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The `evergreen' one
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Sir Cliff Richard was in Asia recently to promote his latest album `Wanted'. LEKHA J. SHANKAR spoke to the star when he was in Thailand.
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REUTERS
The performance in Hong Kong.
IT was difficult to believe he was not the "Young One" any more as he swung and spun around the stage for three full hours, exciting his fans and attracting many new ones. The "evergreen" songs of his "Living doll" and "Bachelor" days remained as fresh and tuneful as ever and it was difficult to believe that here was a singer resurrecting songs that were nearly five decades old.
Cliff Richard was at the fag end of a long, five-month Australasia tour ("Wanted on Tour 2003") to promote his new album "Wanted" (a grand medley of old and new songs) and did not look fagged out at all. The 62-year-old singer was a slim and volatile prism of energy as his marvellous, melodious songs spun endless magic on his swinging, screaming audiences.
"I started my tour at Belfast — what better place to end it than at Bangkok," he told the huge crowd at Bangkok's Impact Arena auditorium, swinging his guitar and spinning on his feet. Just one week ago, this correspondent had watched him spin his magic at the Indoor Stadium in Singapore where he had thousands of fans screaming for more.
"This audience looks much too young," laughed the singer to a bunch of teeny boppers in the audience who were swinging along with their parents. It was this easy charm, friendliness and self-effacing humour that made the "Peter Pan of Pop" ever-endearing, after five decades in the sun.
"I had my first `hit' when I was just over 16 years," he told the audience, "since then, this is the only life I know." But he knew the audience had other choices and thanked them for coming to his show. "May be there's nothing good on television tonight!" he quipped.
This interplay of repartee and rhythm kept the audience totally entertained. The singer had no hesitation to talk about the "battle" between Elvis and him. But he added charmingly, "There would be no Elvis without Cliff and no Cliff without Elvis!
"Don't you think I should be in the Guinness Book rather than Elvis — after all it's a British award," he said with wry humour.
And then came the inimitable crunch. "Elvis sold most records after he died. He left me no choice, but I decided not to do it!"
Cliff won over the Elvis fans and sang two of his numbers "Too Much" and "Don't be cruel". He sang various other artistes' songs too — the Everly Brothers' "D'you want to dance?" and Tina Turner's "What's Love got to do with it?"
The banter continued unabated even as the songs flowed unendingly. The singer was supported by a large back-up team of singers and musicians, multi-tiered stage, multi-coloured lighting. But finally it was his marvellous, magical voice that reigned supreme.
The old classics spilt out — "Move it", "Miss you nights", "Devil Woman", "We don't talk anymore". As also new ones — "Over the rainbow, What a wonderful world". "Evergreen Tree", said the singer, "was a `hit' only in Asia.
"Constantly", he suggested, "would bring back old memories."
"Young Ones" had the audience voicing the song. "Congratulations" had them on their feet.
It was not often that one saw the reticent Thais sing and clap so much.
At the end of the show, Cliff Richard had made many new fans. Fifteen-year-old Peter back-stage waited for his autograph, saying, "I think he's cool."
He looked "cool" indeed, in his leather pants and sequinned shirt, as he moon-walked like Michael Jackson, curved his hips like Ricky Martin and swayed around the stage like Robbie Williams.
"I wonder what these kids are doing here," he pointed to some youngsters. "May be they think they're at a Robbie Williams show!"
He never fooled himself about his age and made sure he pampered his fans. After all, a five-decade long fan-following is not something you can take for granted.
The singer accepted their flowers, chatted with them on stage, gave his sun glasses to one of them, threw his sweaty scarf at another.
"Please don't go away," he told them during the interval as he flung his three-piece satin suit and came back in leather and glitter.
The profound end to the pounding show came when Cliff Richard sang his Millennium Prayer number and criticised the war. "We don't want any of this. Let's unite one evening against all that's bad."
And what did Cliff Richard do outside the stage? For a starter, the singer who is noted for his strong religious and social conscience, visited the Joe Maier Human Development Foundation at Bangkok and the Lions Home for the Elderly at Singapore.
The rest of the time he donned shorts and sneakers and wandered around the city, shopping at the malls and pavement-stalls.
Cliff Richard stayed at the Lopburi Suite of the Dusit Thani Hotel and had a late dinner at their gourmet Benjarong Thai restaurant after his concert.
The next two days were spent restfully at the luxurious Oriental Hotel where he ate vegetarian food at their signature restaurants, indulged in a full-day spa-massage treatment, chatted with the staff, checked out their exclusive Authors Suites — for his next visit.
Amporn Chakkapak, who was one of his organiser-hostesses during this trip to Bangkok as well as his last one, two decades ago, said that she had never seen anyone more easy and friendly than Cliff. At the airport he wheeled his own cart sporting slacks and sneakers. He wore the same when he met the media at his hotel and told them with a straight face that this world tour was to inform all his fans that he was "still alive and kicking".
What was the secret of his five-decade success? "I remember my past," quipped the singer. He had digs at the Press for stating that his music had not changed. "Of course it has — everyone changes!" laughed the singer, pointing to a picture of him in 1983 when he sported chunky glasses and long hair.
How would he celebrate his golden jubilee? The singer stated that there would be no high profile concert as at his silver jubilee, when the Shadows had come around too. But they were now scattered around the world. However the legendary singer promised something "big". In fact soon after returning home, his secretary Gill Snow wrote to this correspondent to say that the singer was back at work and had started "intensive recording" for a new Christmas album.
Talk of the "Young One" — This correspondent's moment to remember with the singer came when I caught him grabbing a quick bite at the coffee-shop of his hotel soon after a shopping spree. With tousled hair and glasses, sandals and shorts, he could have been just any of the tourists in the hotel.
The singer looked startled when I went across and asked him why he had not included India on this world-tour. "India always gets left out — I don't know why," replied the singer.
"We never seem to get the right venue and sponsor. But I performed there in 1973 and would certainly like to go back — it's been so long.
"I was born in Lucknow and have various charity projects there." It was his favourite subject, but his burly manager whisked him away.
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