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)
The lyrics in “God Gave Me Everything” make reference to Cliff Richard, a leading English rock star who has become well known for his Christianity. While he scored one major hit in America, the #6 song “Devil Woman” from 1976, he has a fairly low profile in this country.
The same is true of his backing band the Shadows, who have considerable renown in their own right as an instrumental rock band besides the recordings that they made with Cliff Richard. The Shadows were the first band to record the well-known “Apache” for instance. And this instrumental standard has had a major impact elsewhere as well; quoting from Wikipedia: “A 1973 version [of ‘Apache’] by the Incredible Bongo Band has been called ‘hip-hop’s national anthem’. Although this version was not a hit on release, the long percussion break in the middle has been sampled countless times on hip-hop, rap and dance tracks since the 1980’s.”
Before the Beatles came along, Cliff Richard was the leading rock musician in the UK. Under his real name Harry Webb, he had been the leader of a British rock and roll band called the Drifters (not related at all to the prominent American singing group also called the Drifters); essentially, they were the predecessor band to Cliff Richard and the Shadows. Before recording their first hit single “Move It”, Harry Greatorex – known as “Mr. Entertainment” in the UK during this period – prevailed upon Webb to change his name. The “Cliff” was meant to suggest “rock”, and “Richard” was taken from the 1950’s American rock sensation Little Richard.
“Move It” was an original song by bandmember Ian “Sammy” Samwell and was first released as the “B” side, with the “A” side being a cover of a song by American artist Bobby Helms called “Schoolboy Crush”. “Move It” went to #2 on the UK charts in 1958 and is widely regarded as the first authentic British rock and roll song. John Lennon has been quoted as saying (from Wikipedia): “Before Cliff [Richard] and the Shadows, there had been nothing worth listening to in British music.” Cliff Richard is the third top-selling singles artist in British history, behind only the Beatles and Elvis Presley.
As Wikipedia notes: “Over a career spanning more than 50 years, [Cliff] 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, and holds the record (with Elvis Presley) as the only act to make the UK singles charts in all of its first six decades (1950’s – 2000’s). 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 5 consecutive decades: the 1950’s through to the 1990’s.”
* * *
Cliff Richard became actively Christian in 1964 and managed to balance his faith and his career, singing both secular and religious music. He appeared at several Billy Graham Crusades and played a young man involved in selling drugs in a 1967 film called Two a Penny that was released by Billy Graham’s World Wide Pictures. A soundtrack album called Two a Penny was also released.
(November 2014)
* * *
Items: Cliff Richard
