Cliff Richard

Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb in Lucknow, India, on October 14, 1940) is the stage name of one of UK's most popular singers. During the last six decades he has charted more than 100 hit singles and holds the record (along with Elvis Presley) as the only act to make the UK singles charts in all its active decades (1950s–2000s).

Trivia

• Cliff Richard has scored 14 #1 singles in the UK; more than any other artist with the exception of Elvis Presley and The Beatles.
• Cliff has sold more singles in the UK than any other act with sales exceeding 20.1 million copies. Interestingly enough, he has only scored 1 million-selling single, "The Young Ones".
• Cliff is the only act in the UK to score a #1 single in each and every decade since the inception of the UK Singles chart in 1952, with the exception of the 00's, which are not over. He will have to score a #1 single between now and December 2009 in order to maintain the record, although he can claim the record for being the only act to score a #1 single in every decade in the first century of the inception of the UK Singles Chart. The following list shows the number of chart toppers Cliff has achieved in each decade.
• 1950s - 2: "Living Doll", "Travelling Light"
• 1960s - 6: "Please Don't Tease", "I Love You", "The Young Ones", "The Next Time/Bachelor Boy", "Summer Holiday", "The Minute You're Gone", "Congratulations"
• 1970s - 1: "We Don't Talk Anymore"
• 1980s - 2: "Living Doll", "Mistletoe & Wine"
• 1990s - 2: "Saviour's Day", "The Millennium Prayer"
• 2000s - 0; his closest was "Santa's List" which made #5 in December 2003.

Interestingly, despite his enormous fame in the UK, Cliff Richard remains almost completely unknown in the United States to this day. Due to indifferent promotion at the start of his career, and the lack of a long-term American distribution deal since, very few Americans have ever heard of him. What little awareness there is of him has come from his 1976 single "Devil Woman" (which finally gave him a #6 hit in the States, but had no follow-up), his duet "Suddenly" with Olivia Newton-John (also a Top Twenty hit in the US), and the many references to him in the BBC comedy series The Young Ones.

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