Richard Young is the name of:

• Richard Young (wrestler) (born 1975), professional wrestler
• Richard Young (actor), American film and television actor
• Richard Young (bishop) (1843–1905), Canadian bishop
• Richard Young (Bishop of Rochester) (died 1418), 15th-century bishop
• Richard Young (footballer), English footballer
• Richard Young (MP for Bewdley), English politician
• Richard Young (musician), musician with the The Kentucky Headhunters
• Richard Young (photographer) (born 1947), English society and celebrity photographer
• Richard Young (New York congressman) (1846–1935), House Representative for New York state
• Richard D. Young (born 1942), State Senator for Indiana
• Richard L. Young (born 1953), U.S. federal judge
• Richard M. Young (1798–1861), Senator from Illinois
• Richard Whitehead Young (1858–1919), U.S. Army Brigadier General

See also[link]

• Richard Youngs (born 1966), musician
• Dick Young (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles about people with the same name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Sir Cliff Richard OBE
Cliff Richard in November 2009
Background information
Birth name	Harry Rodger Webb
Born	(1940-10-14) 14 October 1940 (age 71) Lucknow, United Provinces, British India
Genres	Skiffle, rock and roll, pop, gospel, contemporary Christian music
Occupations	Musician, actor, philanthropist
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, percussion
Years active	1958–present
Labels	EMI, EMI's Columbia, Epic, Decca, Rocket, Papillon
Associated acts	The Shadows, Olivia Newton-John, Dionne Warwick
Website	www.cliffrichard.org

Sir Cliff Richard, OBE (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is a British pop singer, musician, performer, actor, and philanthropist. With his backing group The Shadows, Richard, originally positioned as a rebellious rock and roll singer in the style of Little Richard^[1] and Elvis Presley, dominated the British popular music scene in the pre-Beatles period of the late 1950s and early 1960s. His 1958 hit single "Move It" is often described as Britain's first authentic rock and roll song, and John Lennon once claimed that "before Cliff and the Shadows, there had been nothing worth listening to in British music."^[2][3] A conversion to Christianity and subsequent softening of his music later led to a more middle of the road pop image, sometimes venturing into gospel music.

Over a 53-year career, Richard has become a fixture of the British entertainment world, amassing many gold and platinum discs and awards, including three Brit awards and two Ivor Novello awards. He has had more than 130 singles, albums and EPs make the UK Top 20, more than any other artist^[4] and holds the record (with Elvis Presley) as the only act to make the UK singles charts in all of its first six decades (1950s–2000s). He has achieved 14 UK No. 1 singles (or 18, depending on the counting methodology) and is the only singer to have had a No. 1 single in the UK in six consecutive decades: the 1950s through to the 2000s (discounting digital downloads and counting only CDs, he had a UK No. 1 single in the 2000s). Richard is the biggest selling singles artist of all time in the UK, with total sales of over 21 million^[5] and has reportedly sold an estimated 250 million records worldwide.^[6][7]

Richard has never achieved the same impact in the United States despite eight US Top 40 singles, including the million-selling "Devil Woman" and "We Don't Talk Anymore", the latter becoming the first to reach the Hot 100's top 40 in the 1980s by a singer who had been in the top 40 in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. In Canada, Richard achieved moderate success in the 1980s with several albums reaching platinum status. He has remained a popular music, film, and television personality in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Northern Europe and Asia, and he retains a following in other countries.

Biography[link]

1940–58: Childhood[link]

Harry Rodger Webb was born on 14 October 1940 at the King George Hospital, Victoria Street, in Lucknow, India, to Rodger Oscar Webb, a manager for a catering contractor that serviced the Indian Railways, and his wife Dorothy Marie Dazely.^[8] Richard was baptised Harry Rodger Webb on 2 November 1940 at St Thomas's Church, Dehradun, India.^{[citation needed]} The family lived in a modest home with other Anglo-Indians at Maqbara, near the main shopping centre of Hazratganj. The Anglo-Indians living at Maqbara were often employed as musicians; a band played at the Royal Cafe Restaurant, Lucknow, and another at the Mohmmad Bagh club, which was the officers' club serving the garrison at Lucknow.^[9] Dorothy's mother served as the dormitory matron at the La Martiniere Girls' School. Anglo-Indians did not enjoy any great social status in India and were looked down upon by the British.^[9] Richard has three sisters.^[10] In around 1945, his family moved to Howrah, near Calcutta, where he started his schooling in St. Thomas' Church School, Howrah, which still exists.

In 1948, following Indian independence the family embarked on a three week sea voyage to Tilbury, Essex, England aboard the SS Ranchi. The Webbs moved from comparative wealth in India, where they had servants and lived in a company-supplied flat at Howrah near Calcutta, to a semi-detached house in Carshalton, Surrey (which was also the location of the school he attended, Stanley Park Juniors). In 1949 his father obtained employment in the credit control office of Thorn Electrical Industries and the family moved in with other relatives in Waltham Cross Hertfordshire, where he attended Kings Road Junior Mixed Infants School until a three-bedroom council house in Cheshunt was allocated to them in 1950. Harry Webb then attended Cheshunt Secondary Modern School, later renamed Riversmead School (later rebuilt and renamed Bishopslea School) from 1952 to 1957. As a member of the top stream he stayed on beyond the minimum leaving age to take GCE Ordinary Level examinations and gained a pass in English literature. He then started work as a filing clerk for a company called Atlas Lamps.^[11] A development of flats, Cliff Richard Court, has been named after him in Cheshunt.^[12]

Harry Webb became interested in skiffle. His father bought him a guitar at 16 and he formed the Quintones vocal group in 1957.^{[citation needed]} He then sang in the Dick Teague Skiffle Group.^{[citation needed]}

1958–63: Success and stardom[link]

Harry Webb became lead singer of a rock and roll group, The Drifters (not to be confused with the US group of the same name). 1950s entrepreneur Harry Greatorex wanted the up and coming Rock 'n' Roll singer to change from his real name of Harry Webb. The name Cliff was adopted as it sounded like cliff face, which suggested "Rock." It was "Move It" writer Ian Samwell who suggested that the former Harry Webb be surnamed Richard as a tribute to Webb's musical hero Little Richard.^[1][13] Before their first large-scale appearance, at the Regal Ballroom in Ripley, Derbyshire in 1958, they adopted the name "Cliff Richard and the Drifters". The four members were Harry Webb (now going under the stage name "Cliff Richard"), Ian "Sammy" Samwell on guitar, Terry Smart on drums and Norman Mitham on guitar. None of the other three played with the later and better known Shadows, although Samwell wrote songs for Richard's later career.

For his debut session, Norrie Paramor provided Richard with "Schoolboy Crush", a cover of an American record by Bobby Helms. Richard was permitted to record one of his own songs for the B-side; this was "Move It", written by the Drifters' Samwell on a number 715 Green Line bus on the way to Richard's house for a rehearsal. For the "Move It" session Paramor used the session guitarist Ernie Shears on lead guitar and Frank Clark on bass.

There are a number of stories about why the A-side was replaced by the intended B-side. One is that Norrie Paramor's young daughter raved about the B-side; another was that influential TV producer Jack Good, who used the act for his TV show Oh Boy!, wanted the only song on his show to be "Move It".^[14] Richard was quoted as saying -

NME - September 1958^[15]

The single went to No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart. Music critics Roy Carr and Tony Tyler wrote that it was the first genuine British rock classic, followed by Johnny Kidd and the Pirates' "Shakin' All Over". John Lennon was quoted as saying that "Move It" was the first English rock record.

In the early days, Richard was marketed as the British equivalent to Elvis Presley. Like previous British rockers such as Tommy Steele and Marty Wilde, Richard adopted Presley-like dress and hairstyle. In performance he struck a pose of rock attitude, rarely smiling or looking at the audience or camera. His late 1958 and early 1959 follow-up singles, "High Class Baby" and "Livin' Lovin' Doll", were followed by "Mean Streak", which carried a rocker's sense of speed and passion, and Lionel Bart's "Living Doll". It was on "Living Doll" that the Drifters began to back Richard on record. It was his fifth record,and became his first No. 1 single. By that time the group's lineup had changed with the arrival of Jet Harris, Tony Meehan, Hank Marvin, and Bruce Welch. The group was obliged to change its name to "The Shadows" after legal complications with the US Drifters as "Living Doll" entered the American top 40, licensed by ABC-Paramount. "Living Doll" was used in Richard's debut film Serious Charge, but as a country standard, rather than a rock and roll standard.

The Shadows were not a typical backing group. They would become contractually separate from Richard, and the group received no royalties for records backing Richard. In 1959, The Shadows (then still the Drifters) landed an EMI recording contract of their own, for independent recordings. That year, they released three singles, two of which featured double-sided vocals and one of which had instrumental A and B sides. In 1960, they recorded and released "Apache" this time using Richard as a session percussionist playing Chinese drums to open and close this single.^{[citation needed]} Reaching the top of the charts in more than one country, the single set The Shadows on a path of their own. They thereafter had several major hits, including five UK No. 1s. The band also continued to appear and record with Richard and wrote many of his hits. On more than one occasion, a Shadows' instrumental replaced a Richard song at the top of the British charts.

Richard's fifth single "Living Doll" triggered a softer, more relaxed, sound. Subsequent hits, the No. 1s "Travellin' Light" and "I Love You" and also "A Voice in the Wilderness" lifted from his film "Expresso Bongo" and "Theme for a Dream" cemented Richard's status as a mainstream pop entertainer along with contemporaries such as Adam Faith and Billy Fury. Throughout the early sixties his hits were consistently in the top five.

In 1961, EMI records organised Richard's 21st birthday party at its London headquarters in Manchester Square led by his producer Norrie Paramor. Photographs of the celebrations were incorporated into Richard's next album "21 Today" in which Tony Meehan joined in despite, then, having very recently left the Shadows to be replaced by Brian Bennett.

Typically, The Shadows closed the first half of the show with a 30-minute set of their own, then backed Richard on his show-closing 45-minute stint as exemplified by the retrospective CD album release of "Live at the ABC Kingston 1962". Tony Meehan and Jet Harris left the group in 1961 and 1962 respectively and later had their own chart successes for Decca. The Shadows added bass players Brian Locking (1962–63) and then John Rostill (1963–1968) and took on Brian Bennett permanently on drums.

In the early days, particularly on EP and album releases, Richard sometimes recorded without The Shadows in order to cater to other styles with The Norrie Paramor Orchestra with Tony Meehan and then Brian Bennett as a session drummer. Even after the Beatles' rise he continued to achieve hits, although more often with an orchestra rather than The Shadows: a revival of "It's All In The Game" and "Constantly". A session under the direction of Billy Sherrill in Nashville yielded two more top two hits: "The Minute You're Gone" and "Wind Me Up" in 1965.

Richard, and in particular The Shadows, never achieved star status in the United States. In 1960 they toured the US and were well-received; however, lacklustre support and distribution from a revolving door of American record labels proved an obstacle to long-term success Stateside despite several chart records by Richard including the aforementioned "It's All In The Game" on Epic, via a renewed linking of the worldwide Columbia labels after Philips ended its distribution deal with CBS. To the Shadows' chagrin, Apache reached No. 1 in the US via a cover version by Danish guitarist Jorgen Ingmann which was virtually unchanged from their worldwide hit, save a sound effect Ingmann added evoking whooshing arrows in flight created by flicking his fingers on the fretboard. Richard and the band appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, which was crucial for The Beatles, but these performances did not help them gain sustained success in North America.

Richard and The Shadows appeared in six feature films all commercially successful,(although the films title was changed to suit various countries' markets), including a rather odd debut in the 1959 film Serious Charge but most notably in The Young Ones, (the title song being his biggest hit up to "Mistletoe and Wine"), Summer Holiday (which featured a slimmed-down Richard with visible dancing skills), Wonderful Life and Finders Keepers. These films created their own genre known as the "Cliff Richard musical" and led to Richard being named the second biggest star at the British box office in 1962.^[16] The irreverent 1980s TV sitcom The Young Ones took its name from Richard's 1962 film, and also made references to the singer. In 1966, Richard and the Shadows appeared as marionettes in the Gerry Anderson film Thunderbirds Are GO. In the summer of 1963 Cliff and the Shadows appeared for a season in Blackpool, where Richard had his portrait modelled by Victor Heyfron, M.A.

1964–75: Changing circumstances[link]

As with the other existing rock acts in Britain, Richard's career was affected by the sudden advent of The Beatles and the Mersey sound in 1963 and 1964. However, his popularity was established enough to allow him to weather the storm and continue to have hits in the charts throughout the 1960s, albeit not at the level that he had enjoyed before. Nor did doors open to him in the US market; he was not considered part of the British Invasion, and despite four Hot 100 hits (including the top 25 "It's All In The Game") between August 1963 and August 1964, the US public had little awareness of him. However, he continued having international hits, including 1967's "The Day I Met Marie", which reached No. 10 in the UK Singles Chart and No. 5 in the Australian charts, and is considered a quintessential summer hit, due to its summery nature.

Although baptised as an Anglican, Richard did not appear to practise the faith in his early years. However, in 1964, he became an active Christian and this embrace of the faith has become an important aspect of his life. Standing up publicly as a Christian affected his career in several ways. Initially, he believed that he should quit rock 'n roll, feeling he could no longer be the rocker who had been called a "crude exhibitionist" and "too sexy for TV" and a threat to parents' daughters. However, by the time Richard converted, his image had become tamer because of his film roles and well-spoken manners on radio and TV. Richard intended at first to "reform his ways" and become a teacher, but Christian friends advised him not to abandon his career just because he had become a Christian. Soon after, Richard re-emerged, performing with Christian groups and recording some Christian material. He still recorded secular songs with the Shadows, but devoted a lot of his time to Christian work, including appearances with the Billy Graham crusades. As time progressed, Richard balanced his faith and work, enabling him to remain one of the most popular singers in Britain as well as one of its best-known Christians. He was a leading figure in the Nationwide Festival of Light during 1971, protesting against the commercial exploitation of sex and violence in Britain, and advocating the teaching of Christ as the key to recovering moral stability in the nation.^{[citation needed]}

Richard's first serious acting role took place in the 1967 film Two a Penny, released by Billy Graham's World Wide Pictures,^[17] in which he played Jamie Hopkins, a young man who gets involved in drug dealing while questioning his life after his girlfriend changes her attitude. He released the live album "Cliff in Japan" in 1967.

In 1968, he sang the UK's entry in the Eurovision Song Contest: "Congratulations" by Bill Martin and Phil Coulter; it lost by just one point to Spain's "La La La". According to John Kennedy O'Connor's The Eurovision Song Contest—The Official History, this was the closest result yet in the contest and Richard locked himself in the toilet to avoid the nerves of the voting.^[18] In May 2008 a Reuters news report claimed that voting in the competition had been fixed by the Spanish dictator leader, Francisco Franco, to ensure that the Spanish entry won, allowing them to host the contest the following year (1969). In particular, it is claimed that Spanish TVE television executives offered to buy programmes in exchange for votes.^[19][20] The story was widely covered and featured on UK Channel 4 News as a main story, with Jon Snow interviewing author and historian John Kennedy O'Connor about the matter.^[21] Eurovision later ended voting by national juries in a bid to eradicate such alleged scams. Nevertheless, "Congratulations" was a huge hit throughout Europe and yet another No. 1 in April 1968.

After the Shadows split in 1968, Richard continued to record. He had already become accustomed to the Shadows' absence, and was able to record in a variety of settings. Although many of his earliest fans regretted that Richard had tried out songs which were not strictly in the rock 'n roll genre, most had got used to his habit of recording rockier material with the Shadows, while producing more middle-of-the-road material at other times; this versatility extended Richard's career prospects.

Portrait by Allan Warren (1973)

During the 1970s, Richard took part in several television shows and fronted his own show It's Cliff Richard! from 1970 - 1976. It starred Olivia Newton-John, Hank Marvin and Una Stubbs, and included A Song for Europe. These shows, for a time, branded Richard as a television personality more than a recording artist. He began 1970 by appearing live on the BBC's review of the sixties music scene, Pop Go The Sixties, which was broadcast across Britain and Europe on 31 December 1969. He performed "Bachelor Boy" with The Shadows and "Congratulations" solo. In 1972, he made a short BBC television comedy film called The Case with appearances from comedians and his first ever duets with a woman, Olivia Newton-John. He went on to release a double live album "Cliff Live in Japan 1972" featuring Newton-John.

His final acting role on the silver screen was in 1973 when he starred in the film, Take Me High.

In 1973, he sang the British Eurovision entry "Power to All Our Friends"; the song finished third, close behind Luxembourg's "Tu Te Reconnaîtras" and Spain's "Eres Tú". This time, Richard took Valium in order to overcome his nerves and his manager was almost unable to wake him for the performance.^[22] Richard also hosted the BBC's qualifying heat for the Eurovision Song Contest, A Song for Europe, in 1970, 1971 and 1972 as part of his BBCTV variety series. He presented the Eurovision Song Contest Previews for the BBC in 1971 and 1972.

In 1975, he released the single "Honky Tonk Angel" produced by Hank Marvin and John Farrar, oblivious to its connotations or hidden meanings. As soon as Richard was notified that a honky-tonk angel was Southern US slang for a prostitute, Richard ordered EMI to withdraw it. He refused to promote it despite making a video for it. EMI agreed to his demand despite positive sales. About 1,000 copies are known to exist on vinyl. Subsequently, Richard was harassed by the British media about this single and in particular this apparent career 'anti-Christian' faux-pas. Thereafter, all of Richard's songs on any format were double checked by his management for any conflict with his faith.^{[citation needed]}

1976–94: Comeback[link]

In 1976, the decision was made to repackage Richard as a "rock" artist. That year he produced the landmark album I'm Nearly Famous, which included the successful but controversial guitar-driven track "Devil Woman" (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. In the same year, Richard became the first occidental artist to tour the USSR at the height of the Cold War.^{[citation needed]}

Notwithstanding this, Richard continued to release Gospel-tinged albums in parallel with his rock and pop albums, for example: Small Corners from 1978 contained the single "Yes He Lives". Despite his 1976 comeback, this single failed to chart in the United Kingdom. In 1980, the singer would legally change his name by deed poll from Harry Webb to Cliff Richard.^[23] On 31 December 1976, he performed his latest single "Hey, Mr. Dream Maker" on BBC1's A Jubilee Of Music, celebrating British pop music for Queen Elizabeth II's impending Silver Jubilee.

In 1979, Richard teamed up with the producer Bruce Welch for the pop hit single "We Don't Talk Anymore", written by Alan Tarney, which hit No. 1 in the UK and No. 7 in the US Bryan Ferry added hummed backing vocals to the song. The record gave Richard the distinction of becoming the first act to reach the Hot 100's top 40 in the 1980s who had also been there in each of the three previous decades. The song was quickly added onto the end of his latest album Rock 'n' Roll Juvenile. 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 ever. The accompanying music video was the sixth to appear on American cable channel MTV when it debuted on 1 August 1981. In 1980, Richard received the O.B.E. from the Queen for services to music and charity.^{[citation needed]}

At long last he had some extended success in the United States following "Devil Woman". The follow-up "Dreamin'" peaked at No. 10. His 1980 duet "Suddenly" with Olivia Newton-John, from the film Xanadu, peaked at No. 20. Richard continued with a string of top ten albums, including I'm No Hero, Wired for Sound, Now You See Me, Now You Don't, and, marking his 25th year in show business, Silver. The singles chart also saw his most consistent period of top twenty hits since the mid 1960s, with "A Little In Love", "Dreamin'", and "Suddenly" on the Hot 100 at the same time at the end of 1980. His 1985 single "She's So Beautiful" reached No. 17 in the UK. 1987 saw Richard record his Always Guaranteed album, which became his best selling album of all new material. It contained the two top ten hit singles "My Pretty One" and "Some People". Richard concluded his thirtieth year in music by reaching No. 1 on the British singles chart with "Mistletoe and Wine", while simultaneously holding the No. 1 positions on the album and video charts with the compilation Private Collection summing up his biggest hits from 1979-1988. "Mistletoe and Wine" was his biggest seller to that point.

In 1986, Richard teamed up with The Young Ones to re-record his smash hit "Living Doll" for the charity Comic Relief. Along with the song, the recording contained comedy dialogue between Richard and The Young Ones. The release went to No. 1. That same year he 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. Two Richard singles, "She's So Beautiful" and "Born To Rock 'n Roll", were released respectively in 1985 and 1986 from the concept album recorded for Time. In 1989, Richard received the Brits highest award The Outstanding Achievement award.^[24]

Further top ten albums included Stronger in 1989, which included the UK No. 2 hit "Best Of Me", and UK No. 3 "Just Don't Have The Heart" written and produced by Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman, and From a Distance in 1990. Later that year, Richard scored his second UK Christmas No. 1 single with "Saviour's Day". Richard unsuccessfully bid for the Christmas No. 1 spot again with "We Should Be Together" and "Healing Love" in 1991 and 1993 respectively – the latter being taken from his No. 1 studio album Cliff Richard - The Album. The next few years saw Richard concentrate on bringing the musical Heathcliff to the stage. The production was a resounding success,^{[citation needed]} but the time it took seemed to take a toll on his reinvigorated chart status. Back in the UK during the next years and throughout the 1980s, Richard remained one of the best-known music artists in the country. In the space of a few years he worked with Elton John, Mark Knopfler, Julian Lennon, Freddie Mercury, Stevie Wonder, Phil Everly, Janet Jackson, Sheila Walsh, and Van Morrison. Richard also reunited with Olivia Newton-John. In 1989, he filled the Wembley Stadium for a few nights with a spectacular titled "The Event". Meanwhile, The Shadows later re-formed (and again split). They recorded on their own, but also reunited with Richard in 1978, 1984, and 1989–90 for some concerts. On 14 June 2004 Richard joined the Shadows on-stage 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 "Cliff and the Shadows".

1995–2007: Knighthood[link]

Richard was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II on 25 October 1995,^[25] the first rock star to be so honoured (Bob Geldof had received his honorary knighthood a full nine years earlier, but not being either a British subject or British citizen, he is not permitted to use the title 'Sir').

In 1996, he famously led the Wimbledon Centre Court crowd in singing during a rain delay when asked by Wimbledon officials to entertain the crowd.^[26][27] Richard was not aware this performance was being televised by the BBC and after singing six of his golden greats, TV presenter Des Lynam commented on this and added jokingly "we'll probably get one hell of a bill".^{[citation needed]}

In 1998, Richard demonstrated that radio stations were refusing to play his music by releasing his latest single "Can't Keep This Feeling In" on a white label under the pseudonym of Blacknight. The single was well regarded and featured on playlists until the true artist was revealed.^[28]

In 1999, controversy again arose regarding radio stations refusing to play his releases when EMI, Richard's label since 1958, refused to release his latest song, "The Millennium Prayer".^{[clarification needed]} 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.1 and the third-highest-selling single of his career. Richard's next album, in 2001, 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. 5 in 2003.

For his seven day long 60th birthday party Richard in conjunction with OK magazine hired a cruise boat to Monte Carlo and sailed with his top 80 (out of a possible 500) specially invited guests, mostly from British showbiz, to France. Notable attendees were Olivia Newton-John, Shirley Bassey, Sue Barker, Gloria Hunniford, Tim Rice, Mike Read, Bobby Davro (a Cliff Richard impersonator), Richard's three sisters, etc. Notable non-attendees were all the members of The Shadows, except Bruce Welch, all of whom would have been shortlisted on Richard's original list of 500 guests.

Richard decamped to Nashville, Tennessee for his next album project in 2004, employing a writers' conclave to give him the pick of all new songs for the album Something's Goin' On. Though the collection was critically well-received, it had disappointing sales. Nevertheless it was yet another top ten album, and produced three top fifteen singles: "Something's Goin' On", "I Cannot Give You My Love", with Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees, and the lively "What Car". Richard did not hide his disappointment with the album's lacklustre sales, and it was speculated that it might have been his last ever album of original songs.

Two's Company, an album of duets released in 2006, was another top 10 success and included newly recorded material with Brian May, Dionne Warwick, Anne Murray, Barry Gibb and Daniel O'Donnell, plus some previously recorded duets with artists such as Phil Everly, Elton John and Olivia Newton-John. Two's Company was released to coincide with the UK leg of his latest world tour, "Here and Now", which included a number of lesser known but fan-favourite songs such as "My Kinda Life", "How Did She Get Here", "Hey Mr. Dream Maker", "For Life", "A Matter Of Moments", "When The Girl In Your Arms", "Every Face Tells A Story", "Peace In Our Time" and the Christmas single "21st Century Christmas", which debuted at No. 2 on the UK singles chart.

Another compilation album, Love... The Album was released on 12 November 2007. Like Two's Company before it, this album includes both previously released material and newly recorded songs, namely "Waiting For A Girl Like You", "When You Say Nothing At All", "All Out Of Love", "If You're Not the One" and "When I Need You" (the last was released as a single, reaching No. 38; the album peaked at No. 13). The concept of the project has divided fans who anticipate an album of new material.

2008–present: 50th anniversary and reunion[link]

2009 Brussels

2008, Richard's 50th year in music, saw the release of the 8 CD box set And They Said It Wouldn't Last (My 50 Years In Music).^[29] In September, a single celebrating his 50 years in pop music, titled "Thank You for a Lifetime" was released. On 14 September 2008 it reached No. 3 on the UK music charts. On 2 November 2008, British newspaper The Mail on Sunday gave away a free promotional CD entitled 50th Anniversary containing 12 tracks picked by Richard himself. On 11 November 2008, Richard's official website announced that 20 years after their latest concert together, Cliff and The Shadows would reunite to celebrate their 50th anniversary in the music business. A month later they performed at the Royal Variety Performance. In 2009 Cliff and The Shadows brought their partnership to an end with the "Golden Anniversary concert tour of the UK".

A new album by Richard and the Shadows was released in September 2009. Titled Reunited, It was their first studio project in forty years. The 28 tracks recorded comprise 25 re-recordings of their earlier classics, with three "new" tracks, originally from that era (and earlier), the single "Singing the Blues", along with Eddie Cochran's "C'mon Everybody" and the Frankie Ford hit "Sea Cruise". The tracks are to be spread across the single and its bonus tracks, a limited edition version of the album, as well as a standard CD release. The album charted at No. 6 in the UK charts in its opening week and peaked at No. 4. The reunion tour continued into Europe in 2010. In June 2009, it was reported by Sound Kitchen Studios in Nashville that Richard was to return there shortly to record a new album of original recordings of jazz songs.^[30] He was to record fourteen tracks in a week.

Richard performed "Congratulations" at the 70th birthday celebrations of Queen Margrethe II in Denmark on 13 April 2010.

On 14 October 2010, Richard celebrated his 70th birthday and to mark the occasion, he performed a series of six concerts at the Royal Albert Hall, London. Over 30,000 tickets for the concerts went on sale on 7 March and sold out within a few hours.^{[citation needed]} To accompany the concerts, a new album of cover versions of swing standards, Bold as Brass, was released on 11 October.

2009 Brussels

After a quick week of promotion, Richard flew out to rehearse for the German Night Of The Proms concerts in Belgium at the end of October. He made a surprise appearance at the Antwerp, Belgium concert of the Night Of The Proms on Thursday, 28 October 2010 and sang "We Don't Talk Anymore" to a great reaction from the surprised 20,000 fans at Sportpaleis Antwerp. In all, he toured 12 German cities in November and December 2010, during the Night Of The Proms concerts, as the headline act. The total of 18 concerts were attended by over 300,000 fans. Richard performed a selection of hits and tracks from the Bold As Brass album.

In Munich, Richard added his hand prints to the Munich Olympic Walk Of Stars during a break when the concerts were held there.

With the DVD release of Bold As Brass in November 2010, he achieved his third consecutive No. 1 music DVD in three years. It has so far achieved a total of eight weeks in the top 10 on the UK chart selling nearly 60,000 copies. It also charted in New Zealand, and Denmark in the top 10 and in Holland in the top 20—Selling a further 10,000 copies.

2011 saw Richard recording once again in the US for his Soulicious album, containing duets with American soul legends including Percy Sledge, Ashford and Simpson, Roberta Flack, Freda Payne, Peabo Bryson, Brenda Holloway and Candi Staton. The album is produced by Lamont Dozier with David Gest as executive producer. Released in October 2011, the album was supported by a short UK arena tour and gave Richard his 41st top ten UK hit album.

Lack of commercial support[link]

Richard openly complains about the lack of commercial support he receives from radio stations and record labels. He spoke about this on The Alan Titchmarsh Show on ITV in December 2007, pointing out that while new bands needed airplay for promotion and sales, long-established artists like him also relied upon airplay for the same ends. He did note, however, that so-called eighties radio stations did play his records and that this went some way to help sales and maintain his media presence. In the recent BBC Radio 2 documentary "Cliff – Take Another Look", he pointed out that many documentaries charting the history of British music (e.g. I'm in a Rock 'n' Roll Band!) fail to even mention him (or The Shadows).^[31]

In 2011, digital station Absolute Radio 60s, dedicated to playing popular music from the 1960s, announced they would not be playing any of Richard's records because they claimed they did not fit "the cool sound... we're trying to create". DJ Pete Mitchell claimed "Timeless acts of the decade that remain relevant today are The Beatles, The Stones, The Doors and The Who, not Sir Cliff." Richard responded to this by saying "They're lying to themselves, and more importantly they're lying to the public."^[32]

Richard believes he is "the most radical rock star there has ever been".^[31] Richard's premise is that his decision not to adopt the "sex, drugs and alcohol" image expected of rock stars, then and now, was the truly avant-garde choice.

Career achievements[link]

This biographical section of an article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (March 2011)

Richard holds many records for the number of concerts held at various venues around the world. In the UK he holds the record for most performances at the Royal Albert Hall, with over 80 performances at the venue with audiences reaching 450,000. He also holds the record for most shows at Wembley Arena, where he has performed at least 66 concerts to audiences of nearly 800,000. In Birmingham, Richard has performed at least 56 shows at the NIA (totalling 620,000 attendees), in addition to over 20 shows at the NEC arena. In Manchester Richard has performed at the MEN arena eight times with over 120,000 fans attending the shows. He appeared twice at Wembley Stadium in 1989 in celebration of his 30th year in music; over 144,000 fans attended the sold-out shows. Richard has also performed hundreds of times in Australia and New Zealand in cities including Melbourne, Sydney and Auckland, audience members totalling hundreds of thousands.

Personal life[link]

Richard's father, Rodger Webb, died in 1961, and his mother, Dorothy in 2007.^{[citation needed]} Dorothy suffered from dementia and in a 2006 interview with the Daily Mail, he spoke about the difficulties he and his sisters had in dealing with their mother's condition.^[33] On 18 October 2007 a statement on the star's website read, "We are sad to report that Cliff's mother, Dorothy, passed away early on 17 October; she was 87."

Richard is a lifelong bachelor.^[34] In a letter written in October 1961 to "his first serious girlfriend",^[5] Australian dancer Delia Wicks, and made public in April 2010 after her death from cancer, Richard writes, "Being a pop singer I have to give up one priceless thing – the right to any lasting relationship with any special girl."^[5] The pair had been dating for 18 months. In the letter he goes on to say, "I couldn't give up my career, besides the fact that my mother and sisters, since my father's death, rely on me completely. (...) I have showbiz in my blood now and I would be lost without it."^[5] He has said that he once considered marriage to the dancer Jackie Irving and later to the former tennis player Sue Barker.

In 1971, Richard was one of approximately 30,000 people gathering at London's Trafalgar Square to protest against the Swedish sex education film Kärlekens Språk, which was showing at a nearby cinema.^[35]

Although he has never married, Richard has rarely lived alone. For many years he shared his main home with his religious affairs/charity/media/promotion schedules manager, Bill Latham, and Latham's girlfriend. Currently a former Catholic priest, John McElynn, who is Richard's property manager "lives in" and looks after the properties whilst Richard is away. Richard describes McElynn as a close friend who has become like a companion. Richard declines discussion about any intimate relationships and when asked about suggestions that he may be homosexual has stated categorically that he is not. More recently he has said, "what business is it of anyone else's what any of us are as individuals? I don’t think my fans would care either way."^[34]

Richard has called on the Church of England to affirm people's commitment in same-sex marriage.^[34][36] In his autobiography he states that "many of my friends are gay – let's face it, homosexuality has been legal for more than thirty years. For me, the commitment is what counts – and I'll leave the judging to God."^[37]

According to the Sunday Times Rich List 2010, Richard is worth £50 million. As well as owning various houses and apartments around the world, Richard has become joint owner of the Arora International Hotel in Manchester, which opened in June 2004. He also owns a Quinta in the Algarve, Portugal, where he is involved in the production of wines at the Adega do Cantor ("Winery of the Singer"), a state-of-the-art winery in Guia, near Albufeira. In 2006 Richard received a Portuguese knighthood in which he was appointed Commander of the Order of Prince Henry (ComIH)^[38][39], this in recognition of his 40 years of personal and business involvement in that country. Richard finished No. 56 in the 2002 100 Greatest Britons list, sponsored by the BBC and voted for by the public.

His official 70th birthday party was held on 23 October 2010, with guests including Cilla Black, Elaine Paige and Daniel O'Donnell.

Works and achievements[link]

Discography[link]

Awards[link]

Brit Awards

• 1977 – Best British male solo artist^[24]
• 1982 – Best British male solo artist^[24]
• 1989 – Lifetime achievement: Outstanding contribution to music (excluded The Shadows)^[24]

TV Times

• 1980 – Most Exciting Male Singer on TV
• 1987 – Best Male Singer
• 1989 – Favourite Singer

The Sun Reader Polls

• 1970 – Male Pop Personality
• 1971 – Top Male Pop Personality
• 1972 – Top Male Pop Personality

NME Reader Polls^[40]

• 1958 – Best New Disc or TV Singer
• 1959 – UK Male Singer^{[clarification needed]}
• 1959 – Best Single: "Living Doll"
• 1960 – Best UK Single: "Living Doll"
• 1961 – UK Male Singer
• 1962 – UK Male Singer
• 1963 – UK Male Singer
• 1963 – Best World Male Singer
• 1964 – UK Male Singer
• 1964 – UK Vocal Personality
• 1965 – UK Male Singer
• 1966 – UK Male Singer
• 1966 – UK Vocal Personality
• 1967 – UK Vocal Personality
• 1968 – UK Vocal Personality
• 1969 – British Vocal Personality
• 1970 – UK Male Singer
• 1970 – UK Vocal Personality
• 1970 – World's Best Recording Artist of the 60s
• 1971 – UK Male Singer
• 1971 – British Vocal Personality
• 1972 – UK Male Singer
• 1972 – British Vocal Personality

Ivor Novello

• 1968 – Most Performed Work: "Congratulations" by Bill Martin and Phil Coulter
• 1970 – Outstanding Services to Music

Melody Maker

• 1959 – Best Male Singer
• 1960 – Top British Male Singer
• 1962 – The Emen Award – Top male singer
• 1962 – Top British Male Singer
• 1962 – Top single of the year: "The Young Ones"
• 1963 – Best Male Singer
• 1964 – Best Male Singer
• 1965 – Best UK Male Singer
• 1967 – Top Male Singer

Disc & Music Echo

• 1967 – Best-Dressed Male
• 1968 – Best-Dressed Male
• 1969 – Best-Dressed Male
• 1970 – Top British Male Singer
• 1970 – Best-Dressed Male
• 1970 – Mr. Valentine
• 1971 – Mr. Valentine

Bravo Magazine (Germany)

• 1964 – Best Male Singer – Gold
• 1964 – Year End Singles Charts – 1. "Sag 'no' Zu Ihm" ("Don't talk to him")
• 1965 – Best Male Singer – Gold
• 1980 – Top International Male Singer

Record Mirror

• 1961 – Record Mirror Survey – Most successful chart records 1958–1961 – No 1: Cliff Richard, "Living Doll" (Richard had three of the top five records and a further two in the Top 50)
• 1964 – Record Mirror Poll – Best-Dressed Singer in the World

1960s

• 1961 – Royal Variety Club – Show Business Personality
• 1961 – Weekend Magazine – Star of Stars
• 1962 – Motion Picture Herald Box-Office Survey Of 1962 – Most Popular Male Film Actor
• 1963 – Motion Picture Herald Box-Office Survey Of 1963 – Most Popular Male Film Actor
• 1963 – 16 (US Magazine) – Most Promising Singer
• 1964 – Billboard (US Magazine) – Best Recording Artist UK
• 1969 – Valentine Magazine – Mr Valentine

1970s

• 1970 – National Viewers' and Listeners' Association – Outstanding Contribution to Religious Broadcasting and Light Entertainment
• 1971 – Record Mirror – UK Male Singer
• 1974 – Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy Committee – Silver Clef – Outstanding Services to the Music Industry
• 1977 – The Songwriter's Guild Of Great Britain – Golden Badge Award
• 1979 – Music Week – Special Award for 21 years as successful recording artistes – Cliff Richard and The Shadows
• 1979 – EMI Records – Gold Clock and Gold Key award – EMI celebrates 21-year partnership with Richard

1980s

• 1980 – Richard receives O.B.E. from the Queen
• 1980 – BBC TV Multi-Coloured Swap Shop – Best UK Male Vocalist
• 1980 – National Pop And Rock Awards – Best Family Entertainer
• 1980 – Nationwide, in conjunction with Radio 1 and the Daily Mirror – Best Family Entertainer
• 1981 – Sunday Telegraph Readers Poll – Top Pop Star
• 1981 – Daily Mirror Readers Award – Outstanding Music Personality Of The Year
• 1989 – The Lifetime Achievement Diamond Award (Antwerp)

1990s

• 1992 – Spectacle Wearer Of The Year^{[clarification needed]}
• 1995 – American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers – Pied Piper Award (Richard became the first British recipient of Ascap's coveted Pied Piper Award, which recognises outstanding contributions to the songwriter and music community)
• 1995 – The formal investiture of Richard as Knight Bachelor took place at 10.30 a.m. in Buckingham Palace on Wednesday 25 October
• 1998 – Dutch Edison – Lifetime Achievement Award

2000s

• 2000 – South Bank Awards – Outstanding Achievement Award
• 2003 – British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors – Gold Badge of merit
• 2003 – Lawn Tennis Association – 20 Years of Service to Tennis Award
• 2004 – Induction into UK Music Hall of Fame (representing the 1950s – Cliff and The Shadows)
• 2004 – Ultimate Pop Star (No. 1 singles recording artist in UK)^{[clarification needed]}
• 2005 – Avenue of Stars (star on the pavement, London)
• 2005 – Rose D'or Music Festival (Paris) – Golden Rose
• 2006 – Commander of the Portuguese Order of Prince Henry (awarded for services to Portugal)^[38]

Tours and concerts[link]

Filmography[link]

Film[link]

• Serious Charge (1959)
• Expresso Bongo (1960)
• The Young Ones (1961) (aka It's Wonderful to be Young)
• Summer Holiday (1963)
• Wonderful Life (aka Swingers' Paradise,^[41] 1964)
• Finders Keepers (1966)
• Rhythm 'n Greens (B-movie) (guest appearance: CR plays "King Canute")
• Thunderbirds Are GO (as puppet-marionettes)
• Two a Penny (1969)
• His land (1970)
• The Case (1972) (features Olivia Newton-John)
• Take Me High (1973)
• Run For Your Wife (2012) (Cameo role as a Busker)

TV series[link]

• 1960: The Cliff Richard Show (ATV Television)
• 1961: Cliff (ATV Television)
• 1963: The Cliff Richard Show (ATV Television)
• 1964: Cliff (ATV Television)
• 1965: Cliff and the Shadows (ATV Television)
• 1967: Cliff (ATV Television)
• 1970: Cliff Richard Show featuring Marvin, Welch, Farrar, Olivia Newton-John and Una Stubbs (BBC Television)
• 1971: Cliff Richard Show featuring Marvin, Welch, Farrar, Olivia Newton-John and Una Stubbs (BBC Television)
• 1972: Cliff Richard Show featuring Marvin, Welch, Farrar, Olivia Newton-John and Una Stubbs (BBC Television)
• 1975: It's Cliff and Friends (BBC Television)
• 1976: It's Cliff and Friends (BBC Television)

Other TV Shows[link]

Air Date	Episode	Viewers[42]	Channel
1971	Getaway with Cliff	5,200,000	BBC
1972	The Case	5,000,000	BBC
1999	An Audience With Sir Cliff Richard	11,000,000	ITV
2001	The Hits I Missed	6,500,000	ITV
2008	When Piers Met Sir Cliff	5,500,000	ITV

Stage musicals[link]

• Aladdin – music by The Shadows and Norrie Paramor
• Cinderella – music by The Shadows and Norrie Paramor
• Time – music by Dave Clark
• Heathcliff – music by John Farrar and lyrics by Sir Tim Rice

See also[link]

	Book: Cliff Richard
Wikipedia books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print.

• Best selling music artists
• List of celebrities who own wineries and vineyards
• Cliff – The Musical

Further reading[link]

• The Cliff Richard Story by George Tremlett, Futura Publications Limited, London, 1975, ISBN 0-86007-232-0
• The Complete Recording Sessions, 1958–90, by Peter Lewry and Nigel Goodall. ISBN 978-0-7137-2242-0.
• Which One's Cliff?, by Cliff Richard Coronet ISBN 0-340-27159-0.
• You, Me and Jesus, by Cliff Richard with Bill Latham, pub: Hodder & Stoughton, London.
• The Biography, by Steve Turner. ISBN 978-0-7459-5279-6.
• The Bachelor Boy, by S.Turner. ISBN 978-1-84442-037-7.
• The Story of the Shadows, by Mike Read. 1983. Elm Tree books. ISBN 0-241-10861-6.
• The Complete Rock Family Rock Trees, by Pete Frame. Omnibus. ISBN 0-7119-6879-9.
• Guinness World Records: British Hit Singles and Albums (19th Edn), David Roberts. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
• The Complete Book of the British Charts Singles and Albums, by Neil Warwick, Jon Kutner & Tony Brown, 3rd Edn. ISBN 978-1-84449-058-5.
• Jet Harris — Survivor, by Dave Nicolson, ISBN 978-0-9562679-0-0, 31 October 2009.

References[link]

1. ^ ^{a b} "Cliff Richard | Happy Birthday Cliff Richard!". Contactmusic. 14 October 2010. http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/story/happy-birthday-cliff-richard_1172552. Retrieved 10 December 2011. 
2. ^ "Tony Meehan" (Obituary), The Times, 30 November 2005.
3. ^ Anon. "Tony Meehan". Spectropop remembers. http://www.spectropop.com/remembers/TMeehanobit.htm. Retrieved 4 December 2009. 
4. ^ "Top Hits from". EveryHit. 2000-03-16. http://www.everyhit.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-01-29. 
5. ^ ^{a b c d} "Sir Cliff Richard picked music over love". BBC News Online. 2012-04-10. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8612817.stm. Retrieved 2012-02-15. 
6. ^ Collett-White, Mike (2010-03-09). "Cliff Richard turns to jazz to mark 70th birthday". Reuters. http://uk.reuters.com/article/2010/03/09/uk-cliff-album-idUKTRE6282EL20100309. Retrieved 2012-02-15. 
7. ^ Clements, Paul (2011-11-16). "Sir Cliff Richard: 'For me, Cliff Richard makes uncool cool'". The Independent. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandpopfeatures/8894343/Sir-Cliff-Richard-For-me-Cliff-Richard-makes-uncool-cool.html. Retrieved 2012-02-15. 
8. ^ "Letter to girl shows bachelor boy streak". The Telegraph (Kolkata). http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100411/jsp/nation/story_12327591.jsp. Retrieved 11 June 2011. 
9. ^ ^{a b} Stark, Herbert Alick. Hostages To India: OR The Life Story of the Anglo Indian Race. . London: The Simon Wallenberg Press: Vol 2: Anglo Indian Heritage Books
10. ^ When Piers Met Sir Cliff, ITV1
11. ^ Cliff Richard; Penny Junor (2008). My Life, My Way. Headline Publishing Group. ISBN 0-7553-1588-X. 
12. ^ Cliff Richard Court (1970-01-01). "Google maps". Maps.google.co.uk. http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=cliff+richard+cheshunt&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=7.50299,28.256836&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Cliff+Richard+Court,+High+St,+Cheshunt,+Waltham+Cross,+Hertfordshire+EN8+0BE,+United+Kingdom&t=h&z=15. Retrieved 2012-01-29. 
13. ^ "Move It by Cliff Richard Songfacts". Songfacts.com. 2 November 2008. http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=7524. Retrieved 10 December 2011. 
14. ^ Richard himself stated that the latter theory is correct; interviewed for the first episode of the BBC Four programme, Pop Britannia, broadcast on 4 January 2008.
15. ^ Tobler, John (1992). NME Rock 'N' Roll Years (1st ed.). London: Reed International Books Ltd. p. 58. CN 5585. 
16. ^ Film Data for 1962
17. ^ Two a Penny (1967) IMDB.com
18. ^ O'Connor, John Kennedy. Richard says: Spain is the best of Eurovision Song Contest.
19. ^ "Reuters". Uk.reuters.com. http://uk.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUKL0556354420080505. Retrieved 2012-01-29. 
20. ^ Govan, Fiona (2008-05-04). "Telegraph article". Telegraph article. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/celebritynews/1926993/How-Franco-cheated-Cliff-of-victory-in-Eurovision.html. Retrieved 2012-01-29. 
21. ^ JKMMOC. "EUROVISION CHANNEL 4 NEWS May 7, 2008". YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiF3Ylj6oRM&feature=channel_page. Retrieved 10 December 2011. 
22. ^ O'Connor, John Kennedy. The Eurovision Song Contest - The Official History. Carlton Books, UK. 2007. ISBN 978-1-84442-994-3
23. ^ London Gazette: no. 48318. p. 13397. 24 September 1980. Retrieved 17 June 2009.
24. ^ ^{a b c d} "Brit Awards artist page". Brit Awards. http://www.brits.co.uk/artist/cliff-richard. Retrieved 2010-02-15. 
25. ^ London Gazette: no. 54287. p. 571. 12 January 1996. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
26. ^ "Cliff Richard, Centre Court, Wimbledon". Gigs in strange places. Virginmedia. http://www.virginmedia.com/music/pictures/toptens/gigs-in-strange-places.php. Retrieved 2 July 2011. 
27. ^ "Wimbledon 2011: entertainment values". The Telegraph. 18 June 2011. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/tennis/wimbledon/8582639/Wimbledon-2011-entertainment-values.html. Retrieved 2 July 2011. 
28. ^ "Sir Cliff foils radio ban". BBC News. 11 October 1998. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/191194.stm. Retrieved 30 April 2010. 
29. ^ "And They Said It Wouldn't Last (My 50 Years In Music)". cliffrichard.org. http://www.cliffrichard.org/shopping/cdsTrackList.cfm?collection_id=345&showTrackList=1. Retrieved 2012-01-29. 
30. ^ Sound Kitchen Studios^{[dead link]}
31. ^ ^{a b} BBC^{[dead link]}
32. ^ "Sir Cliff Richard hits back over radio airplay snub". BBC News. 16 Nov 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-15752950. Retrieved 21 April 2012. 
33. ^ "Sir Cliff talks of his anguish over mother's dementia". Daily Mail. 2006-09-22. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-406565/Sir-Cliff-talks-anguish-mothers-dementia.html. Retrieved 2012-02-15. 
34. ^ ^{a b c} Sir Cliff tells of ex priest who shares his life. The Daily Express. Accessed 21, November 2011.
35. ^ Daniel Ekeroth, Swedish Sensationsfilms: A Clandestine History of Sex, Thrillers, and Kicker Cinema, (Bazillion Points, 2011), p. 126, ISBN 978-0-9796163-6-5.
36. ^ Green, Chris (6 September 2008). "Sir Cliff speaks frankly about his 'companion' the ex-priest". The Independent (London). http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/sir-cliff-speaks-frankly-about-his-companion-the-expriest-920825.html. Retrieved 30 April 2010. 
37. ^ Cliff Richard with Penny Junor My Life, My Way, London: Vox Rock, 2008, p. 39
38. ^ ^{a b} "ThePortugalNews.com...Sir Cliff Richard honoured with Portuguese award of merit...". www.theportugalnews.com. http://www.theportugalnews.com/cgi-bin/article.pl?id=853-15. Retrieved 28 November 2010. 
39. ^ Sumário - website Diáro da República
40. ^ "Rocklist.net...NME Lists readers Pop Poll Results...". www.rocklistmusic.co.uk. http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/poppoll.html. Retrieved 03 September 2010. 
41. ^ Overview for Swingers' Paradise (1965)", Turner Classic Movies page
42. ^ "William's Cliff Chart Site - Cliff Richard Television Hits". Cliffchartsite.co.uk. http://www.cliffchartsite.co.uk/trivia4.html. Retrieved 10 December 2011. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Cliff Richard

• Cliff Richard's official website
• Cliff Richard at the Internet Movie Database
• Cliff Richard Songs site
• bfi.org.uk - Cliff Richard on film (bfi database)

Preceded by Sandie Shaw with "Puppet on a String"	UK in the Eurovision Song Contest 1968	Succeeded by Lulu with "Boom Bang-a-Bang"
Preceded by The New Seekers with "Beg, Steal or Borrow"	UK in the Eurovision Song Contest 1973	Succeeded by Olivia Newton-John with "Long Live Love"

v t e Cliff Richard Albums (UK) 1950s: Cliff (1959) Cliff Sings (1959) 1960s: Me and My Shadows (1960) Listen to Cliff! (1961) 21 Today (1961) The Young Ones (1961, soundtrack) 32 Minutes and 17 Seconds (1962) Summer Holiday (1963, soundtrack) When in Spain (1963) Wonderful Life (1964, soundtrack) Aladdin and his Wonderful Lamp (1964, stage show album) Cliff Richard (1965) Love Is Forever (1965) When in Rome (1965) Kinda Latin Finders Keepers (1966, soundtrack) Cinderella (1967, soundtrack) Don't Stop Me Now (1967) Good News (1967, gospel) Cliff in Japan (1968, live) Two a Penny (1968, soundtrack) Established 1958 (1968) Sincerely Cliff (1969) 1970s: Tracks and Grooves (1970) All My Love (1970) About the Man (1970, gospel) His Land (1970, gospel) Cliff: Live at the Talk of the Town (1970, live) The 31st February Street (1974) Take Me High (1974, soundtrack) Help It Along (1974, gospel) I'm Nearly Famous (1976) Every Face Tells a Story (1977) Green Light (1978) Small Corners (1978, gospel) Rock 'n' Roll Juvenile (1979) Thank You Very Much (1979, live) 1980s: I'm No Hero (1980) Wired for Sound (1980) Now You See Me... Now You Don't (1982, gospel) Silver (1983) Dressed for the Occasion (1983, live) The Rock Collection (1984) Always Guaranteed (1987) Stronger (1989) 1990s: From a Distance: The Event (1990, live) Together with Cliff Richard (1991) The Album (1993) Songs from Heathcliff (1995, stage show album) Heathcliff Live (1996, stage show album, live) Real as I Wanna Be (1998) 2000s: Wanted (2001) Live at the ABC Kingston, 1962 (2002, live) Cliff at Christmas (2003) Something's Goin' On (2004) Cliff Richard - The World Tour (2004, live) Two's Company The Duets (2006) Love... The Album (2007, Part new songs, part compilation) Reunited – Cliff Richard and The Shadows (2009) 2010s: Bold as Brass (2010) Soulicious (2011) EPs (UK) Serious Charge Expresso Bongo Compilations (UK) Cliff's Hit Album (1963) More Hits by Cliff (1965) The Best of Cliff (1969) The Best of Cliff, Vol. 2 (1972) 40 Golden Greats (1977) Love Songs (1981) Walking in the Light (1984) Private Collection: 1979-1988 (1988) My Kinda Life (1992) The Hit List (1994) At the Movies 1959-1974 (1996) Yesterday, Today, Forever (1997, gospel) The Whole Story: His Greatest Hits (2000) Miss You Nights: The Ballads Collection (2004) The Platinum Collection (2005) And They Said It Wouldn't Last (My 50 Years in Music) (2008) The 50th Anniversary Album (2008) Filmography Serious Charge (1959) Expresso Bongo (1959) The Young Ones (Soundtrack album) (1961) Summer Holiday (Soundtrack album) (1963) Wonderful Life (Soundtrack album) (1964) Finders Keepers (1966) Two a Penny (1967) Take Me High (1973) Related articles Discography Concert tours The Shadows Book:Cliff Richard

v t e Cliff Richard singles discography 1950s "Move It" (1958) 1960s "Please Don't Tease" (1960) "I Love You"(1960) "A Girl Like You" (1961) "When the Girl in Your Arms is the Girl in Your Heart" (1961) "The Young Ones" (1962) "The Next Time" / "Bachelor Boy" (1962) "Summer Holiday" (1963) "Lucky Lips" (1963) "It's All in the Game" (1963) "The Twelfth of Never" (1964) "The Minute You're Gone" (1965) "Blue Turns to Grey" (1966) "All My Love" (1967) "Congratulations" (1968) "Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon" (1968) "Marianne" (1968) 1970s "Power to All Our Friends" (1973) "Miss You Nights" (1976) "Devil Woman" (1976) "We Don't Talk Anymore" (1979) 1980s "Suddenly" (1980) "True Love Ways" (1983) "Donna" (1984) "Two to the Power of Love" (1984) "All I Ask of You" (1986) "Mistletoe and Wine" (1988) "I Just Don't Have the Heart" (1989) "Whenever God Shines His Light" (1989) 1990s "Stronger Than That" (1990) "From a Distance" (1990) "Saviour's Day" (1990) "We Should Be Together" (1991) "All I Have to Do Is Dream" (live) (1994) "The Millennium Prayer" (1999) 2000s "Somewhere Over the Rainbow"/"What a Wonderful World" (medley) (2001) "When I Need You" (2007) "Thank You for a Lifetime" (2008) "Singing the Blues" (2009) Book:Cliff Richard

v t e Selected participants in Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest ABBA Brotherhood of Man Celine Dion Sertab Erener France Gall Dana International Johnny Logan Domenico Modugno Mocedades Nicole Olsen Brothers Elena Paparizou Cliff Richard

v t e UK best-selling singles (by year) (1952–1969) 1952: "Here in My Heart" - Al Martino · 1953: "I Believe" - Frankie Laine · 1954: "Secret Love" - Doris Day · 1955: "Rose Marie" - Slim Whitman · 1956: "I'll Be Home" - Pat Boone · 1957: "Diana" - Paul Anka · 1958: "Jailhouse Rock" - Elvis Presley · 1959: "Living Doll" - Cliff Richard · 1960: "It's Now or Never" - Elvis Presley · 1961: "Are You Lonesome Tonight" - Elvis Presley · 1962: "I Remember You" - Frank Ifield · 1963: "She Loves You" - The Beatles · 1964: "Can't Buy Me Love" - The Beatles · 1965: "Tears" - Ken Dodd · 1966: "Green, Green Grass of Home" - Tom Jones · 1967: "Release Me" - Engelbert Humperdinck · 1968: "Hey Jude" - The Beatles · 1969: "Sugar, Sugar" - The Archies Complete list (1952–1969) (1970–1989) (1990–2009) (2010–2029)

v t e UK best-selling singles (by year) (1970–1989) 1970: "In the Summertime" - Mungo Jerry · 1971: "My Sweet Lord" - George Harrison · 1972: "Amazing Grace" - The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards Band · 1973: "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree" - Tony Orlando and Dawn · 1974: "Tiger Feet" - Mud · 1975: "Bye Bye Baby" - Bay City Rollers · 1976: "Save Your Kisses for Me" - Brotherhood of Man · 1977: "Mull of Kintyre"/"Girls' School" - Wings · 1978: "Rivers of Babylon"/"Brown Girl in the Ring" - Boney M. · 1979: "Bright Eyes" - Art Garfunkel · 1980: "Don't Stand So Close to Me" - The Police · 1981: "Tainted Love" - Soft Cell · 1982: "Come On Eileen" - Dexys Midnight Runners · 1983: "Karma Chameleon" - Culture Club · 1984: "Do They Know It's Christmas?" - Band Aid · 1985: "The Power of Love" - Jennifer Rush · 1986: "Don't Leave Me This Way" - The Communards · 1987: "Never Gonna Give You Up" - Rick Astley · 1988: "Mistletoe and Wine" - Cliff Richard · 1989: "Ride on Time" - Black Box Complete list (1952–1969) (1970–1989) (1990–2009) (2010–2029)

Authority control: LCCN: n50044893 | WorldCat

Persondata
Name	Richard, Cliff, Sir
Alternative names	Webb, Harry Rodger (birth name)
Short description	English singer and actor
Date of birth	14 October 1940
Place of birth	Lucknow, United Provinces, British India
Date of death
Place of death

Little Richard
Little Richard performing, in Austin, Texas, in March 2007
Background information
Birth name	Richard Wayne Penniman
Also known as	Little Richard, The Real King of Rock ‘n’ Roll, The King of Rockin ‘n’ Rollin' Rhythm & Blues Soulin’.[1]
Born	(1932-12-05) December 5, 1932 (age 79)
Origin	Macon, Georgia, U.S.
Genres	Rock and roll, rhythm and blues, soul, funk, gospel
Occupations	Musician, songwriter, recording artist, actor
Instruments	Vocals, piano, keyboards. saxophone
Years active	1945[2]–present
Labels	RCA Camden, Peacock, Specialty, Gone, Atlantic, Bell, Brunswick, Coral, Critique, Elektra, End, Guest Star, Kent, Lost-Nite, Mainstream, Manticore, MCA, Mercury, Modern, Vee Jay, Okeh, Reprise, K-Tel, Black Label, Warner Bros., WTG

Richard Wayne Penniman (born December 5, 1932), known by the stage name Little Richard, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist, and actor, considered key in the transition from rhythm and blues to rock and roll in the mid-1950s. He was also the first artist to put the funk in the rock and roll beat^[3][4] and contributed significantly to the early development of soul music.^[5][6] The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame website entry on Penniman states that:

He claims to be "the architect of rock and roll", and history would seem to bear out Little Richard’s boast. More than any other performer – save, perhaps, Elvis Presley, Little Richard blew the lid off the Fifties, laying the foundation for rock and roll with his explosive music and charismatic persona. On record, he made spine-tingling rock and roll. His frantically charged piano playing and raspy, shouted vocals on such classics as "Tutti Frutti", "Long Tall Sally" and "Good Golly, Miss Molly" defined the dynamic sound of rock and roll.^[7]

Penniman began performing on stage and on the road in 1945, when he was in his early teens.^[2] He began his recording career on October 16, 1951^[8] by imitating the gospel-influenced style of late-1940s jump blues artist Billy Wright,^[9] who was a friend and also helped arrange his first sessions. He recorded for RCA Records from 1951-52 and for Peacock Records beginning in 1953. Dissatissfied with his lack of commercial success during this time, Penniman formed a new "hard-driving" R&B road band in 1953. By early 1955, a demo tape of his music caught the attention of Specialty Records president Art Rupe, who bought out his contract from Peacock and arranged for him to record for Specialty in September 1955. Under the guidance of Robert "Bumps" Blackwell, Penniman began recording in a style he had been performing onstage for years,^[10] featuring varied rhythm (derived from everything from drum beats he would hear in his voice to the sounds of trains he would hear thundering by him as a child), a heavy backbeat, funky saxophone grooves, over-the-top gospel-style singing, moans, screams, and other emotive inflections, accompanied by a combination of boogie-woogie and rhythm and blues music.^[2] This new music,^[11][12] which included an original injection of funk into the rock and roll beat,^[4][7] inspired many of the greatest recording artists of the twentieth century and beyond, including James Brown,^[13] Elvis Presley,^[14] Otis Redding,^[5] Bob Dylan,^[15] Jimi Hendrix,^[5][16] The Beatles,^[17][18] Rolling Stones,^[19][20] Led Zeppelin,^[21] Michael Jackson,^[22] and generations of other rhythm & blues, rock, soul, as well as funk and rap artists.^{[23][24][25][26]}

On October 12, 1957, while at the height of stardom, Penniman abruptly quit rock and roll music and became a born-again Christian.^[27] He had charted seventeen original hits in less than three years.^[28] In January 1958, he enrolled in and attended Bible college^[29] to become a preacher and evangelist and began recording and performing only gospel music for a number of years. He then moved back and forth from rock and roll to the ministry, until he was able to reconcile the two roles in later life.^[30]

Penniman was among the first group of inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986 and one of only four of those artists (along with Ray Charles, James Brown, and Fats Domino) to also receive the Rhythm and Blues Foundation's Pioneer Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2003, Penniman was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.^[31] In 2007, his 1955 original hit "Tutti Frutti" was voted Number 1 by an eclectic panel of renowned recording artists on Mojo's The Top 100 Records That Changed The World, hailing the recording as "the sound of the birth of rock and roll."^[32][33] In 2010, The United States of America's Library of Congress National Recording Registry added the groundbreaking recording to its registry, claiming that the hit, with its original “A-wop-bop-a-loo-mop-a-lop-bam-boom!” a cappella introduction, heralded a new era in music.^[34]

Biography[link]

Early life and early career: 1932–1951[link]

Richard Wayne Penniman was born in Macon, Georgia, the third of 12 children born to Charlie "Bud" Penniman, Sr. (10 April 1910 – 12 January 1952^[35]), a bootlegger^[36] and his wife Leva Mae (née Stewart). He grew up in a religious family in which singing was an integral part of their lives; they performed in local churches as The Penniman Singers, and entered contests with other singing families. His family called him "War Hawk" because of his loud, screaming singing voice. His grandfather, Walter Penniman, was a preacher, and his father's family were members of the Foundation Templar African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Macon. His maternal grandmother was a member of Macon's Holiness Temple Baptist Church. Penniman attended the New Hope Baptist Church in Macon, where his mother was a member. Penniman's favorites were the Pentecostal churches because of the music and the fun he would have doing the holy dance and speaking in tongues with members of the congregation. When he was 10, he became a faith healer, singing gospel songs and touching people, who would testify that they felt better afterwards. Inspired by Brother Joe May, a singing evangelist known as "The Thunderbolt of the West", Penniman wanted to become a preacher.^[37]

Almost all of Penniman's dramatic phrasing and swift vocal turns are derived from black gospel artists of the 1930s and '40s. He said gospel star Sister Rosetta Tharpe was his favorite singer when he was a child. She had invited him to sing a song with her onstage at the Macon City Auditorium in 1945, after hearing him sing "Two Fishes and Five Loaves" before the concert.^[38] The crowd cheered, and she paid him more money than he had ever seen after the show.^[39] It was there that he decided that he wanted to do with his life.^[40] He was also influenced by Marion Williams, from whom he got the trademark "whoooo" in his vocal, Mahalia Jackson and Brother Joe May.^[41] He was influenced in appearance (hair, clothing, shoes, makeup, etc.) and sound by late 1940s gospel-style, jump blues shouter Billy Wright, a friend of his who was known as the "Prince of the Blues".^[42] Wright set Penniman up with DJ Zenas Sears, who scored the newcomer his first recording contract in 1951.^[43] One of Penniman's main influences in piano-playing was Esquerita (Eskew Reeder, Jr.), who showed him how to play high notes without compromising bass. Penniman met Esquerita when he traveled through Macon with a preacher named Sister Rosa.

Penniman lived in a black neighborhood; he had some contact with whites but, due to racial segregation, he could not cross the line where the whites lived.^[44] While in high school, Penniman played alto saxophone in the marching band. He began losing interest in school and began performing in a variety of travelling shows in his mid-teens.^[35]

Early recordings: 1951–1955[link]

In October 1951, Penniman began recording jump blues records for RCA Camden. His father was shot to death while he was recording in a studio on January 12, 1952.^[35] In October 1953, he began recording with Peacock Records.^[45] Records were released each year during 1951–54, but none were significant hits.

Following two recording sessions with Peacock in 1953,^[46] Penniman, dissatisfied with his solo career, began to form a new R&B road band that he called "The Upsetters." The band began with New Orleans drummer Charles "Chuck" Connors and two saxophonists, including Wilbert "Lee Diamond" Smith.^[47] By 1955, the band was joined by saxophonists Clifford "Gene" Burks and Grady Gaines, who became its leader,^[48] along with Olsie "Baysee" Robinson on bass, and Nathaniel "Buster" Douglas on guitar.^[49]

At Lloyd Price's suggestion, Penniman recorded a demo for gospel/R&B label Specialty Records on February 9, 1955.^[50] Specialty's owner, Art Rupe, loaned him money to buy out his contract from Peacock Records and placed his career in the hands of Specialty's A&R man Robert "Bumps" Blackwell.^[51]

Rupe and Blackwell originally pictured Penniman as a commercial rival to Ray Charles, who was experiencing success with Atlantic Records by taking gospel songs and developing them in a bluesy setting with a beat.^[52] Penniman told Rupe he liked Fats Domino's sound, so Rupe and Blackwell booked Cosimo Matassa's J & M Recording Studio in New Orleans,^[53] and hired studio musicians who had worked with Domino (including Earl Palmer on drums and Lee Allen on sax) rather than members of Penniman's road band on many^[46][54] of the mid-1950s Specialty tracks.^[55]

Following some recordings that did not satisfy Blackwell, they took a break. Penniman began pounding out a boogie woogie rhythm on piano and hollering out impromptu recital of "Tutti Frutti", a song he had written freestyle (the way rappers began to do decades later) while performing in the boogie-woogie blues clubs.^[56] Blackwell was so impressed with the sound that he had Penniman record the song. However, in order to make it commercially acceptable, Penniman's lyrics were rewritten. Blackwell recognized that the lyrics, with their “minstrel modes and homosexuality humor” needed to be cleaned up.^[57] For example “Tutti Frutti, good booty",^[58] were replaced with “Tutti Frutti, aw-rooty”. The song featured the a cappella intro "A-wop-bop-a-loo-mop-a-lop-bam-boom!", which Penniman first belted out years before onstage based on a drum beat he heard in his voice, that had also been altered slightly to make it commercially acceptable.^[59] The recording was released on Specialty in October 1955.^[2][60]

Initial success: 1955–1957[link]

"Tutti Frutti" reached #2 on Billboard's R&B chart. Seventeen more hit singles followed in less than three years, three of which reached number 1.^[28] While most of these hits were characterized by a driving piano, boogie-woogie bass line, a variety of rhythmic drumbeats, and wild screams before Lee Allen's sax solos, such as "Rip It Up", "Lucille", "Jenny, Jenny", "Good Golly, Miss Molly" and "Keep A-Knockin'", a few of them were slower in tempo and more soulful, such as "True Fine Mama".^[28] During this period, Penniman's "electrifying movie-star looks"^[61] were featured as he performed his hit songs in three films, including The Girl Can't Help It (1956), in which he sang the hit title track, Don't Knock the Rock (1956), and Mister Rock and Roll (1957).

"Tutti Frutti" was quickly covered by both Elvis Presley and Pat Boone.^[62] While Presley's version of this and three other Penniman singles^[63][64] only appeared as album tracks, Boone's covers were released as singles and his "Tutti Frutti" single outsold the source record^[65] and "outdid Richard's on the hit parade".^[66] Boone also released a version of "Long Tall Sally"^[65] with slightly bowdlerized lyrics, but this time, the original version outperformed the cover on the Billboard pop chart.^[66] Presley and Bill Haley tackled Penniman's fourth R&B chart topper, "Rip It Up", but his single was the hit.^{[citation needed]}

Penniman, along with his road band, performed his hits in sports stadiums and concert venues across the United States through 1956 and 1957.^[67] He brought the races together at his concerts, at a time in the United States when laws still dictated that public facilities (including concert venues) be divided into separate "white" and "colored" domains. His audiences would start out segregated in the building, usually with one race on the floor and the other on the balcony, but most of the time, by the end of the night they were mixed together.^[68] Racists in the south, such as the North Alabama White Citizens Council, responded by putting out statements on television, warning the public that "Rock n Roll is part of a test to undermine the morals of the youth of our nation. It is sexualistic, unmoralistic and ... brings people of both races together."^[69] The demand for him was so great, however, that even in the south where segregation was most rampant, the taboos against black artists appearing in white venues were being shattered.^[70]

Penniman was an innovative and charismatic performer, appearing in sequined capes under flicker lights that he brought from show business into the music world. He would run off and on the stage, jumping, yelling, and whipping the audience into a frenzy.^[71] At a concert in Baltimore, Maryland, US concert history was made^[72] when excited people had to be restrained from jumping off the balconies, and the police had to stop the show twice to remove dozens of girls that had climbed onstage to try to rip souvenirs from Penniman. Later in the show, girls began to throw their undergarments onto the stage.^[72]

While on the road in the mid-50s, Penniman would have notorious parties,^[73] replete with orgies, in hotel rooms wherever they appeared. In late 1956, he met a voluptuous high school graduate in Savannah, Georgia, by the name of Lee Angel (née Audrey Robinson). She became his girlfriend and started traveling on the road with him. Penniman would invite attractive men to his parties and would enjoy watching them having sex with his girlfriend.^[74]

Conversion to Christianity: 1957–1962[link]

In early October 1957, on the fifth date of a two-week tour of Australia, Penniman was flying from Melbourne to appear in front of 40,000 fans in concert in Sydney. Shocked by the red hot appearance of the engines against the night sky, he envisioned angels holding up the plane. Then, while he performed at the stadium, he was shaken by the sight of a ball of fire that he watched streak across the sky overhead. He took what was actually the launching of Sputnik 1, which he later learned was the first human-made object to orbit the earth, as another sign to quit show business and follow God. The following day he departed Sydney on a ferry and threw his $8,000 ring in the water to show his band members that he was serious about quitting. The plane that he was originally scheduled to fly back home on ended up crashing in the Pacific Ocean, which he took as confirmation that he was doing what God wanted him to do.^[75]

The news of his quitting at the height of his career had broken all over the world by the time he returned to the United States.^[76] He attended one more recording session for Specialty on October 18, 1957,^[77] and, at the request of DJ Alan Freed, performed a farewell concert at the Apollo Theatre in New York. He then had his roadies drive his Cadillacs across the United States to a property he bought for his mother in California and gave her the keys.^[78] He formed the Little Richard Evangelistic Team, travelling across the country preaching, and helped people locally through a ministry on skid row in Los Angeles.^[79]

In November 1957, he met Ernestine Campbell at an evangelistic meeting in Washington, D.C..^[80] They were married on July 11, 1959.^[81]

In 1958,^[82] he enrolled in the Seventh-day Adventist^[7][29] Oakwood College (now Oakwood University), in Huntsville, Alabama, where he planned to take a three-year course which was to culminate in ordination.^{[80][clarification needed]} He eventually went on to earn a BA in Theological Studies from the college in 1970, becoming an ordained minister.^[83][84][85]

From October 1957 to 1962, Penniman recorded gospel music for End, Mercury, and Atlantic.^[86] Following release of his gospel album for Mercury titled The King of the Gospel Singers, Little Richard met Mahalia Jackson, one of his childhood heroes. She was appearing in Los Angeles and he stopped her on the street to invite her to hear him sing at the Mount Moriah Baptist Church. She attended and indicated that she was delighted with his singing, stating that "he was singing gospel songs the way they should be sung" and "he had that primitive beat and sound that came so naturally."^[87] Three of his gospel songs recorded during this period hit the pop charts - "He's Not Just a Soldier" (1961) and "He Got What He Wanted" (1962) (UK) for Mercury and "Crying In The Chapel" (1963) for Atlantic.^[88]

Return to secular music and personal decline: 1962–1976[link]

Penniman continued in the ministry but was experiencing marital problems and some difficulty living his ideal of a disciplined Christian life.^[89] Although rock and roll sales were in a slump in America in 1962, Penniman's records were still selling well in England. From April to May of that year, The Beatles, then still an obscure English band, co-resided with Penniman at the Star Club in Hamburg, Germany, during which time he advised them on the proper technique for performing his songs.^[90] Included in this instruction was teaching Paul McCartney his "woo holler."^[91] British promoter Don Arden then booked Penniman for an October 1962 tour of Great Britain, with the Beatles as an opening act.^[92] Penniman thought he was going to perform gospel music, but Arden had promoted the concert as a rock and roll show. On the first night of the tour he began performing gospel music, but gave in to the pressure and began performing his secular hits. He walked off to a wildly excited, standing ovation. The frenzied crowd reaction was to be repeated wherever he appeared.^[93]

Penniman returned to Specialty Records in March 1964, following a Don Arden headlining deal, to record one secular track. At this time he decided not to disclose his reactivated Rock and Roll activity to the church community because he was convinced that rock and roll was evil and still wanted to keep his options open in the ministry.^[94]

He had successfully toured England and Wales in October and November 1963,^[67] with Bo Diddley, The Everly Brothers and the then little-known Rolling Stones.^[95][96] Mick Jagger would later state, "I heard so much about the audience reaction, I thought there must be some exaggeration. But it was all true. He drove the whole house into a complete frenzy... I couldn't believe the power of Little Richard onstage. He was amazing."^[97] Near the end of the tour, Penniman recorded a television show, The Little Richard Spectacular, with Sounds Incorporated as the backing band and The Shirelles performing backing vocals, for Britain's largest independent television company at the time, Granada. After the show was first aired in May 1964, Granada received over 60,000 letters from fans, which prompted the company to two repeat broadcasts of the show. Much of the footage was used for a TV special, highlighting the frenzy and excitement associated with rock and roll, that was seen all over the world.^[98]

Penniman recorded four more secular tracks for Specialty in April 1964.^[99] One of these recordings, "Bama Lama, Bama Loo" was released as a single and was a minor hit on the Billboard charts^{[citation needed]} but a Top Twenty in the UK.

In the Spring of 1964, Penniman and Robert Blackwell brought a fledgling Jimi Hendrix (who up until then was a "fill-in" Upsetter and wanted to be known as 'Maurice James') into his band, full-time.^[7][100] Hendrix began dressing and growing a mustache like Penniman's.^[101][102] He toured with Penniman and played on at least a dozen tracks for Vee Jay Records between the spring of 1964 and spring of 1965.^[103] Of these, "I Don't Know What You Got But It's Got Me" and covers of "Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On" and "Goodnight, Irene" hit the pop and/or R&B charts with moderate success.^[104]

Penniman continued to record and perform only secular music in the mid-60s, during which time he began drinking heavily.^[105] He has stated that he could have had more commercial success during this period, but southern preachers displeased with his backslide from the ministry pressured R&B radio stations throughout the southern U.S. not to play his music, while on the West Coast, particularly in Los Angeles following the Watts Riots, some black DJs were not playing his music because he was drawing both races to his concerts.^[106]

In 1966 and 1967, Penniman recorded two soul albums for Okeh Records, with his old friend from the mid-'50s, Larry Williams, as producer, and Johnny Guitar Watson on guitar.^[107] The first album included two modest hits, "Poor Dog" and "Commandments Of Love"^[108] In August 1967, the second album, which was an "Okeh Club" concert performance, returned Penniman to Billboard's Top 200 Albums chart for the first time in 10 years,^[3] and reached the Billboard Black Albums Top 30. Williams also acted as the musical director for Penniman's live performances used for the album, and Penniman's bookings during this period skyrocketed.^[108]

With the emergence of the Black Power movement in the latter part of the decade, Penniman was invited to perform for strictly black crowds. He refused because he did not want to exclude any races from attending his shows.^[109] He remained a popular concert attraction, travelling extensively in the United States and Europe, as well as in Mexico and Canada, throughout the remainder of the decade.^[67]

In 1969, he was invited to perform at the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival. The event was filmed by director D.A. Pennebaker and also featured Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Gene Vincent.^[110][111]

Penniman continued to tour, appear in an occasional film, and record secular music into the 1970s. The Rock and Roll Revival period of the late sixties resulted in another comeback opportunity for Penniman in the early seventies. However, instead of recording only the expected high-energy rock & roll, he recorded a series of eclectic, wide-ranging albums that touched on country, acoustic blues, hard-driving funk, soul, gospel, melodic pop, as well as rock & roll. The range and accomplishment of the music, which included stunning covers of recordings by artists that he inspired as well as powerful, memorable new songs written by Penniman himself, was staggering.^[112] These albums resulted in two Top 100 hits ("Freedom Blues" making Top 50 Pop and 30 Soul charts) and a Top 200 album for Reprise Records between 1970 and 1972. In '72 he had a short stay on the charts as guest on Canned Heat's "Rockin' With The King". The following year, Richard did fairly well with the soul ballad, "In The Middle Of The Night", profits to go to charity, and a single charted briefly for Manticore in 1975.^[113] That same year, he played piano on the Top 40 single "Take It Like a Man" from the Bachman–Turner Overdrive hit album Head On and recorded a gospel song entitled, "Try To Help Your Brother". In 1976, he re-recorded twenty of his biggest Specialty hits in Nashville for a K-Tel Records album.^[114]

Penniman also continued his wild partying through the first half of the seventies^[115] and, reportedly, by late 1971, developed a dependency on a variety of drugs and alcohol.^[116] He and his brothers started their own management company, Bud Hole Incorporated.^[117]

Return to Christianity: 1977–1984[link]

In 1977, Penniman reached a crossroad in his life. Two close friends, a brother and a nephew that he loved as a son, died, and he came close to being shot by his long-time friend, Larry Williams, over a drug debt. Even though he and Williams were very close friends, cocaine addiction fueled a rage in Williams when Penniman failed to repay him because he was high. In what he referred to as the most fearful moment of his life, Penniman happened to have the money and Williams spared him.^[118]

Penniman repented for his wayward living and returned to evangelism.^[3] He also represented Memorial Bibles International and sold their Black Heritage Bible, which highlighted the many black people in the Bible.^[3] In 1979, he recorded a gospel album entitled God's Beautiful City,^[3] and embarked upon an evangelical campaign across the U.S.^[119] During this period, he proclaimed that it was not possible to perform rock and roll music and serve God at the same time.^[120] That same year, a small budget label, Koala, issued "Goin' All The Way With Rock and Roll", spotty, technically challenged live session from earlier in the decade, to add to the confusion for newer fans, not familiar with Richard's Gospel proclivities.

Penniman evangelized to crowds of as few as 250 in small churches to packed auditoriums of 21,000 through the remainder of the 1970s and the first half of the 1980s. His preaching focused on bringing the races together and lost souls to repentance through God's love, as well as the rejection of his former lifestyle of alcoholism, drug addiction and bisexuality.^[121][122]

Show business comeback and recognition: 1984–2000[link]

Little Richard, interviewed during the 60th Annual Academy Awards, 1988

In 1984, Charles White's authorized biography of Penniman (The Life and Times of Little Richard) was published, featuring extensive first-person input from its subject, testimonials of Penniman's influence on many legendary recording artists, and attracting attention for its "juicy anecdotes".^[123] The publication catapulted Penniman into the limelight again with a number of the world's largest newspapers and magazines featuring major reviews.

Shortly before the publication of the biography, Penniman's mother died. Not long before she died he promised her that he would remain a Christian. He thereafter reconciled his role as an evangelist and as a rock and roll artist, stating that he believed that rock and roll music could be used for good or evil.^[30]

In an effort to merge his faith with his music, Penniman enlisted his old friend Billy Preston to help write a song with religious lyrics that sounded like rock and roll. The result, "Great Gosh A'Mighty (It's a Matter of Time)," was produced by Dan Hartman for the soundtrack of a new motion picture entitled Down and Out in Beverly Hills. The hit theme song appeared in a different version on an album of faith-based material entitled Lifetime Friend, recorded (primarily in England) from late 1985 into early 1986. Penniman referred to his new style of music as "message music" and "messages in rhythm"^[124][125], which included a track that was an innovative blend of rap and funky rock music. Penniman also acted in the hit motion picture and received critical acclaim for his performance.^[30]