It could be the chart topper of the decade – two famous Harrys making music together in a dazzling duet. One has 14 UK number one singles under his belt, to the other’s four. But, considering their 54 year age gap, his younger namesake has plenty of time to catch up.
And Sir Cliff Richard, who was born Harry Rodger Webb, is keen to bridge the massive age gap by recording a duet with Harry Styles, whose number one hit, Sign of the Times, he has covered on his 48th studio album – Only Number Ones. Sir Cliff, who turned 86 last week, says: “I was asked if I ever thought I would do a duet with Harry. If he suggests something, I would be very happy to think about it…but I would have to know what key it is in. I have a feeling his key is a tone up above mine. But if I like the song, sure.”
Hilariously, Sir Cliff didn’t know Sign of the Times was a hit for former One Direction star Harry, 32 – who is in the middle of his 30-night residency at Madison Square Garden, New York, on his Together, Together world tour – when he covered it. The We Don’t Talk Anymore singer says: “My record company sent me 46 songs to choose from for my new album. Somebody said ‘oh I believe you have sung a Harry Styles song.’ When they sent it to me I was like ‘can we get that one?’ After I recorded it they told me whose song it was. I am so glad he [Harry] is on the album. I did not know it was his song, but I love it. I just hope he is not bothered by it. If I beat him in the charts he probably will be.”
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Sir Cliff – who launched his music career, aged 17, with his 1958 debut hit Move It, while Harry launched his, aged 16, on X Factor – is still ranked the third best selling singles artist in UK chart history, behind only Elvis Presley and The Beatles. Speaking about his incredible career to 800 fans at a 90 minute event at The Rose Theatre in Kingston-upon-Thames, south-west London – the £20 tickets for which sold out online in 10 minutes – Sir Cliff hinted at a new Christmas song.
Living up to his Peter Pan of Pop moniker with a new experimental approach, he revealed his hopes for a chart topper with a reggae version of The Lord is My Shepherd. Sir Cliff, who topped the charts for three weeks in Christmas 1999 with Millennium Prayer – which saw the words of The Lord’s Prayer set to Auld Lang Syne – is teaming up with songwriter Chris Eaton, who wrote his 1990 festive hit Saviour’s Day.
He says: “I have just been sent a song by Chris and his new song is based on one of the psalms. It goes ‘The Lord Is My Shepherd…’ It is reggae. I have never sung reggae before, but Chris is really good at it. So I am learning reggae.”
Despite his own enviable history of Christmas hits, Sir Cliff admits he’s jealous of Bing Crosby for holding the Guinness World Record for more than 50 million sales of his 1942 recording of White Christmas. Sir Cliff says: “He deserved the 50 million sales. I would have loved to have had that, but I have had a lot of hits. White Christmas is bigger than Harry Styles and bigger than Cliff Richard. You can’t compete with Bing Crosby.”
Always eyeing the next hit, Young Ones star Cliff hopes a new army of Gen-Z fans will snap up his latest album. For he is considered cool at 86, after his 1976 hit, Devil Woman, was included on the soundtrack to the video game Grand Theft Auto VI. He says: “I was told the song was on the soundtrack as they have a character called the Devil Woman in the game. My nephew has two boys and they came in one day screaming, saying ‘it is Uncle Cliff’. They did not realise I could sing like that. It is always nice when you surprise an audience and they like the surprise. I am from the past, but that past makes what everything is today.”
Despite approaching his 90th birthday in four years, Sir Cliff is not looking to slow down anytime soon. He celebrated his 86th last week with an afternoon tea party with fans at the InterContinental Hotel in central London. He says: “I don’t feel my age. It was my birthday the other day and I was like ‘how am I meant to feel about this?’ We age every day, but it has hit me now that I am not actually bothered by it.
“I am still here after all these years. I don’t know what I would have done if I had not been a singer. I would probably be on the dole. But there has been a lot of help, a lot of bands played for me. You don’t make it all on your own. I have made it and I would like to think I have earned it. As it goes on, I feel luckier and luckier. But I could not do this without my fans. You can’t be any good if you have not got an audience. The audience is a part of anybody’s success.”
Sir Cliff will go head to head with Icelandic singer Bjork and The Rolling Stones when his new album is released on November 27. But the veteran singer says he is still as hungry as ever to make his new album a success, after covering classic songs by Roy Orbison, George Harrison, The Monkees, Elvis and even the 1976 hit Don’t Give Up On Us by Starsky & Hutch actor David Soul.
He says: “You can’t actually be in our business unless you are competitive. I never made a record to get to number 30. You want to have a big hit, as it means more people are accepting you as a singer. I meet singers who beat me to the charts and I still hate them. But to be my age and hear some youngster has got excited [about your music] makes me so grateful.”
Sir Cliff, who models himself on Elvis Presley, continues: “I was a mad fan of Elvis. When I first heard Heartbreak Hotel I was like ‘what the heck is that?’ It was such a new thing. I had a dream that I was him and I would wake up and I wasn’t.” Already, the new single from his album, Spirit in the Sky – originally recorded by Norman Greenbaum in 1969 – is at the top of his pal Mike Read’s Heritage Chart.
Happy to still have a wide vocal range in his dotage, he says: “How do I take care of my voice? With difficulty sometimes. I am always amazed I can open my voice up and sing. A bit of luck that goes on. Who thinks you have got a gift? You just don’t think about it. There are things I can’t do. A falsetto has been a great help to me. But, well, you know…I have always been good.
“People have asked if I have included any of ‘my’ songs on the new album, but I have had to tell them ‘please don’t be stupid. You can only get 12 songs onto a CD and I have had 14 number ones.’” As the Mistletoe and Wine singer celebrates 69 years in the music business, he is clearly not going to let false modesty hold him back.
* Cliff Richard’s new album, Only Number Ones, is released November 27 on Parlophone.
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