Cliff Richard has reflected on whether he will retire after a seven-decade career, stating: “I might be dead next year.”
The 84-year-old “Summer Holiday” musician has enjoyed an illustrious music career, selling over 250 million records since the 1950s as part of The Shadows but also as a solo act. However, he admitted that it has become “very wearing”.
“The thing I would have to give up probably at some time is touring,” he told Coast Radio, according to The Mirror. “It's very wearing, and you never know when you wake up in the morning whether your voice is still there.”
Asked if the Can’t Stop Me Now tour of Australia, New Zealand and the UK could serve as his farewell, the singer replied: “I don’t know. I might be dead next year. So I don't even think about it anymore. It’s one of those things. As I get older, maybe I'll become less able to perform, so I can't say.”
Richard looked back at the change in his performing abilities over the years, saying: “I used to move around a heck of a lot and there was a period when I would get four girl dancers, four guy dancers, and I used to dance with them.”
He said he “does not want to be an 85-year-old guy trying to be 18”, adding: “I can still move on stage and that's what I do. I've got two backing singers, two guys, and they can dance, they can act, they can sing, they can play instruments.”
The “Ocean Deep” singer said he will be keeping an open mind about the scale of his performance, and would consider paring it down for comfort.
“I'm going to see when I get to rehearsals, to just say: ‘Let's talk about maybe doing two songs where you come and join me out front. And while we're singing something like “Do You Want To Dance” we do a few steps like that?’”
He added: “I don't want to try and be 18 anymore. I like singing now, I'm as excited now as I was when I came [to New Zealand] last time,” he continued. “I'm sure the audience will see that we – the big band and I – are friends and almost a family when we're on tour. We'll try and do something that will make it look as though I'm 18, but I'm not.”
Born Harry Rodger Webb in 1940, the singer adopted the name Cliff Richard when he helped found The Shadows. In 1958, the band shot to fame with their No 2 single “Move It” and their fifth record “Living Doll” reached No 1 in the British charts in 1960.
After a brief stint in films, starring in The Young Ones (1962) and Summer Holiday (1963), Richard, a noted tennis enthusiast, became an active Christian in 1964. Shortly after The Shadows split, he went on his first gospel tour in 1968 and has remained a solo artist ever since.
He represented the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest the same year, losing to Spain by one point.
Over his career, he has secured 14 UK No 1 singles and holds the record for the most top 10 singles for a male artist – and is the only person to have made the UK singles charts in the first six decades from 1950 to into the 2000s. He secured his first Christmas No 1 in 1988 with “Mistletoe and Wine”.
His latest album, Cliff With Strings - My Kinda Life, a reinterpretation of the musician’s songs alongside an orchestral soundtrack, was released in 2023.
