Cliff Richard is nothing if not a stayer. Consistently at the top of his game, decade after decade after decade. He's 79 this year, still drawing enormous crowds, and releasing his 60th anniversary concert on DVD and Blu-ray on March 6. He's never been one for half-measures – just watch his latest stunning performance clips.
He can be unpredictable. One of the world's most famous Christians, in his 2008 autobiography My Life, My Way, he tackled the topic of same-sex marriage, head on. Surprising many, he called on the Church of England to affirm people's commitment in same-sex marriage. He wrote: "In the end, I believe, people are going to be judged for what they are. It seems to me that commitment is the issue, and if anyone comes to me and says 'This is my partner – we are committed to each other' then I don't care what their sexuality is. I'm not going to judge – I'll leave that to God." Not the standard Christian position. More like a stabilising breath of fresh air. And nothing at all to do with his private life, but everything to do with providing a mission statement on a social attitude.
There just has to be a creator. I'm not able to believe that everything around us is an accident.
- SIR CLIFF RICHARD
He's copped flak for his beliefs. But his faith has seen him through very trying times, including recent reports of historic sex-abuse allegations over which he sued the BBC and won.
Did it dampen his belief in the media? What about his belief in God?
INTERVIEW
In the beautiful track Everything That I Am from Rise Up (2018), you sing: "Days and years slip through our fingers like sand and I will still love you with everything that I am." Do you still love God so unequivocally? My love for and reliance on God has never changed. As years pass, my faith in God gets even stronger as I witness the incredible strength and beauty of our planet. There just has to be a creator. I'm not able to believe that everything around us is an accident.
Rise Up is a triumphant anthem, coming after what you called "a bad two years". "Yesterday the clouds were darkest, I could not see the end of it, but something inside of me never learnt to quit." What was it inside you that refused to quit? I think we all have the ability to wake up hidden inner strength. Within a couple of days of hearing the false allegation against me I had forgiven my accuser and started to rid myself of self-pity. No longer wanting revenge, I focused on justice and there was no way I was going to quit. Four years after that terrible accusation I won my case against the BBC – that's justice!
We all have the right to freedom of speech. But no one has the right to lie. Not me, not you, and definitely not the media.
- SIR CLIFF RICHARD
In this era of fake news, some world leaders go to great lengths to undermine the media's credibility to serve their own interests. Yet the one thing safeguarding peace and freedom is an independent media. Many – yourself included – have suffered at the hands of unscrupulous corners of the media. What must the media get right if it is to safeguard freedom? We all have the right to freedom of speech. But often the media abuses that wonderful freedom. No one has the right to lie. Not me, not you, and definitely not the media. People say you can’t believe all you read in the papers. But we should be able to believe what we read in the papers. Only the media can change that.
What were you thinking as you stepped into Abbey Road Studio 2 to do your first recording, at 17? And what were you thinking 60 years later as you stepped into Criteria Studios in Miami to record Rise Up? I stood in Studio 2 at Abbey Road recording Move It five years before the Beatles got there. There was something special about Studio 2. The Beatles felt it and they also loved it. Recording has always been my favourite showbiz activity, I love it to this day. I was nervous that very first session but never again since. Recording Rise Up was a treat – no nerves, just a commitment to a fabulous song. The only thing that crossed my mind in the Criteria studio at Miami was that I may have been singing into the same mic Barry Gibb had used for Stayin' Alive and the other great hits.
Just a few people in the music industry seem to hold the reins. Has digital music really put the power back into the hands of musicians? The hi-tech aspect of our musical world certainly opened up horizons for us and we were able to enter a world of magic. One voice could be multi-tracked and made to sound like a choir. It seemed nothing was impossible. The only thing I feel about some of the contemporary electronic music is that it sounds too clinical for my liking. But I feel there's no right or wrong, only what you like or don’t like.
How have you managed to remain your own person and do the sort of material you want to do? I never felt others were trying to put me where I did not want to be. I’ve recorded the songs I loved and as the times changed I tried to change with them. It pleases me to look back and see that Move It was nothing like Living Doll. that Congratulations was nothing like Devil Woman which was nothing like We Don't Talk Anymore which was nothing like Millennium Prayer, and so it goes on. I can only hope I continue to be given the opportunity to record songs of their time.
You've sold 250 million records worldwide, 21 million singles in the UK. In the UK singles charts you've only been beaten by the Beatles and Elvis. You're the only UK singer with a hit single in five consecutive decades. You must be tired of the stats. So, what do you consider your greatest life achievements so far? I think my greatest musical achievement is being third to the Beatles and Elvis in world sales when I never really had the US market. It's probably the biggest record market in the world and to me being third to Elvis and the Beatles without any significant sales in America is a miracle. A close second was getting my knighthood.
Sir Cliff, thank you.