Sir Cliff Richard, one of the UK’s most successful and influential musicians, is celebrating his 80th birthday (Warner Music/PA)
Sir Cliff Richard, one of the UK’s most successful and influential musicians, is celebrating his 80th birthday.
The famously youthful looking entertainer marks the milestone on Tuesday.
Despite now being classed as an octogenarian, the veteran star shows no sign of slowing down and this month will release a new album and an autobiography.
Sir Cliff burst on to the scene in the late 1950s and alongside his backing band The Shadows was the dominant force in British pop music before the arrival of the Beatles.
He remains enormously successful, his longevity meaning only the Fab Four and Elvis Presley have sold more records than him in UK chart history.
To celebrate his 80th birthday, the PA news agency takes a look back at his life in pictures:
The Young Ones: This picture, taken in India in 1947, shows a smiling Sir Cliff with sisters Jacqui and Donna (Sir Cliff Richard/PA)Sir Cliff is one of the most successful musicians ever and is pictured here at the outset of his career after topping the charts with single Travellin’ Light in 1959 (Warner Archive/PA)An early slice of success: Sir Cliff (3rd from left) celebrates his 21st birthday in 1961 with The Shadows, who watch on while he cuts the cake (PA)Towards the end of the decade – 1968, to be precise – Sir Cliff was the UK’s Eurovision entry with Congratulations. He lost by one point to the Spanish entry, La La La (PA)Fast forward to 1989, and a sprightly Sir Cliff prepares to celebrate 30 years of stardom with a special concert at Wembley Stadium, his first performance at the venue (PA)Sir Cliff bows as he meets Diana, Princess of Wales at London’s Royal School of Music after she attended a Christmas event at the Royal Albert Hall in 1991 (Martin Keene/PA)Arise, Sir Cliff! The veteran entertainer described receiving his knighthood in 1995 as one of the proudest moments of his glittering career (John Stillwell/PA)In 1996, before Wimbledon had a retractable roof on Centre Court, Sir Cliff entertained the crowd after rain stopped play (Adam Butler/PA)Into the new millennium for this February 2000 snap and an ageless Sir Cliff lives up to his Peter Pan of pop reputation while seated with Sue Barker at a charity tennis tournament (Sean Dempsey/PA)Sir Cliff marked half a century of success in 2008 while attending his 50th anniversary tribute lunch at The Dorchester hotel in London (Fiona Hanson/PA)Sir Cliff, wearing a glittering silver jacket, showed age is just a number as he took to the stage in Birmingham during his 75th birthday tour (Joe Giddens/PA)An anguished Sir Cliff, pictured in July 2018, was awarded more than £200,000 in damages after winning his High Court privacy battle against the BBC (Victoria Jones/PA)Still going strong on the cusp of 80, a remarkably youthful looking Sir Cliff is pictured at London’s Haymarket theatre last month, in a snap released for his 80th birthday (Guy Levy/Sir Cliff Richard/PA)
Sir Cliff at 80: The Peter Pan of pop’s career in pictures
