Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb, 14 October 1940) is a British pop singer, musician, performer, actor, and philanthropist. Richard has sold more than 250 million records worldwide. He has total sales of over 21 million singles in the UK and is the third-top-selling singles artist in UK Chart history, behind the Beatles and Elvis Presley. (More from Wikipedia)
Even beyond musical influence, the Buddy Holly persona is also evident among British musicians. In the late 1950’s, at least one British guitarist, Hank Marvin of the Shadows – the premier English instrumental rock band of the 1960’s that also backed Cliff Richard for several years – took the Buddy Holly look on stage, down to the glasses. Marvin is also reputed to be the first man to bring a Fender Stratocaster guitar to England.
(June 2013/1)
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On June 2, 1964, the Soul Agents released their first single on Pye Records, “I Just Wanna Make Love to You” b/w “Mean Woman Blues”. “Mean Woman Blues” is also an oft recorded song; Elvis Presley included “Mean Woman Blues” in the soundtrack for his 1957 film, Loving You (his first starring role in a movie), and “Mean Woman Blues” was the flip side of Roy Orbison’s immortal “Blue Bayou” when the song was originally released in 1963. In the U.K., Cliff Richard and the Shadows had released “Mean Woman Blues” in 1959.
(May 2014)
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“Why Me” was recorded by many others, among them Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, George Jones, David Allan Coe, Merle Haggard, and Cliff Richard.
(July 2014)
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Singer and band combinations like this were fairly common in this era; past UARB the Soul Agents backed Rod Stewart during the first half of 1965 for instance. The backing band for the major English rock star Cliff Richard for many years was one of Britain’s top instrumental rock bands, the Shadows.
(May 2015)
