International Update!
July 21, 2010
I honestly don’t know where the time goes!
It only seems a short while since I last wrote to you all,
and I was astonished to see it was over four months ago.
Those intervening months have been full –
though not necessarily with work! My last blog
came as The Shadows and I ended our tour of Australia and
New Zealand, and we were about to leave for South Africa.
We only had five shows there but had a fantastic reception.
The Shads and I all remembered the welcome we had when we
toured there in the ‘60s – and I reckon half the audience
did too! South Africa is a fabulous country.
After the final show in Johannesburg, I stayed on for a few
days with friends near Cape Town, which was the perfect way
to wind down after a long tour.
From there it was straight to Barbados,
where I stayed almost continuously until the beginning of
June. The ‘almost continuously’ bit you already
know about – I was honoured to be invited to sing
Congratulations at the 70th birthday celebration of Queen
Margrethe of Denmark. It was a long haul –
Barbados to London to Denmark and back – for one song, but I
loved being part of such a special and magnificent
occasion.
En route back to Barbados, I had an
overnight stop-over in the UK and woke up in the morning to
news of Eyjafjallajökull. No, I’d never heard of
it either! But this volcano in Iceland was
apparently disrupting flights right, left and centre, and
there was a big question-mark as to whether my flight would
be able to take off. However, after
consultation, I decided to risk going to the airport, and
the gamble paid off – my flight was the very last one out of
Gatwick for several days!
At the end of April I did the photographic
shoot for the 2011 calendar. (How crazy is that
– to be talking about 2011 when we’re only just into 2010!)
I’m delighted with the pictures though and think you’ll like
them too.
I said au revoir to Barbados early in June
and headed to Ireland for a few days. After
that, I joined some friends for a week’s cruise in the
Mediterranean on their rather fabulous ship.
That was followed by a few days with friends in France, and
then back to England for the wedding of my niece, Rachael.
We had a fantastic day – good weather, lovely service,
beautiful bride, family and friends – terrific!
I only had time to be at the second week
of Wimbledon but it was, as always, hugely enjoyable.
As a member of the All England Lawn Tennis Club, I’m able to
buy tickets for guests and it’s a great pleasure to me to
take friends to lunch before play gets under way.
I fit in quite a bit during the evenings as well, so it’s a
packed week for me, but I loved it!
So… here I am, now in Portugal, enjoying
my Quinta once again, along with cloudless blue skies, hot
sun, friends, great food and great wine (Vida Nova of
course!). There’s a handful of work commitments
too – pre-recording one or two media interviews to tie in
with the London concerts, and I’m also learning my songs for
the concerts at the Royal Albert Hall – there’s a whole
bunch of new lyrics to familiarise myself with, plus new
arrangements to some old songs.
I was sad to hear recently of the sudden
death of William Hooper, who ran my Gloucester & Oxford Fan
Club so well for so many years. ‘The man in the
white jacket’ was a mine of information about my recordings
and I know his website was a reference point for many of
you. My sincerest sympathy goes to his wife and
family. The death last year of Harry de Louw of
the ICRM was also a great shock, for his family first of
course, but also for you, who had supported the ICRM and the
D/i magazine for decades.
Some of you will remember my former
manager, David Bryce. I was sorry to hear at the
end of June that he’d had a nasty fall at his home, and had
broken his femur. He’ll be in hospital for some
time, but is gradually on the mend, and hopefully will be as
agile as ever before too long! I was able to pop
in and visit him before I left for Portugal in early July,
and he was bright and cheerful – and reminiscing over our
shared years of course!
I think that brings you up-to-date with
what I’ve been up to over the last few months. I
shall start rehearsals towards the end of September for the
Royal Albert Hall shows and will look forward to seeing many
of you there! It’s my big chance to introduce
you to my new CD Bold As Brass. I’ll be
performing in front of an 18-piece band, plus three singers.
Already I’m getting excited at the prospect of performing
the songs for you!
See you soon.
Luv Cliff!
G’Day from Down Under!
March 2nd, 2010
There isn’t a
lot of time to sit down and write while on tour, so this is a fairly quick
update!
Picking up
from where I left off in December, we had a fabulous evening for The Tennis
Foundation at Hampton Court Palace. I was blown away by the
brilliance of Dame Evelyn Glennie, the percussionist, and the London Community
Gospel Choir were terrific to close the evening. Brian Conley took
time off from pantomime rehearsals to entertain us with his amazing versatility
– he’s astonishingly gifted in so many areas, and it was great to join him in a
song.
Immediately
afterwards I headed to New York, where I spent Christmas with friends, and then
in early January I headed off on a cruise that began in Fort Lauderdale and
ended in Los Angeles, via the Panama Canal. Great relaxation with
good friends – and it was a bonus to spend some time with John and Pat Farrar in
LA at the end of it.
I flew from LA
to London for just one night then on to Singapore for a few days to allow the
body to adjust to yet another time zone. The Shads and the rest of
the tour party linked up with me at the end of January in Singapore and we flew
into Perth together, for a few days’ top-up rehearsal before the first show.
Australia, as
always, was fantastic! There wasn’t a great deal of spare time as
free days were usually taken up by travel – it’s such a vast country – but I’ve
loved meeting up with old friends and colleagues. My tennis playing
has been curtailed by an Achilles tendon injury, which is rather frustrating,
but I’m trying to obey the advice that I mustn’t play for a few months.
However, the
injury didn’t stop me climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge one evening.
What an experience! It was pretty strenuous and we all had to wear
safety harnesses, but it was worth the effort for the magnificent view.
The concerts
have had the most amazing reception throughout – just like the UK and Europe.
The Shads and I have been overwhelmed by the enthusiasm and excitement of the
fans. Now we’re in New Zealand and the fans there have, true to
form, given us the most amazing welcome.
South Africa
beckons next week, and I’m looking forward to meeting up with some friends
there, as well as enjoying the last concerts with Hank, Bruce and Brian.
What a
fantastic six months we’ve had! And now there are the Royal Albert
Hall concerts to think about – though I think I’ll take a bit of a break before
I get stuck into that planning!
Thanks again
for all your support and enthusiasm.
Love ya!
December 7th, 2009
I know it’s been four months since my last blog,
at the end of July, but I think you’ll have a clue
as to why that might be!
After a relaxed break in Portugal through August,
I travelled to Killarney in southern Ireland to
start rehearsals with The Shadows. It
was great to be back with the lads again, and to
rehearse in such a fabulous setting was terrific.
We seemed to do a huge number of radio and
television interviews during that rehearsal period –
which is always a bit of a worry for me, but the
vocal cords survived!
The UK tour was fantastic – sell-out crowds
everywhere and a truly amazing audience reaction.
It was interesting too to see a different mix of
people to my usual concerts; I even spotted a
few men in the front rows – Hank’s influence no
doubt!! It was a busy time of travel and
of course a tour never just involves the concerts –
there are always a few charity things to slot in
along the way, plus media commitments here and
there, and multitudes of other little ‘bits and
pieces’ that somehow creep into the schedule.
My office will tell you that at every show there
are more requests for personal meetings than can
possibly be accommodated in the limited time
available, so these days I tend to limit them to
folk who have bid at charity auctions for tickets
and a ‘meet and greet’. I’m sorry I
can’t meet personally all of you who write to ask
for a meeting, but hope you’ll understand the
problem of supply and demand!
I guess your enthusiasm for the concerts has been
reflected in the wonderful sales of the DVD from the
show – which was No 1 in the DVD chart for two weeks
after release. The Shads and I are
delighted that a group of ‘sexy-genarians’ can still
top the charts!!
Speaking of sexy-genarians, thank you for all the
birthday greetings you sent me! I was in
Sheffield on the day itself, but had a belated
birthday dinner with friends at home a few days
later. Then, after the Wembley shows, I
spent a week or so in Portugal before heading to
Paris to stay with friends for a few days before the
European tour started there.
That tour was great fun too. Well,
apart from the airline strike in Finland, which
meant we had to charter a plane to get us to our
next show in Sweden – nightmare time for the tour
manager! We’ve all said that this
touring period has been one of the happiest any of
us have known – which is good because it means we’ll
all be looking forward to the 2010 shows with great
anticipation! Australia… New Zealand…
South Africa… Look out – here we come!
Thanks to those of you who queued for hours in
torrential rain for our signing session at the HMV
store in central London at the end of November.
Although we signed around 600 items, I reckon we had
the easy bit – at least we were dry! And
some of you, I know, then dashed across town to get
to The Paul O’Grady Show later that afternoon.
We’re all genuinely touched by your loyalty.
So, after a few UK commitments – mainly personal,
although of course there is the annual Hampton Court
gala event for The Tennis Foundation – I’m off
across the Atlantic for a few weeks to get my breath
back before we start on the 2010 leg of the tour.
I’ll see you somewhere in 2010, I’m sure!
Meanwhile, I wish each one of you the happiest of
Christmasses, and a peaceful and fulfilling New
Year!
July 21st, 2009
When my office told me that my last blog was in
February, nearly six months ago, I thought they were
joking. How time flies when you’re enjoying yourself!!
Well, as you know, I
spent the first few months of 2009 in Barbados. It was a
busy time but in a relaxed sort of way – lots of house
guests, lots of social activity, with work commitments
thrown in to keep me on my toes. Things like the 2010
calendar shoot, the tv interview with Piers Morgan, a
book-signing session and then, in March, flying into
Florida to record my vocals for the new album with The
Shadows at Barry Gibb’s studio. Singing with The Shadows
again was extremely uplifting. The album sounds like the
‘old’ Cliff and The Shadows… only better!
I’m excited about the
album and do hope you’ll all like it too. It consists
mainly of new versions of our original Cliff & The Shads
material, but there are three tracks on there which
we’ve not recorded before. There will be a single too –
Singing The Blues – with bonus tracks which
don’t appear on the album. I do hope that some of you
will – unlike me! – learn how to download, so that
perhaps, all these years later, The Shads and I can have
another hit single! Dare we hope for a No 1…
While in Barbados, I also
recorded the audio-book version of My Life, My Way,
which is now available, along with the paperback
version of the book – which includes an additional
chapter giving some of my thoughts about my 50th
anniversary tour and celebrations last year. I’m
so thrilled that the book has been received so
positively.
At the beginning of May I
flew into Nashville to record tracks for the Big Band
album of American classics. This was produced by Michael
Omartian; I love working with him, and we’re both
excited about the tracks. You’ll have to wait a while
for the finished article though!
Later in May I returned
to the UK for a few days – hectic ones! I managed to get
to Wimbledon to see the official opening – or should
that be closing – of the new Centre Court roof, but
otherwise it was all go: meetings with The Shads about
the tour, a couple of important charity events, some
interviews and bits of filming. I then shot off to the
South of France to stay with friends, and to attend the
Formula One Grand Prix in Monaco – as exhilarating and
deafening as ever!
A week later I was back
again, although it wasn’t a good time for me. I had
promised to take part in a special tribute evening for
my friend, Dora Bryan, at a London theatre, but
developed a wretched sore throat that made it impossible
for me to sing. I croaked through a few songs but it’s
very embarrassing for me and for the audience alike.
Thank heavens the crowd knew the lyrics and helped to
cover up a very rough-sounding voice! I was sorry that I
couldn’t give Dora the kind of performance she deserved
– but there were dozens of other artists there who
could, and I understand that she absolutely loved the
evening, frail though she now is.
And then it was time to
watch Wimbledon! Wasn’t it fantastic this year? The
weather was kind, there were some absolutely amazing
matches, and, although of course I was sorry that
Britain’s Andy Murray didn’t make it beyond the
semi-finals, the Men’s Final between Federer and Roddick
was a classic. And we thought last year’s Final could
never be bettered! I thought Roddick played his best
tennis ever; sometimes it’s a shame that someone has to
lose. That said, it was great to witness the setting of
a new record – Federer’s 15 Grand Slams – what a champ!
I flew out to Portugal
immediately after Wimbledon and am here until I start
rehearsals with The Shads in early September. It’s not
all holiday – there are a few work-related things to do,
and I’ll have house guests too – but I love it here, as
you all know, and it’s utterly relaxing. I’ve started
learning the songs for the tour, and was surprised to
find so many ‘oldies’ that I don’t know too well. But
I’m getting there, and have every confidence that we’re
going to have a great time!
I see that my last three
blogs have all started with an apology. This one’s
different – it’s going to end with one! I’m sorry it’s
been so long; I’m not great at writing – letters,
articles, and definitely not blogs – but I hope you’ll
forgive me for the delay.
As I’ve said, the
upcoming tour with The Shadows is going to be great fun
for all of us – that includes you too of course. Four
sexagenarians out on the road again – or, as Cilla would
say, ‘four sexy-genarians’! We’re looking forward to it
hugely. We’ll be having a great time – we hope you do
too! See you there!
February 25th, 2009
It’s been a long time since I last
blogged but, as they say, the best things in life are worth waiting for!!
Sorry for the wait but the last few months of 2008 were just a tad busy!
You’d be
surprised at just how time-consuming a concert tour can be. Not just the
actual tour, but also the planning and preparation. The venues for the
Time Machine
tour were booked about two years ahead, and planning
for the show started well over a year in advance. Stage sets have to be
designed, music has to be selected, technicians and equipment have to be
booked, hotels have to be reserved, the brochure has to be put together –
the list is endless.
Initially
I wasn’t too bothered about celebrating my 50th
anniversary – to me it was ‘just another year’. But then the tour planning
started; Headline, the publishing company, suggested a book; EMI came up
with the idea of an impressive box set to mark the occasion – and suddenly I
was hooked!
To me, it’s important that my
audience should leave a concert feeling that they know a bit more about me
than they did before and, with the help of my band, singers, dancers,
technicians and my office, I hope I achieved that by sharing my 50 years of
music in a special way. I loved every minute of the tour – well, except the
days when I had a throat infection and wasn’t sure how my voice would hold
up – and I’m so grateful to all of you who came along and supported me with
such enthusiasm. In the end, it really was a tremendous celebration of 50
years!
My book,
My Life, My Way,
was also a real thrill. Ok, the first stages - sitting
down and talking for hours about my life - were a bit tedious at times, but
I couldn’t have had a better interviewer than Penny Junor. She was patient,
persistent, and probing, but sensitive too. There were several drafts of the
manuscript before we took a deep breath, and sent the final version to the
publishers. And the end result was fantastic – again I hope it’s helped you
to learn a bit more about ‘the real me’. Having a No 1 book made up –
almost! – for not having a No 1 single with
Thank You For A Lifetime!
Speaking
of singles, I guess I’ve got to drag myself into the 21st
century and get to grips with downloads – if there’s any future for singles,
it seems that it will only be via downloading. There are probably some of
you out there who are also as clueless as I am on all this technology!
Whether there’ll be time now for me to get that elusive No 1 in this decade,
I don’t know – it would be great, but I mustn’t be greedy!
By now you probably all have
your tickets for my tour with The Shadows later this year. We’re all really
excited about it; it’s 20 years since we last worked together in concert
and, although we’ve kept in touch, we’ve seldom all met up in the
intervening years. At about the time you read this blog, we’ll have
announced a European tour as well, and I’m delighted that we can take the
show to our longstanding fans across the Channel as well.
There will be an album too
though none of us will actually be in the same studio at the same time: the
miracles of modern technology mean that we’ll all be recording in different
parts of the world.
I flew out of the UK about a
week after my tour finished – having done the Royal Variety Show and also
the Hampton Court tennis gala evening in that week - and have been in
America and Barbados since then. I get back to Britain for a couple of days
in May for a charity event for the RNIB, the Royal National Institute for
the Blind. A good friend here in Barbados has supported them for years and
asked me to perform, and of course I was happy to say yes. I’ll then be back
again for Wimbledon.
At the moment I’m relaxing in
the warmth of Barbados, trying to keep the garden in order, looking after
house guests, and enjoying a busy social life. I’m also doing vocal
exercises and getting ready to record the ‘Cliff & The Shads’ CD.
I hope this finds all of you
well and, in the UK at least, surviving a pretty extreme winter!
See you in September. I can’t
wait!
August 29th, 2008
Sorry this blog has been a long time coming - but here’s a run-down of what I’ve
been up to since May!
I couldn’t believe it when, earlier in the year, I received an invitation to Sid
Tepper’s 90th birthday party in Florida. Sid and his co-writer, Roy
C Bennett, penned The Young Ones,
Travelling Light,
‘D’ In Love,
and When The Girl In Your Arms… for me. Of course I went and
I felt honoured to be there as it was mostly a gathering of family and friends.
I had met Roy Bennett before, when he came to one of my Tennis Classic events in
Birmingham, so it was terrific to complete the set, so to speak!
We talked a lot, ate a lot, and even sang together. How could Sid
possibly remember the lyrics to The Young Ones and
Travelling Light?
Well, he not only knew the words but sang in tune too! At the end of
the party he gave me a CD of songs sung by Elvis, and written by the mighty duo!
It was a happy experience and a thrill to meet someone who had played such a
major role in my recording career. Thank you, Sid - don’t forget to
invite me to your 100th!
Suddenly it was Wimbledon - and a final to end all finals.
Apparently the best one ever, according to the members I sit with and they
should know - after all, they’ve seen most of them. I was
disappointed in the result because I thought Federer deserved to break Bjorn
Borg’s record but, having said that, I was happy that the new champion, Nadal,
is such a great sportsman and, like Roger, a wonderful role model.
Nadal should rightly be proud of his achievement but Federer should feel no
shame, as he made a player five years younger fight to the death. I
still wonder what would have happened had the last set been played in daylight!
As I write this, the US Open is in full swing, and I wish both players luck.
Who knows it might be another epic final!
I travelled straight to Portugal after Wimbledon and settled into an easy
routine. For years I’ve learned my song ’sets’ for forthcoming tours
while on holiday, and this year is no different. There are so many
songs for the Time Machine tour - some of course I know well but many I
haven’t sung for years, and some are brand new. I may be sun-tanned,
but my brain is addled!
During the second week of Wimbledon, I’d recorded my new single
Thank You For
A Lifetime and I listened to mixes on the computer in Portugal.
Chris Neil, the producer, gave me the chance to put in my ‘two-penn’orth’ and I
really like the end result. The song was written by Charlie Grant
and Pete Woodroffe, and I love the way they made the song autobiographical and
gave me the chance to sing my thank-yours to you all. My fingers are
tightly crossed for the song’s success and I really appreciate all your support
as release date approaches!
I also recorded with the Olsen Brothers from Denmark for a duet CD they are
releasing. I loved the song - Look Up, Look Down - when I
first heard it and enjoyed singing it with them. To top it all,
they are really nice guys.
During my Portugal stay, I’ve also done some bottle-signing - no different
to signing books or CDs really! I was surprised at the large
crowds that turned up at the supermarket - I thought most folk would be on
the beach at 11 am - but people came, I signed, they drank. I
did a second session and still they came! I signed nearly 3,000
bottles, and now of course it’s hard to find a bottle of
Vida Nova
that isn’t signed!
One thing I’m glad of is that I had enough time left for tennis.
On three days a week I play with a coach at 2 pm, when the sun is at its
hottest. (I know, mad dogs and Englishmen…) I love
it though; I chase that little yellow ball, I sweat a lot, I get my
heart pumping, and I always feel it’s building up my stamina for what’s
ahead of me.
But I also spend time watching the grapes grow and in the last week or two
I’ve seen them being picked. My wine-makers tell me it’s been a
great year and that the wine will be very good. We’ve had hot
days and cool nights - just how the grapes like it. And I’ve
also bought some new chickens and a rooster; I wake to his crowing and
the chickens supply me with my breakfast. Is this paradise or
what?
Anyway, all good things come to an end and soon I’ll be back in England,
where I hear you have not had ‘good grape weather’. I
hope some of you have escaped to some sun though and that you’re now set up
for the British winter!
My real work starts the moment I get home. September 3 sees the
official launch of my book My Life, My Way and I have four days of
book signings around the UK. My single will be released on
September 8, and I’ll be plugging that on radio and television, and also
promoting the new box set And They Said It Wouldn’t Last.
And I might just talk a little bit about my tour!
So the build-up begins and, even as I write, I feel excited about the
prospect of touring and saying hi to all of you from the stage.
I hope you’ll enjoy what we have planned for the
Time Machine tour.
See you soon!
Love
(taken from Cliff's official site) |