10, but by 1965, placing in the Top 10 was no longer guaranteed. Richard gamely tried to follow the trends, covering Mick Jagger and Keith Richards' "Blue Turns to Grey" in 1966, but this period is distinguished by his public declaration in 1964 that he was a Christian. He considered leaving rock & roll behind but wound up pursuing a parallel career, performing secular material and religious work elsewhere, occasionally headlining Christian films.

The next pivotal year in Richard's career was 1968, the year when he represented the U.K. in the Eurovision contest via the song "Congratulations" and when the Shadows disbanded. The singer continued his relationship with Hank Marvin, with the guitarist appearing regularly on the variety show It's Cliff Richard, which premiered in 1970 and ran until 1976. Throughout the early '70s, Richard was a show biz fixture -- in addition to It's Cliff Richard (which morphed into It's Cliff and Friends in 1975), he appeared on BBC's Pop Go the Sixties and other television shows, including hosting early rounds of Eurovision -- but the hits slowed to a trickle; only 1973's "Power to All Our Friends" matched any of his '60s hits in popularity, becoming his first single since "Congratulations" to be awarded Silver certification. In 1975, he didn't place one single in the U.K. charts, breaking his 16-year streak of hits.

Conscious of this stagnation, Richard brought Shadow Bruce Welch back into the fold for 1976's I'm Nearly Famous, a record that followed in the footsteps of Elton John or, arguably, the John-sponsored 1975 comeback from Neil Sedaka. I'm Nearly Famous was wildly successful thanks to "Devil Woman," a song that not only brought him back to the Top 10 in Britain but gave him his first-ever U.S. hit; it actually charted higher in America than it did in Britain, peaking at six instead of nine. "Devil Woman" kicked off a five-year renaissance for Richard, where he regularly saw the top of the British charts and had two more international hits: "We Don't Talk Anymore," from 1979's Rock N Roll Juvenile and "Dreamin'," from 1980's I'm No Hero.

Richard re-teamed with Olivia Newton-John, who he had been performing with since the early '70s, for the 1980 film Xanadu, whose soundtrack produced the hit "Suddenly." Richard racked up a few more hits in the early '80s -- there was the vaguely new wave "Wired for Sound" in 1981 and the Phil Everly duet "She Means Nothing to Me" in 1983 -- but the comeback started to slow down as the decade progressed.

He teamed up with comedy troupe the Young Ones -- who took their name from his hit 1961 movie -- for a Comic Relief cover of "Living Doll" in 1986 and, also that year, he appeared in the West End musical Time and had a hit duet with Sarah Brightman on the Phantom of the Opera song "All I Ask of You." All this led to 1987's Always Guaranteed, his most successful album of the '80s thanks to the singles "My Pretty One" and "Some People." For its 1989 follow-up Stronger, Richard worked with hit-makers Stock-Aitken-Waterman, which marked the last time he truly attempted to sound contemporary. During the '90s and into the new millennium, there was little question Cliff Richard was a British pop music institution, appearing regularly on television and at public events and occasionally popping up on the charts. In 1995, he was honored with the appointment of a Knight Bachelor in the British Empire. In 1999, when EMI refused to release his single "The Millennium Prayer," Richard marshaled public support to get the song, which was independently released, to number one.

Remarkably, he was able to score more Top 10 singles over the course of the 2000s: the seasonal "Santa's List" and "21st Century Christmas" went to five and two, respectively in 2003 and 2006, then his 50th Anniversary Album spawned the number three hit "Thank You for a Lifetime" in 2008. Richard celebrated his 50th Anniversary in 2008 in spectacular fashion, reuniting the Shadows for a tour and releasing a box set called And They Said It Wouldn't Last: My 50 Years in Music. The reunited Richard & the Shadows released a brand-new album called Reunited in 2009. The following year, he had a grand celebration of his 70th birthday capped off by six concerts at Royal Albert Hall. In 2001, Richard took a detour into soul for the Lamont Dozier-produced Soulicious and then in 2013, he released his 100th album, The Fabulous Rock N Roll Songbook. He returned in 2016 with Just...

Fabulous Rock 'n' Roll, an album of covers of songs from pioneers of the rock & roll genre. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine Top Albums Cliff Richard | Biography & History | AllMusic google+ Artist Biography by Stephen Thomas Erlewine In the years after Elvis Presley but before the Beatles , Cliff Richard was the biggest thing in British rock & roll -- and in the years after the Beatles , he was never far from the top of the U.K. charts. Arriving in 1958, just a couple of years after skiffle swept across Britain, Richard was the first English singer to approximate the hip-shaking rebellion of American rock & roll with his 1958 debut single "Move It." A smash hit right out of the gate, "Move It" kicked off an astonishing five decades' worth of hits (his last time in the U.K. Top 10 was, as of this writing, in 2008, when "Thank You for a Lifetime" went to three). The earliest recordings, most made with his backing band the Shadows , were his hardest-rocking and undoubtedly his most influential, making an impression on nearly the entire first generation of British rock & rollers.

Like Presley , who was certainly Richard 's key influence, Cliff 's popularity wound up pushing him ever so gradually to the status of an all-around entertainer. He moved into movies quickly -- the first came just a year after "Move It" -- and the Shadows tamed their rockabilly, but the real shift into the mainstream came after the Beatles opened the floodgates for homegrown British rock & roll, banishing Richard to the status of an older generation. Cliff continued to have hits in the '60s, even after he and the Shadows disbanded in 1968, but he split his time between pop and Christian music; then in the early '70s he focused on hosting a variety show on the BBC.

Toward the end of the '70s, he made a big pop comeback with 1976's "Devil Woman," which became his first Top 10 hit in the U.S., and over the next five years he racked up several intercontinental soft rock hits, including 1979's "We Don't Talk Anymore," 1980's "Dreamin'," and the Olivia Newton-John duet "Suddenly," taken from the 1980 soundtrack to Xanadu . This period was his first and last time at the top of the U.S. charts but throughout the '80s, '90s, and 2000s he remained an institution in the U.K., regularly appearing in the Top Ten charts and on television, releasing 100 full-length albums in the process and, in 1995, he was made a Knight Bachelor in the British kingdom, proof of his iconic status. Cliff Richard was born Harry Rodger Webb in Lucknow, India which, on October 14, 1940, was part of the British Empire.

His father, Rodger Oscar, worked for a catering contractor employed by Indian Railways and the Webb family remained in India until the country gained its independence from Britain in 1948. Relocating to a semi-detached in the London suburb of Carshalton in Surrey, Harry Webb, like so many teenagers of his era, became interested in music thanks to the skiffle phenomenon of 1956/1957. A quick succession of groups came and went -- he formed the Quintones in 1957, then joined the Dick Teague Skiffle Group -- before settling with the U.K. group called the Drifters , who became popular enough to attract the attention of manager Harry Greatorex. He suggested a name change -- the Cliff came from Greatorex, the Richard came from Drifters guitarist and songwriter Ian Samwell , who penned "Move It" -- and soon the band became Cliff Richard & the Drifters , playing larger shows and landing a record contract.

"Schoolboy Crush" was planned as the A-side with "Move It" as its flip, but momentum built for the raucous B-side and, soon, the record galloped to number two on the U.K. singles chart. "Move It" turned Cliff Richard into a star and it ushered in a boom in British rock & roll, of which Richard was the undeniable leader. "High Class Baby" made it to seven by the end of 1958 and, after a slight dip in early 1959 with "Livin' Lovin' Doll" (which only made it to 20), he brought "Mean Streak" to 10 and had back-to-back number ones with "Living Doll" and "Travellin' Light." "Living Doll" was not only was Richard 's first number one, it was the first to feature his band -- now including guitarist Hank Marvin , guitarist Bruce Welch , bassist Jet Harris and drummer Tony Meehan -- on record (previously, he recorded with studio musicians). Not long after the number one success of "Living Doll," the band faced legal action from the U.S.

R&B group the Drifters , so they change their name to the Shadows ; as Richard 's career maintained momentum, the Shadows would have their own side success as an instrumental outfit, with the band's lineup shifting slightly but always anchored by Marvin and Welch . Richard was quick to capitalize on his popularity, starring in his first film Serious Charge in 1959, and softening his sound slightly to appeal to a broader audience. Throughout the early '60s, the singles and albums came quickly and so did the films. In 1960, he had five hit singles, all reaching the top three -- "Please Don't Tease" and "I Love You" topped the charts, "A Voice in the Wilderness" and "Fallin in Love with You" reached two, "Nine Times Out of Ten" peaked at three -- and he started to cultivate a fan base in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. Richard took a stab at America, touring the country in 1960, but he never made any inroads in the U.S. This lack of stateside success was easy to ignore as Richard was not only the biggest recording star of the early '60s in the U.K.

-- from 1960 to 1965, every one of his singles reached the Top 10, with "The Young Ones," "The Next Time," "Bachelor Boy," "Summer Holiday," and "The Minute You're Gone" all reaching number one -- he was also a huge movie star; 1961's The Young Ones confirmed his silver screen appeal, and 1963's Summer Holiday and 1964's Wonderful Life were also equally popular. His popularity took a hit in 1964 once Beatlemania kicked in and a wave of guitar groups flooded the British charts. Richard survived 1963 and 1964 without slipping from the Top 10, but by 1965, placing in the Top 10 was no longer guaranteed. Richard gamely tried to follow the trends, covering Mick Jagger and Keith Richards ' "Blue Turns to Grey" in 1966, but this period is distinguished by his public declaration in 1964 that he was a Christian. He considered leaving rock & roll behind but wound up pursuing a parallel career, performing secular material and religious work elsewhere, occasionally headlining Christian films.

The next pivotal year in Richard 's career was 1968, the year when he represented the U.K. in the Eurovision contest via the song "Congratulations" and when the Shadows disbanded. The singer continued his relationship with Hank Marvin , with the guitarist appearing regularly on the variety show It's Cliff Richard, which premiered in 1970 and ran until 1976. Throughout the early '70s, Richard was a show biz fixture -- in addition to It's Cliff Richard (which morphed into It's Cliff and Friends in 1975), he appeared on BBC's Pop Go the Sixties and other television shows, including hosting early rounds of Eurovision -- but the hits slowed to a trickle; only 1973's "Power to All Our Friends" matched any of his '60s hits in popularity, becoming his first single since "Congratulations" to be awarded Silver certification. In 1975, he didn't place one single in the U.K. charts, breaking his 16-year streak of hits.

Conscious of this stagnation, Richard brought Shadow Bruce Welch back into the fold for 1976's I'm Nearly Famous , a record that followed in the footsteps of Elton John or, arguably, the John -sponsored 1975 comeback from Neil Sedaka . I'm Nearly Famous was wildly successful thanks to "Devil Woman," a song that not only brought him back to the Top 10 in Britain but gave him his first-ever U.S. hit; it actually charted higher in America than it did in Britain, peaking at six instead of nine. "Devil Woman" kicked off a five-year renaissance for Richard , where he regularly saw the top of the British charts and had two more international hits: "We Don't Talk Anymore," from 1979's Rock N Roll Juvenile and "Dreamin'," from 1980's I'm No Hero .

Richard re-teamed with Olivia Newton-John , who he had been performing with since the early '70s, for the 1980 film Xanadu, whose soundtrack produced the hit "Suddenly." Richard racked up a few more hits in the early '80s -- there was the vaguely new wave "Wired for Sound" in 1981 and the Phil Everly duet "She Means Nothing to Me" in 1983 -- but the comeback started to slow down as the decade progressed.

He teamed up with comedy troupe the Young Ones -- who took their name from his hit 1961 movie -- for a Comic Relief cover of "Living Doll" in 1986 and, also that year, he appeared in the West End musical Time and had a hit duet with Sarah Brightman on the Phantom of the Opera song "All I Ask of You." All this led to 1987's Always Guaranteed , his most successful album of the '80s thanks to the singles "My Pretty One" and "Some People." For its 1989 follow-up Stronger , Richard worked with hit-makers Stock-Aitken-Waterman , which marked the last time he truly attempted to sound contemporary. During the '90s and into the new millennium, there was little question Cliff Richard was a British pop music institution, appearing regularly on television and at public events and occasionally popping up on the charts. In 1995, he was honored with the appointment of a Knight Bachelor in the British Empire. In 1999, when EMI refused to release his single "The Millennium Prayer," Richard marshaled public support to get the song, which was independently released, to number one.

Remarkably, he was able to score more Top 10 singles over the course of the 2000s: the seasonal "Santa's List" and "21st Century Christmas" went to five and two, respectively in 2003 and 2006, then his 50th Anniversary Album spawned the number three hit "Thank You for a Lifetime" in 2008. Richard celebrated his 50th Anniversary in 2008 in spectacular fashion, reuniting the Shadows for a tour and releasing a box set called And They Said It Wouldn't Last: My 50 Years in Music . The reunited Richard & the Shadows released a brand-new album called Reunited in 2009. The following year, he had a grand celebration of his 70th birthday capped off by six concerts at Royal Albert Hall. In 2001, Richard took a detour into soul for the Lamont Dozier -produced Soulicious and then in 2013, he released his 100th album, The Fabulous Rock N Roll Songbook . He returned in 2016 with Just...

Fabulous Rock 'n' Roll , an album of covers of songs from pioneers of the rock & roll genre. Cliff Richard — Listen for free on Spotify Cliff Richard Play on Spotify In the years after Elvis Presley but before the Beatles , Cliff Richard was the biggest thing in British rock & roll -- and in the years after the Beatles , he was never far from the top of the U.K. charts. Arriving in 1958, just a couple of years after skiffle swept across Britain, Richard was the first English singer to approximate the hip-shaking rebellion of American rock & roll with his 1958 debut single "Move It." A smash hit right out of the gate, "Move It" kicked off an astonishing five decades' worth of hits (his last time in the U.K. Top 10 was, as of this writing, in 2008, when "Thank You for a Lifetime" went to three). The earliest recordings, most made with his backing band the Shadows , were his hardest-rocking and undoubtedly his most influential, making an impression on nearly the entire first generation of British rock & rollers.

Like Presley , who was certainly Richard's key influence, Cliff's popularity wound up pushing him ever so gradually to the status of an all-around entertainer. He moved into movies quickly -- the first came just a year after "Move It" -- and the Shadows tamed their rockabilly, but the real shift into the mainstream came after the Beatles opened the floodgates for homegrown British rock & roll, banishing Richard to the status of an older generation. Cliff continued to have hits in the '60s, even after he and the Shadows disbanded in 1968, but he split his time between pop and Christian music; then in the early '70s he focused on hosting a variety show on the BBC.

Toward the end of the '70s, he made a big pop comeback with 1976's "Devil Woman," which became his first Top 10 hit in the U.S., and over the next five years he racked up several intercontinental soft rock hits, including 1979's "We Don't Talk Anymore," 1980's "Dreamin'," and the Olivia Newton-John duet "Suddenly," taken from the 1980 soundtrack to Xanadu. This period was his first and last time at the top of the U.S. charts but throughout the '80s, '90s, and 2000s he remained an institution in the U.K., regularly appearing in the Top Ten charts and on television, releasing 100 full-length albums in the process and, in 1995, he was made a Knight Bachelor in the British kingdom, proof of his iconic status. Cliff Richard was born Harry Rodger Webb in Lucknow, India which, on October 14, 1940, was part of the British Empire.

His father, Rodger Oscar, worked for a catering contractor employed by Indian Railways and the Webb family remained in India until the country gained its independence from Britain in 1948. Relocating to a semi-detached in the London suburb of Carshalton in Surrey, Harry Webb, like so many teenagers of his era, became interested in music thanks to the skiffle phenomenon of 1956/1957. A quick succession of groups came and went -- he formed the Quintones in 1957, then joined the Dick Teague Skiffle Group -- before settling with the U.K. group called the Drifters, who became popular enough to attract the attention of manager Harry Greatorex. He suggested a name change -- the Cliff came from Greatorex, the Richard came from Drifters guitarist and songwriter Ian Samwell, who penned "Move It" -- and soon the band became Cliff Richard & the Drifters, playing larger shows and landing a record contract.

"Schoolboy Crush" was planned as the A-side with "Move It" as its flip, but momentum built for the raucous B-side and, soon, the record galloped to number two on the U.K. singles chart. "Move It" turned Cliff Richard into a star and it ushered in a boom in British rock & roll, of which Richard was the undeniable leader. "High Class Baby" made it to seven by the end of 1958 and, after a slight dip in early 1959 with "Livin' Lovin' Doll" (which only made it to 20), he brought "Mean Streak" to 10 and had back-to-back number ones with "Living Doll" and "Travellin' Light." "Living Doll" was not only was Richard's first number one, it was the first to feature his band -- now including guitarist Hank Marvin , guitarist Bruce Welch, bassist Jet Harris and drummer Tony Meehan -- on record (previously, he recorded with studio musicians). Not long after the number one success of "Living Doll," the band faced legal action from the U.S.

R&B group the Drifters, so they change their name to the Shadows ; as Richard's career maintained momentum, the Shadows would have their own side success as an instrumental outfit, with the band's lineup shifting slightly but always anchored by Marvin and Welch. Richard was quick to capitalize on his popularity, starring in his first film Serious Charge in 1959, and softening his sound slightly to appeal to a broader audience. Throughout the early '60s, the singles and albums came quickly and so did the films. In 1960, he had five hit singles, all reaching the top three -- "Please Don't Tease" and "I Love You" topped the charts, "A Voice in the Wilderness" and "Fallin in Love with You" reached two, "Nine Times Out of Ten" peaked at three -- and he started to cultivate a fan base in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. Richard took a stab at America, touring the country in 1960, but he never made any inroads in the U.S. This lack of stateside success was easy to ignore as Richard was not only the biggest recording star of the early '60s in the U.K.

-- from 1960 to 1965, every one of his singles reached the Top 10, with "The Young Ones," "The Next Time," "Bachelor Boy," "Summer Holiday," and "The Minute You're Gone" all reaching number one -- he was also a huge movie star; 1961's The Young Ones confirmed his silver screen appeal, and 1963's Summer Holiday and 1964's Wonderful Life were also equally popular. His popularity took a hit in 1964 once Beatlemania kicked in and a wave of guitar groups flooded the British charts. Richard survived 1963 and 1964 without slipping from the Top 10, but by 1965, placing in the Top 10 was no longer guaranteed. Richard gamely tried to follow the trends, covering Mick Jagger and Keith Richards ' "Blue Turns to Grey" in 1966, but this period is distinguished by his public declaration in 1964 that he was a Christian. He considered leaving rock & roll behind but wound up pursuing a parallel career, performing secular material and religious work elsewhere, occasionally headlining Christian films.

The next pivotal year in Richard's career was 1968, the year when he represented the U.K. in the Eurovision contest via the song "Congratulations" and when the Shadows disbanded. The singer continued his relationship with Hank Marvin , with the guitarist appearing regularly on the variety show It's Cliff Richard, which premiered in 1970 and ran until 1976. Throughout the early '70s, Richard was a show biz fixture -- in addition to It's Cliff Richard (which morphed into It's Cliff and Friends in 1975), he appeared on BBC's Pop Go the Sixties and other television shows, including hosting early rounds of Eurovision -- but the hits slowed to a trickle; only 1973's "Power to All Our Friends" matched any of his '60s hits in popularity, becoming his first single since "Congratulations" to be awarded Silver certification. In 1975, he didn't place one single in the U.K. charts, breaking his 16-year streak of hits.

Conscious of this stagnation, Richard brought Shadow Bruce Welch back into the fold for 1976's I'm Nearly Famous, a record that followed in the footsteps of Elton John or, arguably, the John -sponsored 1975 comeback from Neil Sedaka . I'm Nearly Famous was wildly successful thanks to "Devil Woman," a song that not only brought him back to the Top 10 in Britain but gave him his first-ever U.S. hit; it actually charted higher in America than it did in Britain, peaking at six instead of nine. "Devil Woman" kicked off a five-year renaissance for Richard, where he regularly saw the top of the British charts and had two more international hits: "We Don't Talk Anymore," from 1979's Rock N Roll Juvenile and "Dreamin'," from 1980's I'm No Hero.

Richard re-teamed with Olivia Newton-John , who he had been performing with since the early '70s, for the 1980 film Xanadu, whose soundtrack produced the hit "Suddenly." Richard racked up a few more hits in the early '80s -- there was the vaguely new wave "Wired for Sound" in 1981 and the Phil Everly duet "She Means Nothing to Me" in 1983 -- but the comeback started to slow down as the decade progressed.

He teamed up with comedy troupe the Young Ones -- who took their name from his hit 1961 movie -- for a Comic Relief cover of "Living Doll" in 1986 and, also that year, he appeared in the West End musical Time and had a hit duet with Sarah Brightman on the Phantom of the Opera song "All I Ask of You." All this led to 1987's Always Guaranteed, his most successful album of the '80s thanks to the singles "My Pretty One" and "Some People." For its 1989 follow-up Stronger, Richard worked with hit-makers Stock-Aitken-Waterman , which marked the last time he truly attempted to sound contemporary. During the '90s and into the new millennium, there was little question Cliff Richard was a British pop music institution, appearing regularly on television and at public events and occasionally popping up on the charts. In 1995, he was honored with the appointment of a Knight Bachelor in the British Empire. In 1999, when EMI refused to release his single "The Millennium Prayer," Richard marshaled public support to get the song, which was independently released, to number one.

Remarkably, he was able to score more Top 10 singles over the course of the 2000s: the seasonal "Santa's List" and "21st Century Christmas" went to five and two, respectively in 2003 and 2006, then his 50th Anniversary Album spawned the number three hit "Thank You for a Lifetime" in 2008. Richard celebrated his 50th Anniversary in 2008 in spectacular fashion, reuniting the Shadows for a tour and releasing a box set called And They Said It Wouldn't Last: My 50 Years in Music. The reunited Richard & the Shadows released a brand-new album called Reunited in 2009. The following year, he had a grand celebration of his 70th birthday capped off by six concerts at Royal Albert Hall. In 2001, Richard took a detour into soul for the Lamont Dozier -produced Soulicious and then in 2013, he released his 100th album, The Fabulous Rock N Roll Songbook. He returned in 2016 with Just...

Fabulous Rock 'n' Roll, an album of covers of songs from pioneers of the rock & roll genre. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi Read More Show less The Shadows’ Jet Harris Dies The Shadows’ Jet Harris Dies In Music by DJ Pangburn / March 20, 2011 Share < br />this article: The bass player from the UK rock and roll group The Shadows died this past Friday. Jet Harris, the original bass player for the Shadows, passed away on March 18th from throat cancer. He was 71 years old. The Shadows began as Cliff Richards’ backing group and were one of the biggest UK rock groups in the early 60s, attracting the admiration of John Lennon and George Harrison, amongst others. In fact, George Harrison and John Lennon even wrote a little-known but fantastic Beatles song in tribute to them called “ Cry for a Shadow ” (vintage garage rock). Chances are you’ve heard a Shadows song and haven’t even known it, such as “Apache” (listen to it below). And, oddly enough, the group was something of a surf rock group in the vein of Joe Meek and his work with the Tornados.

Harris joined the Shadows in 1959 and left in 1962 following disagreements and went solo, recording hit songs such as “ Besame Mucho ” and “The Man With the Golden Arm.” Like the Shadows, Harris’ solo work sounds like it should be in a Quentin Tarantino film, particularly “Besame Mucho.” Beyond the obvious musical talent, Harris looked the shit. In 1963, Harris, along with ex-Shadows drummer Tony Meehan recorded a Jerry Lordan song “ Diamonds ,” which sounds a bit like an upbeat Ennio Morricone number with some ethereal background vocals. There is even orchestration in the song, which was pretty forward thinking for rock and rollers in the early 60s. (Side note: Jimmy Page was a session guitarist on the recording of “Diamonds.”) By the late 60s Harris was essentially out of the music industry, although he did appear briefly in the 1967 line-up of the Jeff Beck Group. For several decades he was a victim of his alcoholism and it’s something of tragedy that Harris didn’t keep recording into the late 60s and 70s because he definitely had talent.

Listen to some Shadows tracks below which Harris either co-wrote or to which he lent his vocals. “Apache” With The Shadows | Cliff Richard and the Shadows Cliff Richard and the Shadows Privacy Policy With The Shadows Early on in Cliff Richard’s career, he had the opportunity to be the star of several television series, the most notable of which, was The Cliff Richard Show, which ran from 1960 to 1963. The show required him to perform with a backing band, which were originally called The Drifters. The original line-up included Ian Samwell, Terry Smart, and Norman Mitcham, little known musicians, who were eclipsed by their better known, and more successful replacements. Cliff Richard was later joined by Hank Marvin on lead guitar, Bruce Welch on rhythm guitar, Jet Harris on bass, and Tony Meehan on drums. As well as performing as a backing band on The Cliff Richard Show, they also headed into the recording studio to record instrumentals for Cliff’s early hits, their first effort, being the well-known song ‘Living Doll’, penned by Lionel Bart. Around this time, The Drifters discovered an American group performing under the same name, and changed their name to The Shadows to avoid legal issues.

Along with appearing on many of Cliff’s early hits, The Shadows can also be seen on the films ‘Summer Holiday’ and ‘The Young Ones’ , ‘Wonderful Life’, and ‘Finders Keepers’. Although throughout his career Cliff has appeared with various musicians, backing singers, and orchestras, he did take The Shadows on tour as well. In the early days, The Shadows would perform a set on their own in the middle of Cliff’s show, performing as a backing band for the rest of the concert. They toured the UK and abroad and coped with several line-up changes, as Jet Harris and Tony Meehan left The Shadows in the early 60’s, to be replaced by Brian Locking, then John Rostill on bass, and permanent drummer Brian Bennett. Cliff Richard and The Shadows had over 30 hits together, appearing on albums, movie soundtracks, and single releases. The releases included ‘Me and My Shadows’, an album released in 1960, another album called ‘Established 1958’, and singles including ‘Lucky Lips’, and ‘The Young Ones’.

There were also appearances on compilation albums, including ‘The Definitive Rock and Roll Album, Volume 1’, and the soundtrack album to the film ‘Summer Holiday’. The Shadows split in 1968, although this was by no means the end of their professional relationship with Cliff Richard. They reunited in 1978 for 20th Anniversary concerts, and later in 1984 took part in ‘Cliff and The Shadows’ concerts and album. In 2009 Cliff and the Shadows took to the stage for what was billed ‘Their Final Reunion Tour’. A DVD of the concert, and an associated album release hit the top end of the music charts all over the world, adding to an already impressive discography, which also includes various compilations and reworked albums put out under EMI or other record labels. This is the story of Cliff Richard and The Shadows, but we mustn’t forget: The Shadows also worked independently, and were at the forefront of the guitar band era of the 60’s. What did they achieve as a band in their own right? well that’s a whole other story? Leave a Reply

Question: Who were Cliff Richard's backing group through the 60s?
Answer: The Shadows