Poco

Inamorata was released in 1984 and Legacy in 1990. Here is a list showing the amount of chart toppers Cliff has scored in each decade:-. Subsequently, Furay, Schmit and Grantham appeared at times with the band - which has, as a unit, broken up and re-formed a number of times. 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. Kim Bullard then joined the band, and four more albums: Under the Gun, Blue and Gray, Cowboys and Englishmen and Ghost Town were released. 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. The new quartet recorded Legend which featured 'Crazy Love' and 'Heart of the Night'. Interestingly enough, he has only scored 1 million selling single, "The Young Ones".

In 1977, both Schmit and Grantham left; being replaced by Steve Chapman and Charlie Harrison. Cliff has sold more singles in the UK than any other act with sales exceeding 20.1 million records. For Poco, the albums Seven, Cantamos, Head over Heels, Rose of Cimarron and Indian Summer followed. Cliff Richard has scored 14 #1 singles in the UK; more than any other artist with the exception of Elvis Presley and The Beatles. After two Poco more albums: A Good Feelin' to Know and Crazy Eyes, Furay also left the band - forming the Souther Hillman Furay Band. He also featured on the 1989 christmas number one by Band Aid II, thus appearing at the top of the charts for three consecutive Christmases. Messina experienced considerable subsequent success with Kenny Loggins as Loggins & Messina. In later years, he often released songs with a christmas or other religious theme:.

Messina then left the band - being replaced by Paul Cotton. His first christmas number one (on some charts) was in 1960, but it was not a yuletide-themed song:. Poco (1971) and Deliverin' (1972) followed. Cliff Richard has aimed for the Christmas number one single on several occasions, sometimes successful and others not. Timothy B. Schmit - bass and vocals - subsequently joined the band. Britons are always surprised that he is a virtual unknown in America. The first album Pickin' Up the Pieces was significantly delayed - so that Meisner had already joined The Eagles by the time it was issued. The Shadows had decided to re-form for one final tour of the UK, with this concert heralded as their final ever concert as the Shadows.

Other initial members were Rusty Young (pedal steel and dobro), George Grantham (drums and vocals) and Randy Meisner (bass and vocals). After having not performed as Cliff and the Shadows since 1989/1990, Cliff joined the Shadows on stage on June 14, 2004, at the London Palladium. Poco was a country rock band started by Richie Furay (vocals and rhythm guitar) and Jim Messina (lead guitar and vocals) following the demise of Buffalo Springfield in 1968. Sir Cliff has become joint owner of the Arora International Hotel in Manchester, which opened in June 2004. The Ultimate Pop Star, a Channel 4 programme screened in 2004, revealed that Cliff Richard had sold more singles in the UK than any other music artist, ahead of the Beatles in second place and Elvis Presley in third. Sir Cliff is number 56 in the 2002 list of 100 Great Britons (sponsored by the BBC and voted for by the public).

He reached the pinnacle of his career when he was knighted. Cliff remained a tennis fan, however, delighting Wimbledon crowds with an impromptu singalong on one rainy afternoon in 1996. Later, his relationship with Sue Barker was the subject of much gossip, but they disappointed those who expected them to marry. In 1974, he denied the rumor that he had asked his good friend Olivia Newton-John for her hand in marriage.

The Shadows later re-formed (and later again split), and recorded on their own, but reunited with Cliff in 1978 and 1984 for some concerts. Strangely enough, those who were initially sceptical of his move into other types of songs, later changed in their own beliefs and did similarly on their own records. He has become an artist who has not been categorised in one single mould, but has been a wild rock n roller, a ballad singer, a heavy rock singer, who even found it natural to move into dance beats. Although many fans, such as John Lennon, had in the early 60s regretted Cliff trying out songs which were not strictly in the rock n roll area, this process of slowly getting used to recording with the Shadows as the "rock group", while at other times singing with other musicians, without a doubt is at least partly responsible for Cliff becoming what he has become.

Cliff had already become used to not having his Shadows with him in recording sessions, and was able to record in any setting. After the Shadows split in 1968, resulting also in the split of Cliff Richard and the Shadows, Richard had to record without his band. As time progressed, he balanced his life and work out, enabling him to still be the most popular singer in Britain while also one of the best known Christians. He still recorded secular songs with the Shadows, some of which introduced revolutionary recording techniques which influenced the Beatles and other groups, but he gave a lot of his time to Christian work.

Soon after, Cliff re-emerged and performed with Christian groups and recorded some Christian material. After intending to become a teacher instead, Christian friends told him that he didn't have to give his career up just because he had become a Christian. Although his image had already become tamer due to his film roles and well spoken voice on radio and TV, he still rocked on stage. First of all Richard believed that he should quit rock n roll, as he thought he could no longer be the rocker who had in the early years been called a 'crude exhibitionist' and 'too sexy for TV' and a threat to parents' daughters.

To stand up publicly as a new Christian was a big and brave decision which affected his career in various ways. Another important aspect of Cliff's life was his conversion to Christianity in about 1966. He also did more work with Olivia Newton-John, and to cap the decade off, filled the Wembley Stadium for a few nights with a spectacular simply titled "The Event". In the space of a few years he had worked with Elton John, Mark Knopfler, George Harrison, Julian Lennon, Freddie Mercury, Stevie Wonder, Phil Everly, Janet Jackson and Van Morrison, to name a few.

In the next years into and through the 1980s, Cliff was the biggest pop star in the country, and he became a magnet for other music greats. A true Cliff revival was happening. A number of other strong albums were produced, and in 1979 he went to number one with We Don't Talk Anymore. People like Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, and Elton John began being seen sporting big "I'm Nearly Famous" badges on their clothes, so pleased that their icon was getting heavily back into the heavy rock that he began his career in.

It wasn't just Cliff and the fans who were excited that the man who had begun and led British rock from the start was back in strength, but also a host of big music names. The collaboration produced the landmark Cliff album "I'm Nearly Famous", which brought about the classic rock guitar driven track "Devil Woman" and the haunting "Miss You Nights". He was in everyone's homes, and gave enjoyment to all the family, and although still recording and being successful, Cliff and others like his former Shadow Bruce Welch decided that they would once again bring Cliff out as a "rock" artist again. The tv shows made Cliff into a tv personality and not necessarily primarily a recording singer.

During the 1970s, Cliff became heavily involved in tv shows, like 'It's Cliff Richard', many of which also starred Hank Marvin. The Beatles had became huge once America took to them, and this in turn opened up the path across the Atlantic. However he did not have the advantage the new acts had of being able to release music and having it go directly to the USA as well. Throughout the 1960s, Cliff stayed at the top, even at the height of Mersey music.

The record set the Shadows on a path of their own, and soon became the greatest instrumental group of all time. In 1960, the Shadows (though having previously recorded as the Drifters without Cliff) released 'Apache', which saw the birth of British rock guitar instrumental music. Hits in this mould included It's All in the Game, Constantly, The Minute you're Gone and Wind Me Up. In the early days, Cliff sometimes recorded without the Shadows, mainly to cater for other styles.

He also represented the UK twice in the Eurovision Song Contest, both times unsuccessfully, though his first attempt, Congratulations, was a massive hit in Britain and most of the world and has become a standard, still sung on suitable occasions.. These movies created their own genre known as the "Cliff Richard musical" and led to Cliff being named the Number One Cinema Box Office Attraction in Britain for both 1962 and 1963. Cliff's first straight acting role took place in the 1968 film "Two a Penny, which saw him as a young man who gets involved in drug dealing while questioning his life after his girlfriend changes her attitude. Cliff and the Shadows appeared in a number of films, most notably in The Young Ones (which would give its name to 1980s TV sitcom The Young Ones), Summer Holiday, Wonderful Life and Finders Keepers. The Beatles were taken to Cliff and the Shadows concerts and instructed about clothes, stage presence and various other things, and being of the same fold at Abbey Road, were good friends with the band.