Cliff Richard—rocker of ages

Press, 18 November 1981, Page 18

Cliff Richard—rocker of ages

By

KEN COATES.

in London At 41. Cliff Richard has produced his eightieth hit record in an industry which has destroyed many of his contemporaries. Since his first record. “Move It.” became a number one hit, in 1961, several generations of teen-agers who make up the pop market have come and gone. Other styles have become dated—the skiffle of Lonnie Donegan, the rock of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, the cheap thrills of the Bay City Rollers and Gary Glitter, the energy of punk and the Sex Pistols, and the insistent beat of disco. But throughout it all, Cliff Richard’s popularity has remained, and “Wired for Sound” is his eightieth hit. In the pop world he is an old man, and though he is still slim, his forehead is lined. But he still has the look of the chubby young rocker when he smiles' with those full rounded cheeks. Critics have said that his songs arc never innovative, and his music is often bland. He made a public commit-

ment to Christianity in the mid 19605. He plays music to which many of his fellow believers are hostile, and holds beliefs which many of his fellowmusicians find meaningless. Born in India, the son of a British railway official, his real name is Harry Webb. He left school at 16 to work as a clerk for the firm which employed his father,

who by this time; had been forced "to return to England. A guitar bought by his father and the new craze for Elvis Presley provided a means of Cliff's escape from a job as:a storeman. He iriade four hits in quick succession, then his father died. Bv now Harry was Cliff Richard, and he began to study the Bible with a former scripture teacher, Bill Latham. Today Cliff devotes four weeks - a year to concerts which last year raised $260,000 for an international evangelical charity. He has never married and lives in Weybridge, Surrey, with Mr Latham and Mr Latham’s mother. Mr Latham organises Cliff’s Christian engagements and has written the singer's syrupy biography, “Which One Is Cliff?” Although he is now a millionaire. Cliff Richard never carries more than £2O in his pocket and lives a deliberately simple and undemanding private life made possible by the care and protection of what he always calls his “second family,”