Biography:
ritain's answer to Elvis Presley, Cliff Richard dominated the pre-Beatles British pop scene in the late '50s and early '60s. An accomplished singer with a genuine feel for the music, Richard's artistic legacy is nonetheless meager, as he was quickly steered toward a middle-of-the-road pop direction. Several of his late '50s recordings, however, were genuinely exciting Presley-esque rockers -- especially his first hit, "Move It" (1958) -- and gave British teenagers their first taste of genuine homegrown rock & roll talent. Backed by the Shadows -- clean-cut instrumental virtuosos who became legends of their own -- Richard embarked on a truly awesome string of hit singles in Britain, scoring no less than 43 Top 20 hits between 1958 and 1969. In his homeland, Richard's popularity was diminished only slightly by the rise of the Beatles, but in his prime, he had a much rougher time in the U.S., hitting the Top 40 only twice (with "Living Doll" in 1959 and "It's All in the Game" in 1963). He remains an institution in Britain, where he is one of the nation's most popular all-around entertainers of all time.