Cliff Richard
Sir Cliff Richard OBE (born Harry Rodger Webb on 14 October 1940 is an Indian born English singer-songwriter and entrepreneur.
With his backing group The Shadows, Richard dominated the British popular music scene in the late 1950s and early 1960s (ie the 5 year “Before-Beatles” period: 1958-1962), before and during The Beatles’ first year in the charts in 1963. John Lennon once claimed that “before Cliff and the Shadows, there had been nothing worth listening to in British music.”… – The Times. Nov 30th 2005.
A conversion to Christianity and subsequent softening of his music led to his having more of a pop than rock image. He never achieved the same impact in the United States despite several chart singles there eg Devil Woman, but he has remained a popular music, film, and television personality in the United Kingdom and he retains a following in other countries.
During six decades, Cliff Richard has charted many singles, and holds the record (with Elvis Presley) as the only act to make the UK singles charts in all of its decades (1950s–2000s). He is the only singer to have had a number one single in the UK in five consecutive decades, doing so from the 1950s through to the 1990s (though if you discount digital downloads and only count CDs, he has had a number one single in the UK in six consecutive decades, from the 1950s through to the 2000s). In the British charts, Richard has had more than 130 [single], albums and EPs make the top 20, more than any other artist. He has sold more than 250 million records.
Biography
1940–58: Childhood
Cliff Richard was born to Anglo-Indian parents, at the King George Hospital, Victoria Street, in Lucknow, British India, to Rodger Oscar Webb, a manager for a catering contractor that serviced the big Indian Railways, and Dorothy Marie (born Dazely) Webb the family lived in a modest house with other Anglo Indians at Maqbara close to the main shopping centre of Hazratgunge. Cliff’s father was 17 years senior to his mother. He was christened on 2 November, 1940 at St Thomas’ Church, Dehradun, India. Rodger Webb was educated at Christ Church School Lucknow. The Anglo Indians living at Maqbara often were employed as musicians and a band from there played at the Royal Cafe Restaurant Lucknow and another band at the Mohmmad Bagh club which was the officers military club serving the large garrison at Lucknow.Dorothy Marie’s mother served as the dormitory matron at the La Martinier Girls School. Anglo Indian did not enjoy any social status in India and were looked down by the British.In 1948, following Indian independence, the family moved to England. The Webbs moved from comparative wealth in India where they had servants and lived in a company supplied flat at Howrah near Calcutta, to the semi-detached house of Harry’s grandmother in Carshalton, Surrey. In 1949 his father obtained employment in the credit control office of Thorn Electrical Industries and the family moved in with other relatives in Hertfordshire until a three-bedroom council house in Cheshunt was allocated to them in 1950. Harry then attended Riversmead School (which was later renamed Bishopslea School) from 1952 to 1957. As a member of the top stream he stayed on beyond the mimimum leaving age to take GCE Ordinary Level examinations and he gained a pass in English. He then started work as a filing clerk for a company called Atlas Lamps.
Webb became interested in skiffle, his father bought him a guitar at 16 and he formed the Quintones vocal group in 1957. He then sang in the Dick Teague Skiffle Group.
