When he was 12 years old, Sir Cliff Richard – then known as Harry Webb – sent a letter to a pen-pal he’d made in Australia. “My ambition is to be a famous singer,” he wrote. Decades later that same pen-pal gave him a copy during his first tour Down Under. “I don’t remember at that early age wanting to sing,” he tells The Weekly, “but there it was in black and white. So perhaps I did have that feeling! It wasn’t until I was about 15, I think, when I first heard Elvis that the desire grew into something that really overtook me. And I’m very happy that it did!”
As he releases a DVD version of his recent The Great 80 Tour which was filmed at the Royal Albert Hall, Sir Cliff reflects on his music, his fans, his faith and his dear friend, Olivia.
Can you give us a snapshot of your life before music?
I got to England just in time for my eighth birthday [from India, where he’d been raised]. I can remember I first went to school in a place called Carshalton, in Surrey. My grandmother said she would put us up for a while, and she did. Of course for that while, possibly a year or so, I got bullied a bit, but I learned how to fight – it’s interesting how you learn to survive.
When did you first realise that you had made the leap to fame?
I realised that we’d made a pretty good start when, at the age of 17, I found myself in Studio Two at Abbey Road recording a song. It’s at that moment that I felt “wow”. It wasn’t that we’d made it, but we had every chance of making it. I think the precise moment I knew was when that song – Move It – got to #2 in the British charts.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة March 2022 من Australian Women’s Weekly NZ.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة March 2022 من Australian Women’s Weekly NZ.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
PRETTY WOMAN
Dial up the joy with a mood-boosting self-care session done in the privacy of your own home. It’s a blissful way to banish the winter blues.
Hitting a nerve
Regulating the vagus nerve with its links to depression, anxiety, arthritis and diabetes could aid physical and mental wellbeing.
The unseen Rovals
Candid, behind the scenes and neverbefore-seen images of the royal family have been released for a new exhibition.
Great read
In novels and life - there's power in the words left unsaid.
Winter dinner winners
Looking for some thrifty inspiration for weeknight dinners? Try our tasty line-up of budget-concious recipes that are bound to please everyone at the table.
Winter baking with apples and pears
Celebrate the season of apples and pears with these sweet bakes that will keep the cold weather blues away.
The wines and lines mums
Once only associated with glamorous A-listers, cocaine is now prevalent with the soccer-mum set - as likely to be imbibed at a school fundraiser as a nightclub. The Weekly looks inside this illegal, addictive, rising trend.
Former ballerina'sBATTLE with BODY IMAGE
Auckland author Sacha Jones reveals how dancing led her to develop an eating disorder and why she's now on a mission to educate other women.
MEET RUSSIA'S BRAVEST WOMEN
When Alexei Navalny died in a brutal Arctic prison, Vladimir Putin thought he had triumphed over his most formidable opponent. Until three courageous women - Alexei's mother, wife and daughter - took up his fight for freedom.
IT'S NEVER TOO LATE TO START
Responsible for keeping the likes of Jane Fonda and Jamie Lee Curtis in shape, Malin Svensson is on a mission to motivate those in midlife to move more.
