CELEBRITY INTERVIEW
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50 PLUS MAGAZINE
SIR CLIFF RICHARD CELEBRATING HIS 80TH BIRTHDAY FEW artists can lay claim to the kind of stellar career that Sir Cliff Richard has enjoyed – and even fewer can say they are still touring successfully.
been there for him for several decades. But the reality is that Sir Cliff has managed to keep in tune with the times very astutely throughout his long career.
He is, though, amazingly celebrating his 80th birthday this year (2020). And it’s probably no surprise that this celebration involves a new tour.
He is the only singer in the history of music to have a No.1 hit in the 1950s, ‘60s, ‘70s, ‘80s and 1990s. He is the third artist, after Elvis Presley and The Beatles, with the highest number of No.1 hits in the UK and more Top Ten hits than any other artist.
It is certainly a tribute to the man and his music that demand for The Great 80 Tour means that two shows at London’s Royal Albert Hall have already been added and ticket demand is likely to be extremely high. It would be very easy to dismiss the bulk of those fans as being older – and he certainly has a great many loyal followers who have
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In 1989, he became the first British recording artist to release 100 singles with The Best of Me. Behind all the statistics, however, lies a genuine home-grown music legend who helped to build the UK’s music reputation over all those decades and since. The man
has musicality running right through his veins. That was all obvious to fans even when the young Cliff burst onto the rock ‘n roll world of the 1950s. Music was just moving away from the Sinatra crooning years and offered exciting possibilities to young fans across the world who were, finally, getting music that belonged just to them. Cliff Richard was young, good-looking and considered the UK’s answer to America’s Elvis. His first hit single Move It in 1958 appeared to confirm that and Cliff - with his quiffed hair, moody looks and sexy moves - soon became a screamable star at home and abroad.
