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Cliff Richard
Britain's answer to Elvis Presley, Richard (born Harry Webb) dominated the pre-Beatles British pop scene in the late '50s and early '60s. He was born on 14 October 1940, at Lucknow in India where is father ran a catering business. Christened Harry Roger Webb, he returned to England with his parents in 1947. 'It was when we came back to England and I went to school that I first became interested in singing', he recalled. 'I can't remember how or why it happened that I wanted to sing. I am rather ashamed to say that I even played truant the first time I went to Edmonton to see Bull Haley. Those were the days of skiffle. Dad gave me my first guitar and I was on the way!' He made a record privately on which he did Breathless
and Lawdy Miss Clawdy. This was sent off to Columbia Records where it came
to the attention of Norrie Paramor. The result was a record contract. On the first 1958 record, Norrie Paramor provided a a
song called 'Schoolboy Crush', a cover of 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, a show which also made reverent references to Richards), Summer Holiday, Wonderful Life and Finders Keepers. 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 Richard has now sold more singles in the UK than any other music artist, ahead of the Beatles in second place and Elvis Presley in third. See Cliff and the Shadows perform 'Please Don't Tease'
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an American record by Bobby Helms. But
Cliff was allowed to record one of their own for the B-side. This was "Move
It", written by Ian "Sammy" Samwell, who was at the time a new
member of the group. There are a number of stories about why the A-side song was
replaced by the B-side. One story says that their producer Norrie Paramor,
played the record to his daughter, and she raved about the B-side instead of the
A-side. Another possible reason for the flip was that influential TV producer
Jack Good, who used the act for his TV show "Oh Boy!", said the song
to be sung on his show had to be "Move It!" The single was flipped and
went to number 2 in the charts. Backed by the Shadows, who would soon establish
themselves as Britain's most successful group before the Beatles, Richard embarked on a truly awesome
string of hit singles in Britain, scoring no less than 43 Top 20 hits between
1958 and 1969. 
ff Richard, a guitarist and lead singer, was one of
the founding members of The Drifters (not to be confused with the American group
of the same name). At the suggestion of a manager, who thought it would be good
to have someone's name out front, they became Cliff Richard and the Drifters and
later Cliff Richard and the Shadows.