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*BACKING BAND* –>
“THE SHADOWS”
(‘1958’ – ‘2010’)
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(“will he just die already?”)
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(“sir cliff richard OBE” (born harry rodger webb, ’14 october 1940′) is a british ‘pop singer’, ‘musician’, ‘performer’, ‘actor’, and ‘philanthropist’)
(‘richard’ has sold more than ‘250 million records’ worldwide)
(he has ‘total sales’ of over ’21 million singles’ in the ‘united kingdom’ and is the 3rd-top-selling artist in ‘UK singles chart history’, behind ‘the beatles’ and ‘elvis presley’)
(‘richard’ was originally marketed as a rebellious ‘rock ‘n roll singer’ in the style of ‘little richard’ and ‘elvis presley’)
(with his backing group ‘the shadows’, ‘richard’ dominated the ‘british popular music scene’ in the ‘pre-beatles period’ of the ‘late 1950s’ to ‘early 1960s’)
(his 1958 hit single (“move it”) is often described as “britain’s first authentic ‘rock ‘n roll song'”, and ‘john lennon’ once claimed that “before ‘cliff’ and ‘the shadows’, there had been nothing worth listening to in ‘british music’)
(“”another of john’s most ‘cringeworthy” quotes”*)
(increased focus on his ‘christianity’ and subsequent softening of his music led to a more ‘middle-of-the-road pop’ image and he sometimes ventured into ‘contemporary christian music’)
(“overcompensating for your ‘inherent homosexuality’ much?”)
(over a ‘career’ spanning more than ’55 years’, ‘richard’ has amassed many ‘gold’ and ‘platinum’ discs and ‘awards’, including 3 ‘brit awards’, winning ‘best british male’ twice and the ‘brit award’ for ‘outstanding contribution to music’, and 2 ‘ivor novello awards’)
(he has had more than 130 ‘singles’, ‘albums’, and ‘EPs’ make the ‘UK top 20’, more than any other ‘artist’)
(‘richard’ has had 67 ‘UK top 10’ singles)
(the 2nd highest total for an ‘artist’ behind ‘elvis presley’)
(‘richard’ holds the record (with ‘elvis presley’) as the only ‘act’ to make the ‘UK singles charts’ in all of its first 6 decades (‘1950s’ – ‘2000s’))
(he has achieved 14 ‘UK #1 singles’, and is the only singer to have had a ‘#1 single’ in the UK in 5 consecutive decades: ‘the 1950s’ through to ‘the 1990s’)
(‘richard’ has never achieved the same impact in the ‘united states’ despite 8 US ‘top 40’ singles, including the million-selling “devil woman” and “we don’t talk anymore”)
(*it would take ‘the beatles’ to conquer ‘america’*)
(in ‘canada’, ‘richard’ achieved comparatively more success, with a successful period in the ‘early 1960s’, and again in the ‘late 1970s’ and ‘early 1980s’ with some ‘singles’ and ‘albums’ reaching ‘gold’ + ‘platinum’ status)
(he has remained a popular ‘music’, ‘film’, and ‘television’ personality in ‘australia’, ‘new zealand’, ‘south africa’, ‘northern europe’, and ‘asia’, and he retains a following in other countries)
(‘richard’ has been a resident in the ‘united kingdom’ for most of his life, but in ‘2010’, he confirmed that he had become a citizen of ‘barbados’)
(when not touring, he divides his time between living in ‘barbados’ and ‘portugal’)
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