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Desert Island Discs

Sir Cliff Richard

Desert Island Discs

BBC

Society & Culture, Music Commentary, Music, Personal Journals

4.413.7K Ratings

🗓️ 20 December 2020

⏱️ 36 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Sir Cliff Richard makes a second trip to the island he first visited 60 years ago, when he had just turned 20, but had already topped the UK charts three times. Over the course of his career, Sir Cliff has released over 100 albums and sold well over 250 million records. His chart success in the UK has been eclipsed only by his hero Elvis Presley and one-time rivals, the Beatles. Born Harry Webb in Lucknow, India, Sir Cliff returned to the UK with his family in 1948: money was tight and the family of six shared a room until they were able to move into a council house. Sir Cliff’s father bought him a guitar for his 16th birthday and he initially performed in a skiffle band until he discovered rock ‘n’ roll and started a new band called the Drifters which later became the Shadows. His first hit single came in 1958 with Move It – often credited as being the first authentic British rock ‘n’ roll track – and he dominated the home-grown music scene of the late 1950s and early 1960s. During his long career Sir Cliff performed on screen in films including Summer Holiday and The Young Ones. He has fronted television shows, twice performed Britain’s entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and starred in two stage musicals. Today, at 80, he is still recording new songs and itching to get back on tour to perform his music in a post-Covid world. Sir Cliff's return to Desert Island Discs after 60 years is record-breaking: it's the longest time between appearances in the programme's eight decade history. DISC ONE: Rolling in the Deep by Aretha Franklin DISC TWO: What's Love Got To Do With It by Cliff Richard DISC THREE: Heartbreak Hotel by Elvis Presley DISC FOUR: I Honestly Love You by Olivia Newton-John DISC FIVE: It Is Well by Sheila Walsh Featuring Cliff Richard DISC SIX: I Can't Make You Love Me by Bonnie Raitt DISC SEVEN: Stayin' Alive by Bee Gees DISC EIGHT: High Water Everywhere by Joe Bonamassa BOOK CHOICE: Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë LUXURY ITEM: A Gibson acoustic guitar CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: It Is Well by Sheila Walsh Featuring Cliff Richard Presenter: Lauren Laverne Producer: Paula McGinley

Transcript

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0:00.0

BBC Sounds Music Radio Podcasts

0:04.9

Hello, I'm Lauren LeVern and this is the Desert Island Disks Podcast.

0:08.6

Every week I ask my guests to choose the eight tracks, book and luxury they'd want to take

0:13.3

with them if they were cast away to a desert island.

0:16.6

And for right reasons, the music is shorter than the original broadcast.

0:20.9

I hope you enjoy listening.

0:44.4

My cast away this week is the singer and actor, Sir Cliff Richard.

0:48.4

He's been cast away on Desert Island Disks once before, some 60 years ago.

0:53.4

Back then he told presenter Roy Plumley that he was celebrating the fact he'd just left

0:57.4

his teens and that the ten singles he'd released had all been chart hits, though he admitted

1:02.8

he was keeping his fingers crossed as he didn't know how long his lucky streak would last.

1:07.9

Well, he needn't have worried.

1:09.8

His chart's success in the UK has been eclipsed only by his hero Elf is Presley and one time

1:15.3

rivals The Beatles.

1:17.0

His released over a hundred albums sold well over 250 million records and is the only British

1:23.1

artist to score number one's in five consecutive decades.

1:28.0

As an artist, he is once familiar and enigmatic.

1:31.4

His career has seen many transformations from rock and roll at the night of the realm,

1:35.8

teen hard throb to born again gospel singer and from wired for sound disco king to veritable

1:41.4

Christmas tradition.

1:43.2

The critics haven't always been kind but fans continue to adore him and 60 years in the

1:48.0

spotlight has earned him a special place in British popular culture.

...

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