Childhood & Early Life
Cliff was born as Harry Rodger Webb to Rodger Oscar Webb, who worked for a catering service provider for the Indian Railways and Dorothy Marie Dazely, a dormitory matron at La Martiniere Girls' School, Lucknow.
He attended the St. Thomas' Church School, Howrah for his elementary education, after his family moved to Calcutta in 1945.
After the Independence of India, the family moved to Tilbury, Essex, England, in 1948.
They settled in Carshalton, Surrey, till his father found a job in ‘Thorn Electrical Industries’ in 1949 and took his family to Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire. Here, he attended the Kings Road Junior Mixed Infants School.
Later, he went to the Cheshunt Secondary Modern School from where he graduated in 1957. He began working as temporary clerk for Atlas Lamps and when he was 16 his father gave him a guitar.
In 1957, he formed his own band Quintones vocal group, prior to joining the Dick Teague Skiffle Group.
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Career
Soon he became the lead vocalist for the rock and roll group ‘Drifters’ and adopted the stage name Cliff Richard in 1958 upon his visit to Regal Ballroom in Ripley, Derbyshire.
His single ‘Schoolboy Crush-Move It’ was an instant hit, peaking at No. 2 on UK charts. Between late 1958 and early 1959 he came up with ‘High Class Baby’ and ‘Livin' Lovin' Doll’.
In 1959, he made his film debut with ‘Serious Charge’. The name of the band was later changed to ‘The Shadows’.
He starred in the 1961 movie ‘The Young Ones’ which was a huge success, the title song of the movie garnered immense popularity and sold more than a million copies.
In 1965, he released his single ‘On My Word’ which was again a massive hit and peaked at the UK charts.
It was followed by another hit number ‘The Day I Met Marie’ in 1967, which also appeared in UK music charts. The same year, he acted in the film ‘Two a Penny’, playing the role of Jamie Hopkins, who becomes entangled in drug-dealing.
The band ‘The Shadows’ fell apart in 1968, but Richard, kept giving hit singles.
He also made his last film appearance in 1973 movie ‘Take Me High’. ‘The Shadows’ regrouped this year as well.
Till now, he was not very received in the U.S. and his fame was limited to Britain only. However, in 1976, his album ‘I'm Nearly Famous’ became an international hit and reinstated his career which had slowed down due to the arrival of the ‘Beatles’.
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Another of his chartbuster was ‘We Don't Talk Anymore’ in 1979 which sold 5,000,000 copies worldwide.
In 1980, he recorded a duet, ‘Suddenly’, with Olivia Newton-John, which peaked at no. 20 in UK.
He recorded the duet ‘All I Ask of You’ with Sarah Brightman in 1986 for the famous musical ‘The Phantom of the Opera’. He remained one of the top most singers throughout the 1980s, with most of his songs peaking at no.1.
In 1996, he entertained the crowd at Centre Court on a rainy day during the Wimbledon Championship.
He released his studio album ‘Wanted’ in 2001, and soon came up with another successful album, ‘Cliff at Christmas’.
On 14 June 2004, he performed with ‘The Shadows’ at London Palladium, a famous theatre.
‘Love... The Album’, a compilation of his old and new songs, was released on the 12th of November 2007.
In his 50th year in music industry in 2008, he released ‘And They Said It Wouldn't Last (My 50 Years in Music)’, an eight-CD box set. The same year, he joined ‘The Shadows’ to perform at the ‘Royal Variety Performance’.
In September 2009, Richard and ‘The Shadows’ released their studio album ‘Reunited’, which was their first album together in forty years.
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He teamed with some of America’s most popular R&B and soul singers to record the album ‘Soulicious’ in 2011, which was released in October that year.
He was one of the performers in the Diamond Jubilee concert held near Buckingham Palace on June 4, 2012.
Major Works
His single ‘Living Doll’ was a hugely popular song which topped the UK Singles Chart two times selling 2,000,000 copies worldwide.
‘The Young Ones’, a soundtrack album by the singer peaked at no. 1 in the UK Albums Chart, selling more than a million copies in UK.
‘Wired for Sound’ released in 1981 was also a significant hit, occupying almost 25 weeks at the UK album charts and selling more than a million copies worldwide.
Awards & Achievements
For his contributions to music, he was made Knight Bachelor on June 17, 1995.
He featured at 56th spot in the 2002 list of ‘100 Greatest Britons’, based on public votes, conducted by BBC.
In 2006, he was conferred Portuguese knighthood and was appointed ‘Commander of the Order of Prince Henry’.
Personal Life & Legacy
Richard remained a bachelor, after one of his past relationships didn’t culminate into marriage. On being asked about this, he 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.”
He leads a busy life and his sisters are only surviving family, after the deaths of his parents.
He is an active member of ‘Tearfund’ a non-profit organization and also supports same-sex-marriage.
