Cliff’s back this year doing what he loves best

Sir Cliff Richard OBE

Twelve years after he last performed in Perth, Sir Cliff Richard is returning later this year to sing some of his classic hits that made him so popular down the years.

“I’ve been to each of the Australian states before, Australia has a cool way about it, people are so accepting,” Sir Cliff tells Have a Go News
in answer to a series of questions about his forthcoming tour, Can’t Stop Me Now, in November.

“If people can remember me the way I was and perform as an 80 plus year-old, I know we will have a good time. I wanted to go back to Australia and New Zealand and we contacted the promoters and asked if there was still an appetite for me in Australia?

“I did say to my manager, ‘I don’t want to play a pub with 30 people. Check it out, if people don’t want to come to see me anymore. I’m doing 11 shows in Australia and New Zealand, it seems people are keen for me to travel. I’m thrilled to go back.”

Sir Cliff Richard OBE is truly a perennial performer. Born Harry Rodger Webb on October 14, 1940, he has total sales of more than 21.5 million singles in the United Kingdom and is the third top-selling artist in UK Singles Chart history, behind the Beatles and Elvis Presley.

Sir Cliff’s 1958 single Move It, is often described as Britain’s first authentic rock and roll song. In the early 1960s he had a successful screen career with films including The Young Ones, Summer Holiday and Wonderful Life and his own television show on the BBC. 

He went on to a stellar musical career with many highlights down the decades. 

Have a Go News asked Sir Cliff how has his musical career has evolved and what have been the highlights?

“Over the 65 years that I have been singing from my first single Move It, there was a change from song to song,” he said.

Living Doll was nothing like Move It, Travelling Light nothing like Living Doll. We Don’t Talk Anymore totally different. It evolves if you can let yourself not be on the bandwagon but run alongside.

“I continued to be influenced by people I liked but I never copied them; I would never go into a studio and say: ‘Let’s do this one and it has to be just like Elvis’. No, it evolves because I work out how I’d like sing the track.

“People tend to record in a similar fashion all the time, but very early on I did an album with producer Norrie Paramor; one side was six tracks of classic American songbook style, the other side the Shadows and I did rock and roll tracks.

“I never thought Norrie would ask me to sing these tracks; it helped pave the way for tracks like Miss You Nights with a full orchestra. If it wasn’t for Norrie, would I have even dared to do Miss You Nights or Ocean Deep?

“Other people have evolved too, I’ve managed to keep my own path. I’m always thinking about what I can do to bring about change.

“Highlights for me have been recording the big band album Bold as Brass and performing with huge souls on Soulicious, both were a thrill to do. If I like a song or style, why can’t I do it? Let it happen to me.”

Have a Go News: You will be singing many of your timeless classics but how do you and your producers choose the repertoire for younger audiences and long-term fans?

Sir Cliff: “It’s impossible to choose a set list to suit everyone. You can add another two or three songs from my extensive recordings and the fans appreciate that. If you have a great fan base, and I do, it’s as if you can’t do anything wrong.

“Having the chance to be on stage with my fans is truly the dream. The first part of my musical life was recording, my absolute favourite thing to do and the second part was singing the songs live.

“At least when we record, if I get a bit of a bad throat, I can ring the producer, work around it with other musicians while I recover and all is well.

“On stage, it’s live night after night, I wake up, check the falsetto sound and think, ‘oh, I’m ok’. I pray I can get through the next show, it’s a bit of stress but the adrenaline runs and we go on with it, it’s exciting.

“I have to perform my classic hits, I always will and I try to intersperse them with fan favourites and link them with a theme. My Blue
Sapphire
tour in 2023 brought together all my number ones; that was amazing.”

To what does Sir Cliff attribute his longevity?

“Halfway through my career, someone asked me something similar, I couldn’t answer other than to say I liked what I was doing.

“Having made it, it was just a matter of saying, ‘I like this too much to stop; I think it’s because I’ve loved recording and touring, it’s kept me alive. A lot of artists stop and then maybe start again years later.

“I’ve never stopped doing concerts; I have done concerts almost every year since the late 1950s because I like it. I have to think about my health and my age but while I can still do it, I’d like to do it.

“I never think about retiring, but I might stop one day. I’ve been very fortunate over these 66 years.”

Sir Cliff says he eats well, rests when he can and is surrounded by people who help manage his time carefully.

“Moving with the times is a good thing, you pick up whatever vibes are around and do your thing.

“When I reach Australia, I will have turned 85, I have to start thinking sensibly about whether I should keep doing this, I would prefer to finish at the top.

“Maybe if I get too unsteady on my feet and can’t perform; but there’s no reason I couldn’t continue to record unless my voice goes.

“If I can be in a studio 365 days a year, I would, but I won’t because no-one can find me that many tracks to record!”

Cliff Richard Can’t Stop Me Now Australian tour kicks off at the Riverside Theatre, Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre on Saturday,
November 1.

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Josephine Allison started her career in journalism at 18 as a cadet on the Geraldton Guardian newspaper. She realised her ambition to work on a daily newspaper when she later joined The West Australian where she spent almost 34 years covering everything from police courts to parliament, general news, the arts and real estate. After moving on from The West, she worked on several government short-term media contracts and part-time at a newspaper in Midland before joining Have a Go News in 2012. These days she enjoys writing about interesting people from various fields, often unsung heroes who have helped make WA a better place.