'I wouldn’t wish the last four years on my worst enemy': Cliff Richard breaks a two-year silence with an explosive and deeply emotional interview

In the 60 years since he began singing with The Shadows (and his first band The Drifters), Cliff Richard has sold more than 250 million records worldwide. Now 78, he is releasing a new album of original songs, after enduring what he has described as ‘the most horrible, disastrous thing that’s ever taken place in my life’.

He is referring to the raid on his home in 2014 by South Yorkshire Police, probing a false accusation of historic child sexual assault and the BBC’s coverage of the raid. The claim was false and the case was dropped – but not before Richard’s name had been dragged through the mud. He subsequently sued the BBC for invasion of privacy and was awarded £190,000 in damages, plus an extra £20,000 because the BBC entered its coverage of the event for a Scoop Of The Year award.

Cliff Richard has sold more than 250 million records worldwide. Now 78, he is releasing a new album of original songs

Cliff Richard has sold more than 250 million records worldwide. Now 78, he is releasing a new album of original songs

For the artist born Harry Webb, the new album ‘Rise UP’ represents an emotional triumph over adversity. He recently sat down at London’s The Dorchester hotel to talk exclusively about the highs and lows of his remarkable career.

Event: Your new album Rise UP seems to be a clear message that you’re back and you’ve put the traumatic events of the past few years behind you. Is that what you wanted to convey?

Cliff Richard: Andrew Lloyd Webber had said to me, ‘You’ve got to try to get a song where you can let off steam and say, “This is what happened.” ’ I got a demo of Rise UP from the songwriters Terry Britten and Graham Lyle and I went, ‘This is what he meant.’ It has such a personal meaning in its lyrics – they let you know I’ve been through the worst times, the clouds were really dark, but I was never broken down. It was fantastic and it gave me something that I could emotionally get my teeth into. Which is not always there in a song. Sometimes you just sing a song because it’s a nice song. Congratulations, for instance: it doesn’t take much to sing. It’s just a fun thing and you see the audience clapping and singing along.

Event: When you sang Rise UP at the Royal Albert Hall recently, I could see that it was something you believed in.

CR: I felt I was in a kind of quagmire and I was lifted up out of it. The album has allowed me to do what I do best – introduce new songs to the public.

Event: The strain of the past four years has gone from your face. How do you feel now?

CR: I wouldn’t want it to happen to my worst enemy. In Germany they pretty well follow Magna Carta, which says that everybody is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. They don’t name anybody until they’re found guilty. I can’t see why we shouldn’t do that here. What we’re trying to do as a group – Paul Gambaccini, Lady Brittan [wife of the late Leon Brittan, who was falsely accused of historic sexual offences] and a number of other people – is ask for anonymity until, or unless, you’re charged. If a charge is made, it’s usually months, if not years, before it goes to court. So there’s still time for people to come forward [with fresh evidence]. The only time I will believe people who come forward is if they don’t ask for compensation. We live in a compensation nation. We have lost trust, because how do we know when someone is telling the truth? So there’s a fight ahead and I’m happy to be part of that army. Laws are changed by governments. If we get a chance to go to Parliament and talk about it, we will.

Cliff Richard at home in Portugal. 

Cliff Richard at home in Portugal. 'I’ve put everything big I own on the market. I’m trying to make life easier for myself'

His home in Sunningdale, Berkshire, that was searched by police in 2014 ¿ and the raid broadcast live on the BBC

His home in Sunningdale, Berkshire, that was searched by police in 2014 – and the raid broadcast live on the BBC

I’ve already been with Paul [Gambaccini] and Lady Brittan to the House of Lords. Unfortunately, there was a big meeting on that day so they only had about ten lords who were able to come, but they were impressed by what we said. The question is, was it right to name me and put me through four years of turmoil, when all the while I was innocent? The answer must be no. All we are asking for is anonymity until the police have had a chance to investigate. At the time that the BBC ran that news item, they hadn’t started the investigation. Only the accusation had come through. It can sometimes take up to two years to investigate. Sometimes even longer. And until they have enough to feel they can prosecute, they don’t charge you. So if I was charged, it means they think they’ve got something and that’s fine. But I think we should go back to the Magna Carta. So who in hell changed it?

Event: Has this caused you any long-term health problems?

CR: No. I wanted to have an MRI scan, but this year I had my gallbladder taken out, and before they do an operation like that, they have to test you for everything. They don’t put you under the scalpel until they’re sure you’re fit. I’m 100 per cent fit.

Event: Has religion helped you?

CR: I can only say it’s the major thing that helped me get through the past four years. Having no faith would have left me hopelessly lost and in the dark. My good friends were always there for me and I couldn’t have done without them either. But in the end, when you say good night and you close your eyes, there’s nobody else but you. But for me there was someone. I never felt neglected or ignored by God. And that was a major factor. I believe it’s God’s presence that makes you see how committed other people are to you. With what I went through, it would have been easy to become self-centred. But I believed that the goodness that Jesus talked about let me see that my friends and family – and fans – were very concerned about me. There were really moments when I could not stop weeping and thinking, my God, I will get through this. You know, Rise UP is so right when it says, ‘Without love, time is wasted. Without love, we lose the taste for life and living. Love’s the gift we are given to survive.’ And the greatest gift of love comes from what Jesus did. He introduced us to a sacrificial love.

Sex, god and rock ’n’ roll

Event: You made public your Christian beliefs at a Billy Graham rally in 1966. Did you ever think about giving up the music business to follow your beliefs?

CR: On our first major tours, The Shadows and I would travel in a coach and the conversations were always about sex, drugs, rock ’n’ roll – and religion. That’s when I started to question myself. I started to read the Bible again and met people like Bill Latham [a friend and former manager], who was a member of the church. And slowly I gained a different vision of who Jesus was, which led me to my conversion. Although I was never an atheist, I hadn’t made a commitment to what was being revealed to me, a spirituality that ultimately changed my life.

Cliff Richard with Olivia Newton-John in 2006. Right: at the High Court with Gloria Hunniford in April during his privacy case against the BBC

Cliff Richard at the High Court with Gloria Hunniford in April during his privacy case against the BBC

'Sensuality is much better than sexuality. Sexuality is the easy route. I always felt that Olivia Newton-John in a flowing gown had more sex appeal than those who take the easy route'

Cliff Richard with Olivia Newton-John in 2006. The pair sing Everybody’s Someone together on Cliff's new album

'A couple of years before she died, Cilla [Black] was with me in Barbados and she was dreading her 70th birthday. I said to her, you¿re going to wake up that morning and nothing will have changed. I feel the same way. There¿s a growth and a progression that comes with ageing'

Cliff Richard and Cilla Black at Wimbledon in 2003. 'A couple of years before she died, Cilla was with me in Barbados and she was dreading her 70th birthday. I said to her, you’re going to wake up that morning and nothing will have changed. I feel the same way. There’s a growth and a progression that comes with ageing'

For a long time I didn’t record anything because I was so involved in charity work and growing my Christian faith – I sang and spoke at churches and universities and things like that. Once it entered my life though, it changed it.

Return to abbey road

Event: What was it like going back to record the new album at Abbey Road’s Studio Two?

CR: I’ve been there for a couple of functions. Everyone thinks that The Beatles discovered it. Well The Shadows and I discovered it five years before them. It was our home and The Shads and I recorded all our early hits there.

Event: It’s 14 years since you had an album of entirely new songs and you’re duetting Everybody’s Someone with your friend Olivia Newton-John. Will you do anything in public with her?

CR: I don’t know. We’re thinking of attaching our song to a charity that works to stop bullying in schools. I wasn’t bullied myself but I saw it happen. Kids could have their lives changed by being beaten up in school. Now we have internet trolls, who are just big bullies. Ugly, uneducated bullies. I think that parenting has a vital part to play. We’re possibly the last generation who are lucky enough to have parents who lived through the war. Their instinct to survive, for being right, for being good, filtered down to their children – and those children are us. It’s a much tougher world now and I assume parenting is equally tougher.

Event: So you think parental control isn’t strong enough today?

CR: Yes, because more families have terrible problems to deal with. You have single-parent families. How a woman or a man can deal with that situation, I don’t know. No one means to damage their children, but if you can’t get the right help, that’s what happens.

A clip round the ear from dad

Event: Your father was pretty strict in a Victorian way.

CR: Yes, he was a disciplinarian.

Event: Were you ever in trouble with him?

Cliff performing on stage in the Nineties. It¿s 14 years since Cliff had an album of entirely new songs

Cliff performing on stage in the Nineties. It’s 14 years since Cliff had an album of entirely new songs

CR: Oh yeah. I often got a clip around the earhole.

Event: He didn’t beat you?

CR: I came back from school once when I’d been in trouble and I said, ‘I didn’t do anything’, and he simply said to me, ‘If you didn’t do anything, you wouldn’t have got the cane.’

Event: What had you done?

CR: I can’t remember but he gave me a clip around the ear and said, ‘Don’t do it again because what you’re doing is representing me in school. I’m your father and you have to make sure you put me in a good light. If you behave badly, they will assume it’s my fault.’ That was way back in 1949-50. So he was already thinking that parenting was important. But no, we were never beaten.

Cliff with his mother, Dorothy, in 1960. 'We¿re possibly the last generation who are lucky enough to have parents who lived through the war. Their instinct to survive, for being right, for being good, filtered down to their children'

Cliff with his mother, Dorothy, in 1960. 'We’re possibly the last generation who are lucky enough to have parents who lived through the war. Their instinct to survive, for being right, for being good, filtered down to their children'

Cliff at Abbey Road in 1961. 'Everyone thinks that The Beatles discovered it. Well The Shadows and I discovered it five years before them. It was our home and The Shads and I recorded all our early hits there'

Cliff at Abbey Road in 1961. 'Everyone thinks that The Beatles discovered it. Well The Shadows and I discovered it five years before them. It was our home and The Shads and I recorded all our early hits there'

And that’s the difference, people say, ‘You can’t beat your children.’ In our day, you didn’t get beaten, we got a clip around the ear, and what made you change was the fact that that was embarrassing. So you wouldn’t do it again because of the embarrassment. We’ve got to the point where children have free rein too early in life. Even today, I might do or say something and I’ll think: ‘Oh no, Dad wouldn’t have liked that.’ The discipline is still there and I have no remorse about it. I always wanted to please Mum and Dad.

Hot tea and sugar on toast

Event: Didn’t your father buy you your first guitar?

CR: He did. And it was stolen before it was paid for, on the last night of my first tour, which ended in Bristol. Mind you, it was only 27 quid in 1958. I discovered it would be worth around £630 now. He bought it on the never-never. My parents struggled financially when they moved here from India. We lived in a house in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, and I shared a room with two of my three sisters. I remember that for a while three of our main meals a week were hot tea and toast with sugar sprinkled over it. As tough as those times were, my sisters and I had no memory of them being unhappy.

Event: How important was money in those early days?

CR: Money didn’t come into the equation until much later. What was important was that my parents brought me up to respect things, and it kept my feet on the ground. I simply wanted to sing and play rock ’n’ roll. For years I never knew what I was earning because I was surrounded by people who I trusted implicitly and they took care of everything financially. I was proud to be able to buy my mum and dad their first house.

Event: Are you a resident in the UK or abroad?

CR: I’m a resident of Barbados. I reside there and pay tax there. I also pay tax here when I work in the UK.

Event: Were the family upset that you wanted to drop your birth name and become Cliff Richard? (He was born Harry Webb.)

CR: My father had already died, in 1961, before I changed it by deed poll in 1980. I didn’t tell my mum for a couple of years. She said, ‘How could you do that?’ I told her it was just ‘showbiz’.

Event: Did you always believe you could sing?

CR: When my aunts and uncles came round with my cousins, my mum and dad said, ‘Come on Harry, show them what you can do. Sing for them.’ I couldn’t do it. I was too shy. But I remember me and a friend trying to look like Elvis, both of us adopting the big quiff, and we always got two helpings of pudding when we were in the school line. Girls were serving the meals and they obviously found that appealing as we stood out as different from the other boys. At home, I used to stand in front of the mirror miming to Elvis records. Thousands of kids wanted to be like Elvis, and just a few of us got lucky.

Why I gave up girls

Event: You became a sex symbol very young. Weren’t you alarmed by all those girls chasing you?

CR: It was fun to begin with, and to be screamed at. But once I was being chased and I had to run into a gentlemen’s toilet to escape. I was 17, and I’d only been out of school for six months. I can’t remember being afraid of it because nobody seemed to be vindictive or vicious. On another occasion I had to be lifted over the heads of fans by the police and security men to a waiting sports car after doing Oh Boy! at the Hackney Empire. It’s like being hugged by a herd of elephants. It could be dangerous, but it was more exciting than frightening.

Cliff on becoming a sex symbol at 17: 'It was fun to begin with, and to be screamed at. But once I was being chased and I had to run into a gentlemen¿s toilet to escape'

Cliff on becoming a sex symbol at 17: 'It was fun to begin with, and to be screamed at. But once I was being chased and I had to run into a gentlemen’s toilet to escape'

Event: Did your parents warn you against these girls?

CR: No, they never lectured me, but the whole industry said that the fans don’t like it if you’re attached. So if you want to get married, you’d better do it in secret or you’ll lose fans. One day I came out of the Finsbury Park Empire, and a girl I was dating jumped on my lap. I saw some of my fans treading on my tour brochure. So from then on, I was available to fans and I didn’t give myself time for anything else. I didn’t want to ruin things that seemed to be going so well.

Event: And did the girlfriend get dumped?

CR: Well, she left me!

Event: When you did the TV show Oh Boy! they wrote that you were too sexy for television.

CR: I joke and say to people that I still am! At the time, I thought being described as sexy for television was good. It was fun to be thought of as sexy.

Event: What do you think about the current pop market’s sexualisation of men and women, particularly in the raunchy videos?

CR: Sensuality is much better than sexuality. Sexuality is the easy route. I always felt that Olivia Newton-John in a flowing gown had more sex appeal than those who take the easy route. Being subtle is more effective.

Event: Were you ever tempted to try drugs?

CR: I had a natural aversion to cigarette smoke. My father smoked heavily, so you’d have thought that I’d have picked it up. But I didn’t like the smell, and because I was the eldest my father would say, ‘Can you pass me that ashtray?’ And I’d have to wash my hands to get the smell off my fingers. I started saying to my sister Donna, ‘You pass it to him.’ And she became a smoker. I had no desire to inhale anything that was burning. I was naive, because what I thought were herbal cigarettes backstage were almost certainly cannabis. I believe I’m right in saying cannabis doesn’t necessarily drag you into any of the more dangerous drugs. It’s just that one becomes part of a circle where you could be tempted into trying something else and then, perhaps, you’d get hooked. I was safe from all those extremities and all because I didn’t smoke. So many of our great artists are no longer with us because they overindulged. It’s a tragedy. I’d love to have all those people still around making music.

Botox? It's not for me

Event: You’ve always looked younger than your years. Have you had anything done?

CR: I’ve had a few little injections but they don’t last. I’ve tried Botox, but that didn’t help me. My eyebrows seemed to drop. I don’t think I need to go under the scalpel. But they can do things now, just by injecting collagen and stuff like that, just to give you back what you’ve lost. Why not have it put back if you can? When I’m 100, if I need it done, I’ll have it done! I know I can’t look 18 any more, so I do what I can. I keep my skin supple with moisturiser and disguise any grey hair creeping through with a light brown tint. The make-up girls on Top Of The Pops used to recommend things to me and I’d go and buy a gallon of the stuff. In Barbados I’ve got cupboards full of stuff! It’s hard work staying in shape.

Event: How do you stay healthy?

CR: Tennis. Even on tour. When I’m in Portugal I usually play tennis on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays with a professional coach. And I try to force myself into the gym as well. I have a fallen arch on my right foot, but I don’t even know it’s there because I wear special soles in my shoes. I’m in good physical health. I’ve probably gone on every diet there is. I don’t starve myself, and I eat three meals a day, but it’s healthy food, so I can have as much as I like without putting on weight.

Event: Do you use your pool?

CR: Swimming doesn’t appeal to me. I never go in the sea. Barbados doesn’t have sharks and it would be just my luck for one to come along when I dived in! Best avoided. I’ve only ever been to the beach a few times – usually I’m either sunbathing or under an umbrella reading a good book.

I was drunk... By mistake!

Event: Do you drink?

CR: I was a non-drinker until I did Summer Holiday because Una Stubbs and all the others in the film would go down to this place on the water’s edge. We’d order our meal and I’d have my fruit juice and they were all having wine. And so I tasted it and I liked it. During the course of that film I became a wine drinker.

Event: Do you ever get drunk?

CR: It’s by mistake usually. It’s fun to talk about but I don’t enjoy it. It’s usually when I go out, and it happened once in Barbados with rum punches. One’s OK, two’s all right, then… I wake up in the morning and think: ‘How did I get home?’ It doesn’t happen very often.

Event: Do you ever think about retiring?

CR: No, resigning or retirement is not there. If I stopped one day, no one would know. Then if I wanted to come back, I could. It wouldn’t be a comeback.

Event: How do you feel when another birthday comes along?

CR: A couple of years before she died, Cilla [Black] was with me in Barbados and she was dreading her 70th birthday. I said to her, you’re going to wake up that morning and nothing will have changed. I feel the same way. There’s a growth and a progression that comes with ageing. And the other thing is, try to keep moving. I’ve had friends whose parents have retired and they’ve died within five years. It’s because they’d become couch potatoes. That’s the danger. There’s no need for it. Keep walking. Keep your body moving and get the joints functioning. If you can’t walk any more, crawl.

Why I'm selling up  

Event: You’ve just moved to Greenwich. What are you doing with the rest of your properties? 

CR: I’ve put everything big I own on the market. I’ve already sold my house in Weybridge. I was only living in it for about two months a year. It was ridiculous. For nine months it was closed down. The same thing with Barbados. I always thought I would only live there for about 15 years. It’s 18 years now. But even if I sold that house, I’d still get somewhere smaller in Barbados. 

It’s the same thing for my home in Portugal. I’m trying to make life easier for myself. I don’t want these millstones around my neck as I get older. I like America. Maybe one day, in my dotage I could live there. I’ve loved the place since I first heard Elvis. My first car was English, a Sunbeam Alpine, but my next three were American: a Cadillac, a Thunderbird and a Corvette Stingray. So I’ve been American-orientated my whole musical life. I have a fantastic lifestyle and I’d like to keep it going. What I’m trying to do is change my life from a long-player to a CD. 

Event: Rod Stewart said recently he had never cooked a meal in his life. Do you cook? 

CR: I have had a cook in the past, but I can cook if I was at home and absolutely on my own. For my guests, I get someone to come in and prepare the food. Lunch is easy, we have simple salads, though I never eat tomatoes or chips. And I usually have a glass of wine for lunch, then I might have two or three at night. I have a full-time housekeeper, and I have two gardeners in Barbados. One of them is part-time. I also have someone to look after the gardens in Portugal. 

My greatest regret

Event: Did you ever meet Elvis?

CR: I had one chance. I was in America promoting Devil Woman when I remarked to a journalist: ‘No Elvis, no Cliff Richard.’ He said: ‘Would you like to meet him? I’m a friend of his.’ But I knew that Elvis was not in a good state at that moment, having put on a lot of weight. I kept thinking to myself that whenever he made a movie, he got off everything, slimmed down and looked like the old Elvis again. So I said I’d rather wait because if I was going to have a photo of us on my fridge door, I’d like Elvis to be my inspiration, the man that really changed my life and he doesn’t look like that now. Then he died. Now I look back and it was one of the most stupid things I ever did. If you want to meet someone and get the chance, go and meet them. It doesn’t matter whether they’re too fat or too thin. Just so you can say you met the person who meant so much to you. I regret saying no.

Event: You didn’t stick to music – you did films, TV and theatre productions too, didn’t you?

Cliff Richard celebrating 60 years in showbusiness by performing at Royal Albert Hall in October this year

Cliff Richard celebrating 60 years in showbusiness by performing at Royal Albert Hall in October this year

Sting has said: ¿Cliff Richard is one of Britain¿s finest singers, technically and emotionally¿

Sting has said: ‘Cliff Richard is one of Britain’s finest singers, technically and emotionally’

Cliff, reflecting on his longevity in the music business: 'I didn¿t even think that I¿d reach 60 as an age, let alone have a career that old'

Cliff, reflecting on his longevity in the music business: 'I didn’t even think that I’d reach 60 as an age, let alone have a career that old'

CR: Move It was No 2 in Britain on October 14 – my birthday – in 1958. They wanted an up-and-coming pop singer for this film, Serious Charge, and I’d never acted, other than in school dramas, but I just had to learn fast. Then, with The Young Ones, I joined the dancers every morning, but I’m not a dancer. They made me look quite good but I was actually c***.

Event: Sting has said of you: ‘Cliff Richard is one of Britain’s finest singers, technically and emotionally.’

CR: I was thrilled about that and they also found quotes that John Lennon had made about me, that without Cliff and The Shadows there would have been no Beatles. So when someone suggests I’m not cool, I remind them of that and say: ‘Oh, John Lennon thought I was cool!’

Event: Did you ever imagine your career would last so long?

CR: No, I could never have imagined that. In the very early days, the rock ’n’ roll world was kind of written off as one-hit wonders, with headlines saying: ‘Here today, gone tomorrow.’ Suddenly I find that I’m doing my 60th anniversary tour. I didn’t even think that I’d reach 60 as an age, let alone have a career that old. 

Cliff’s new album ‘Rise UP’ is released on Nov 23 on Warner Music Entertainment. ‘In Concert: Cliff Richard’ is broadcast live on BBC Radio 2 from 7.30pm on Nov 29, with vision via the Red Button. The performance will be repeated on BBC2 on Nov 30