The doubts that the singer Cliff Richard (Lucknow, formerly British India, 83 years old) could have harbored about whether the radios, which he once dominated, avoided broadcasting his new music from the nineties onwards were cleared up specifically in 1998 thanks to a successful strategy: publishing a single under a pseudonym. When Can’t Keep This Feeling Insigned by the mysterious independent artist Blacknight, was distributed by 240 stations and broadcast without any problem, the surprise that Richard was the real author of the song forced some DJs and broadcast directors to explain themselves. “To tell you the truth, if we had known it was Cliff’s we wouldn’t have played it,” recognized DJ Jerry Bascombe of London’s Chance FM. Simon Sadler, head of music at Kiss 100 FM, also praised Richard’s move: “He’s shown that some radio stations are prejudiced.”
Still officially active, with no agenda in 2024 but with a successful series of concerts behind him at the end of last year in the United Kingdom, which were even broadcast in cinemas, there are those who may think that trying to silence Cliff Richard, the omnipresent bastion of British pop and rock music, in his lands may be a task as futile as trying to censor Wagner. However, Richard has publicly maintained since the nineties that the bosses wanted to eliminate him from the scene. And the former leader of The Shadows, who has been accusing the decline in record sales for quite a few years (although it is the The only artist in the world to have placed an album in the top 5 for eight decades in a rowthe first in 1959 and the last in 2023), there is no shortage of reasons to believe so.
This summer marks the 20th anniversary of one of the most notorious incidents in the open war between radio stations and Cliff Richard, when the famous presenter and disc jockey Tony Blackburn caused his own dismissal after playing three of the singer’s hits, Summer Holiday, Living Doll and We Don’t Talk AnymoreBlackburn, winner of the first edition of the reality show in 2002 I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!he Survivors British broadcaster, went so far as to expose the internal policy of the Classic Gold Digital broadcaster when he read an email from its programming director on air: “We must not play Cliff Richard. He does not fit with our brand values. He is not on the list and you must stop playing him.”
It was not the only snub made public: in 1998, It was DJ Chris Evans who had the initiative to destroy Richard’s record collection live on Virgin Radio, after saying that he would not play one of his songs again, that he had been “rude” to him at a previous meeting and that he was “too old”. Around twenty fans camped out in front of the studio and threatened not to leave if the radio station did not play his latest single.
Although the vocalist he lamented in an interview on the BBC of “ageism in the industry”, it does not seem that, in a cultural context where other figures of similar age such as Paul McCartney (82 years old) or Mick Jagger (80) continue to attract massive interest, the problem is exactly that gap. When Absolute Radio 60s decided exclude Richard from their sixties-themed programmingDJ Pete Mitchell chose to argue beyond the coordinates of values or brand image: “The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, The Doors or The Who are timeless artists from the sixties who are still relevant, not Sir Cliff.”
Seen in its origins as the British translation of Elvis PresleyCliff Richard is often considered the man who introduced rock & roll to the United Kingdom, although there were precedents from Tommy Steele or Marty Wilde. John Lennon referenced Move It (1958) by Cliff & The Drifters – the previous incarnation of The Shadows – as the pioneering song of the genre in his country. Richard then changed his image by converting to Christianity and significantly toning down his music in the solo career that he developed outside of The Shadows. Like his idol Little Richard, to whom he paid homage with his stage name (Cliff Richard was actually called Harry Webb), he went on to record several albums of gospel music. From being an icon of a new rebellious generation, he became an apostle of decency, correctness and neatness. That is where, according to some, the crux of the matter may lie. “Your mother probably loves him, but the younger ones tend to get the creeps every time he plays another one of his lively tunes,” he said. Talking Pointa BBC News message board.
In his column Reasons to find Cliff Richard extremely irritatingpublished in The Independentauthor Terence Blacker lamented that the singer, despite being a star, did not seem to measure up as a celebrity. “Could it be that the problem is not Cliff but us? Celebrities lead parallel lives in our names, committing the sins we never dared to commit, their personal lives more turbulent, their careers more agonising. At some point, they take that well-worn trip to hell and back to spare those of us who lead quieter lives the trouble. Cliff Richard has done none of that. He is an affront to the idea of show business as a rollercoaster,” he wrote. “Where is the pain, the fun?”
The USA and Franco: the (supposed) other sabotages
The writer Rubén Olivares Rosell, author of the two volumes of British rock & roll for Spanish fans (1956-1964) (El Toro Records), does not believe that there is any disregard for Cliff Richard in the United Kingdom, where he retains the status of national legend. “He has, along with Elvis and the Beatles, the greatest number one hits,” he observes. “What happens is that, when the British invasion came with the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, it seems that he was left a bit in limbo, because he, unlike them, could not succeed in the United States.” Olivares, curator of Raincoats and Parkasthe exhibition inspired by the “battle of Brighton” between mods and rockers from 1964, which is currently housed in the National Museum of Anthropology in Madrid, also believes that another factor damaged his public image: “He is someone who has been single all his life, so he has been given quite a hard time. The tabloids really like to dig into it.”
The artist, who has repeatedly denied the rumours of homosexuality that have dogged him for decades, has frequently celebrated in interviews the freedom that not starting a family or his refusal to marry in order to devote himself to his career has given him. Bill Latham, religious studies professor and spiritual guide who lived with him for 30 yearsuntil 1996, praised that his refusal to marry had benefited him in deepening his music, his faith and also his tennis ability. In 2008, Richard recounted in his autobiography My Life, My Way that lived with a retired priest“He’s become a companion, which is great because I don’t like living alone.”
His Christian outlook has often led him to take on the role of a de facto opposition to the rock culture that he, paradoxically, helped to create. In the 1980s, he criticised the “harmful example” of Frankie Goes to Hollywood or David Bowie, who offered “perverse images as something attractive” to their 10- or 12-year-old fans. He has also attacked the “disturbing” aesthetics of Alice Cooper, Oasis’s self-destructive drive And, regarding the Wrecking Ball video clip, he said that I was hoping Miley Cyrus would “get over it.” He also supported initiatives such as the Nationwide Festival of Lightagainst secularization and alleged social libertinism, and spoke out against the increase in sexual elements in cinema, such as educational documentaries The language of love (1969), which he asked to be withdrawn. However, although these clues could point to an ultraconservative profile, he has defended same-sex marriage with conviction.
In British popular culture, in addition to his musical influence, he appeared in several promotional films, following in the footsteps of Elvis, and one of his most notable songs gave its name to the sitcom The Young Ones (Young) (1982), a generational milestone where he came to act and which linked him with the punk subculture: the comedian Rik Mayall’s character was a fan of his. In Spain, he gained more notoriety for his double appearance at Eurovision: in 1968, when Congratulations lost to La La Laby Massiel, and in 1973, where his Power To All Our Friends once again fell short of the Spanish proposal, It’s youby Mocedades. The widespread belief that Franco rigged the festival so that Massiel would win and improve Spain’s international projection led him, in 2008, to claim recognition of Congratulations as a real winner.
“That Massiel beat her in London in 1968 in front of the entire English public must have hurt, but I don’t think there was any fixing,” Rubén Oliveras Rosell told ICON. “What happens is that winning by one vote led to those things being said, but I would say that everything is simpler.” The news of the alleged fraud was a consequence of Statements by José María Íñigo In a documentary on La Sexta, where he acknowledged that it was a strong rumour in the early days of TVE, and that public television bought “series that were never going to be aired and never were, as long as they gave us the votes to try to win, because at that time a certain reputation in whatever way was very good for Spain”.
One way or another, Richard overcame the supposed umpteenth blow from the establishment: Congratulations It still reached number one in Spain. In a career of undeniable success and solidity, within the story fueled by Richard himself about the black hands preventing him from succeeding (even) more, the journalist Spencer Leigh recalled that there was a time when the singer was truly a divisive figure, far from the unproblematic or even boring aura that is now associated with him. “Cliff Richard burst onto the scene at 17, made several uninhibited rock & roll songs, appeared in controversial films (Infamous accusationfrom 1959, was rated X for its subject matter) and was criticized by the press for sexual exhibitionism,” remembers the columnist of Record Collector. “Before Cliff, the rock & roll “The British had an inferiority complex. He proved that we could do genuine rock. Although he was pushed out of the spotlight and sometimes showed them what not to do, Cliff Richard set the stage for the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.”
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