Cliff Richard

Cliff Richard’s musical journey

1958

Cliff was signed by EMI to their Columbia label on August 9th. His first single (released August 29th) has remained an all-time classic - 'MOVE IT'.

1959

There were plenty of hit singles, with both 'LIVING DOLL' and 'TRAVELLING LIGHT' reaching No. 1 in the British charts.

The then major British teen music paper - New Musical Express - gave Cliff his first award - fans had voted him 'Best New Singer'.

1960

This, his last year as a teenager, saw Cliff enjoy chart success with 5 singles, 6 EP's and an album.

1961

He filmed 'The Young Ones' and the title track gave him another no. 1 with and Cliff topped the LP charts with "21 TODAY" - issued by EMI to commemorate his 21st birthday.

The Variety Club of Great Britain made him 'Show Business Personality of the Year'.

1963

The film 'Summer Holiday', which involved over 3,000 miles of travel in five different countries, premiered on January 10th - huge crowds prevented Cliff reaching the cinema on time.

He visited the U.S.A. and appeared on the legendary Ed Sullivan TV show.

1964

Cliff starred in another film, 'Wonderful Life, which was filmed in north-west Africa.

He had five Top 10 hits in the UK singles charts compared to the Beatles' three.

1965

Elvis was cast aside as readers of the New Musical Express voted Cliff as the World's Top Male Singer.

He appeared (again) on the Ed Sullivan show in the USA. 'THE MINUTE YOU'RE GONE' topped record charts all over the world.

1966

Cliff appeared on stage at a Billy Graham campaign meeting and spoke openly of his Christian faith. Many of his fans wept when they read this news the following day, fearing the end of his career as a pop star.

1967

Cliff would star in "Two A Penny", sponsored and financed by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

He condemned pop stars who took drugs, said that pre-marital sex was unhealthy, and told the Beatles that they were wasting their time consorting with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

1968

Cliff represented Britain in the Eurovision Song Contest and failed by one point to take the top place. However, his song "CONGRATULATIONS" topped the charts in the U.K. and many other countries (including Germany where it stayed at No. 1 for seven weeks), and sold over one million copies, giving him his fifth Gold Disc.

1969

The Shadows toured the U.K. and Japan with Cliff before they split.

1971

Cliff's TV series ran for the first three months of the year and he also appeared in a TV play.

1972

Cliff was refused admittance into Singapore because his hair was too long and his 1971 single "SING A SONG OF FREEDOM" was banned in South Africa and Mozambique

1973

Cliff again represented Britain in the Eurovision Song Contest with 'POWER TO ALL OUR FRIENDS' - it came third behind Luxembourg and Spain.

1974

Statisticians revealed that up to December 1973, Cliff had received 19 silver discs for singles selling in excess of 250,000 and 3 gold discs for singles selling more than one million copies

1976

Singles such as "MISS YOU NIGHTS" and "DEVIL WOMAN" re-asserted him as a major recording artist.

Cliff toured Russia, the first western rock star ever to do so, playing eight concerts in Moscow and twelve in Leningrad

1977

He received the annual Music Therapy Silver Clef Award for his services to the music industry.

1979

Cliff achieved his tenth No. 1 record and his first No. 1 since 1968 with "WE DON'T TALK ANYMORE" which also went Top 10 in the U.S.A. and sold just under 3 million worldwide.

1980

In the year that Cliff reached 40, he was awarded the O.B.E. for services to music

1981

It was another year of amazing accolades and, amongst other awards, Cliff received the nomination for "Best Male Singer" in the Daily Mirror, and Germany's biggest-selling pop magazine Bravo named him "Top International Male Singer".

1982

His album 'NOW YOU SEE ME...NOW YOU DON'T' made the top 5 in Britain and he had a big Christmas hit with 'LITTLE TOWN'.

1986

At the end of January Cliff got together with The Young Ones and recorded a special remake of his 1959 hit 'LIVING DOLL' for Comic Relief, a project designed to raise money for charity. "LIVING DOLL" repeated its previous success and again topped the charts.

"Time" premiered at London's Dominion Theatre on April 9th and broke all advance booking records in the history of West End theatre. Cliff's year-long run completely sold out.

1987

In Denmark Cliff received a platinum disc for sales of "ALWAYS GUARANTEED" - only the second to be awarded in Danish pop history!

1989

On May 30th, Cliff became the first British artist to release 100 singles. The disc in question "THE BEST OF ME" was co-written by Richard Marx and reached No. 2 in June

1990

Cliff became the only artist to have filled the 12,000 capacity N.E.C and Wembley Arena halls for 14 and 18 concerts respectively within a single tour.

1993

'Cliff Richard - The Album' released in April and enters the charts at No. 1.

1995

Cliff was awarded a knighthood in the Queen's Birthday Honours List for 'services to charity'.

1996

Cliff’s musical ‘Heathcliff’ was launched in March to great media interest, and box office records were broken for first-week ticket sales.

1997

The video of the Heathcliff show ran for eight weeks at the top of the music video charts and, with sales of well over 400,000, gave Cliff his biggest-selling video to date.

1999

Completing the record-breaking run of 32 sold-out concerts at the Royal Albert Hall in March, Cliff was presented with a special award to mark this extraordinary achievement.

2000

Undoubtedly the year's highlight was Cliff’s 60th birthday celebrations, which began with a huge dinner at the Grosvenor House Hotel, organised by the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation

2002

Cliff sang at Queen Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee concert

Cliff was voted the ‘Ultimate Pop Star’ by Channel 4 viewers, with sales of nearly 21 million singles in the UK alone. The Beatles came second!

2006

Cliff was honoured by Portugal who, at a ceremony at the Portuguese Embassy in London, bestowed their equivalent of a knighthood in recognition of his personal and business involvement in that country over 40 years.

2008

Cliff reaches his Golden Anniversary year - 50 Years of Music!

2009

Cliff reunites with the Shadows for sell out ‘Reunited’ UK Arena tour and album

2010

Cliff’s 70th birthday year sees him celebrate with a new swing and big band album ‘Bold as Brass’