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The Real Cliff Richard
A celibate Christian knighted for his charitable work, Sir Cliff Richard seems the antithesis of rock-and-roll, and yet he was once hailed as the 'British Elvis'. In The Real Cliff Richard, Channel 4 reveals the curious story of the 'Peter Pan of Pop'. From a Distance Harry Rodger Webb was born in 1940 in Lucknow, India, the only son of expatriates Rodger and Dorothy Webb. Like many other British families, the Webbs left ahead of the country's independence, returning to England in 1948. They settled in Hertfordshire, where Harry was teased for his supposed Indian appearance. The Young Ones Harry's teenage years coincided with the birth of rock-and-roll. After hearing Elvis Presley's Heartbreak Hotel and seeing Bill Haley and The Comets in concert, Harry began playing with two school friends, as The Drifters, unaware of the famous US soul group of the same name. In April 1958 a friend got The Drifters a booking at the 2Is coffee bar in Soho: a crucial venue in the new British rock-and-roll scene. By the end of their two-week engagement the group had acquired an additional guitarist (and a fan club!) and Harry had become Cliff Richard. That June, EMI's Norrie Paramor offered to sign the group. In July 1958 Cliff Richard and The Drifters recorded their first single, Schoolboy Crush, a song which had already been a hit in the US for Bobby Helms. The B-side was Move It!, written by the band's newly-acquired guitarist Ian Samwell. The song, rapidly promoted to the A-side, was the first British rock-and-roll record, and has been cited as an inspiration by musicians including John Lennon (five days Cliff's senior). Wired for Sound After the recording session, Cliff was signed to EMI's Columbia label; the rest of the group received a session fee. Shortly afterwards, Cliff was offered a tour supporting the then-popular American act The Kalin Twins. On his father's advice, Cliff sacked his group and recruited replacements at the 2Is. By the end of the tour, the revamped Drifters were topping the bill. Meanwhile, promoter Jack Good had booked the group for the pioneering TV programme Oh Boy!. Under Good's tutelage, Cliff abandoned his Elvis-like mannerisms and developed a new stage persona, combining rock-and-roll energy with a crooner's polish. Cliff's teenage good looks made it an explosive combination. 'His violent hip-swinging was revolting,' commented the NME, and the Daily Sketch asked, 'Is this boy too sexy for television?' In 1959, Cliff had small parts in the films Serious Charge and Expresso Bongo; in the second of these he played Bongo Herbert, a talentless young pop star. A song featured in Serious Charge gave Cliff his first number one: Living Doll. The single marked Cliff's new direction: family entertainment. Asked in this period about his relations with his audience, Cliff replied, 'I think the main thing is to do exactly what they want.' Cliff and his group, now renamed The Shadows, had a hectic schedule; 1961 saw Cliff's third album and his first major film (The Young Ones). Cliff's strongest relationships throughout this period were with his parents. His mother in particular supported Cliff, both in his career as a teen idol and in his conviction that getting married would damage it – and that sex outside marriage was immoral. Saviour's Day Like much else in his life, Cliff's conversion to Christianity followed an encounter with a mentor figure. In 1961 his father died and Cliff found himself drawn to spiritualism, which Brian Locking, a then-member of The Shadows and a Jehovah's Witness, warned him against. Concerned that Cliff might convert – as both Cliff's mother and Shadows guitarist Hank Marvin later did – a former schoolteacher engineered a meeting between Cliff and religious education teacher Bill Latham. Over the next few years – a highly successful period for Cliff, in which he starred in the films Summer Holiday and Wonderful Life – Cliff grappled with Christianity. Conversion came in 1966. Having helped Cliff through his spiritual crisis, Latham became his best friend, and the two lived together until 2000. Cliff came out as a Christian at a Billy Graham rally, where he declared that his faith was compatible with pop music. The evidence was equivocal; indeed, immediately after his conversion, Cliff considered devoting himself to religion. Instead, he tried to merge his two vocations: he went on tour with Christian group The Settlers, made a gospel album (Good News) and starred in a film made by the Billy Graham Organisation (Two a Penny). Power to All Our Friends Cliff's uncomplicated version of Christianity, based on a heartfelt personal relationship with God, entrenched his social conservatism. In 1971 Cliff lent his support to the Festival of Light, a campaign launched by Christian evangelical groups with the aim of promoting 'Christian values'. Spearheaded by Mary Whitehouse and Malcolm Muggeridge, the Festival focused almost exclusively on the control of sexual behaviour: its main focuses were abortion, pornography and homosexuality. Cliff's sizeable gay following was outraged and called his own sexuality into question. Cliff's faith also affected his work. One 1975 single, Honky Tonk Angel, was recalled when Cliff discovered that its subject was a 'woman of low repute'; copies now change hands for up to £20. With the passage of time, Cliff's records have grown ever more wholesome, while hits have become rarer. Prior to 1999's Millennium Prayer – a number-one hit despite almost universally being denied radio play – his last Top-10 single was in 1993 when Peace in Our Time reached number eight. Nonetheless Cliff still regards himself as a pop star; and thousands of devoted fans agree. Mistletoe and Wine By his own account, Cliff has got drunk three times in his life and had sex twice (in 1960). The man who once told an interviewer he would remain single until he was '25 at least', has had a series of close female friends – notably Una Stubbs, Olivia Newton-John and Sue Barker – but never married. 'I'm aware of the rumours, but I am not gay,' he stated in a 1996 interview for the Daily Mail. Apparently happy with his Bachelor Boy image, he added, 'There is no room in my life for drugs, fights, divorce, adultery, sadism, unnecessary fuss and sex.' After a lifetime in the spotlight, Cliff still believes in giving the fans 'exactly what they want', declaring himself willing to preserve his looks using Botox or even plastic surgery. Now in his 60s, Cliff manages to maintain his 'eternal youth' and inviolable privacy, and can still arouse fascination in some and curiosity in many. |
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