Britain's longest-serving rock star celebrates his birthday today

Strictly speaking, today in the UK there are not only living, but even performing rock stars older than Cliff Richard (Harry Roger Webb). For example, Ringo Starr was born in the same year, 1940, but in the summer.

But the point is that when The Beatles, who later dethroned Richard from the throne of rock music, were just beginning to perform, he and his band, the Shadows, were already stars. His hit "Move It," considered the first British rock 'n' roll song, was released back in 1958. By the time the Fab Four disbanded, Richard had already been singing Christian songs for several years and was an active evangelical Christian.

But business is business, and in 1976, Richard returned to rock music, which was enthusiastically received by his fans. Among them were Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page, for whom Richard was a childhood idol and even wore special badges commemorating his passing.

Describing his subsequent musical career would take a long time (he topped the national singles charts 14 times over many decades), so we'll limit ourselves to mentioning that Richard was active in recording studios and concerts as early as the 1920s.

At the same time, he never adopted the typical rock star demeanor on stage or in private ("I never wanted to trash a hotel room") and criticized the music industry for encouraging them to do so.

Richard never even married, saying he'd never had a serious relationship with a woman that would culminate in marriage. Naturally, this led to rumors that he was gay, but the singer always denied it.

Photo: Cliff Richard performing at London's Royal Albert Hall in 2021 Wikipedia