Cilla Black OBEThe Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions...
(born
Priscilla Maria Veronica White on 27 May 1943) is a British singer, actress and television performer who has been successful as an entertainer from 1963 through the present day. She is most famous worldwide for her successful singles "Anyone Who Had A Heart", "
You're My World"You're My World" is a popular ballad originally recorded in 1963 as "Il Mio Mondo" by Umberto Bindi, who co-wrote the Italian-language version with Gino Paoli. In 1964, English lyrics were rendered by Carl Sigman as "You're My World" and the song became a No. 1 hit for the British singer Cilla...
", and "
Alfie"Alfie" is a song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David.It was the theme from the 1966 film Alfie. It was performed in the film during the end credits by Cher in an arrangement by Sonny Bono....
". After a successful recording career and a brief time as a comedy actress, she became the best paid female presenter in British television history. In September 2009, Cilla's 45 years in showbusiness is celebrated by EMI (the record label which launched her career in 1963) with the release of a new CD/DVD set alongside a series of other digital download releases.
Early life and career
Cilla Black was born in
LiverpoolLiverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
to a Protestant father and a Catholic mother. Determined to become an entertainer, she got a part-time job as a cloakroom attendant at Liverpool's Cavern Club, best known for its association with The Beatles. Impromptu performances impressed The Beatles and others. She became a guest singer with the Merseybeat bands Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, Kingsize Taylor and the Dominoes and, later, with The Big Three. She was also, meantime, a waitress at the Zodiac coffee lounge, where she was to meet her future husband
Bobby WillisRobert "Bobby" Willis was a British songwriter, who eventually became the husband and manager of British singer and television personality Cilla Black....
.
Brian EpsteinBrian Samuel Epstein was a British music entrepreneur, and the manager of The Beatles. He also managed several other musical artists such as Gerry & The Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, Cilla Black and The Remo Four...
had a portfolio of local artists. At first he showed little interest in Cilla, billed as Cilla White or Swinging Cilla. She was introduced to Epstein by
John LennonJohn Winston Ono Lennon, MBE was an English rock musician, singer-songwriter, author, and peace activist who gained worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles...
, who persuaded him to audition her. Her first audition was a failure, partly because of nerves, and partly because The Beatles (who supported her) played the songs in their vocal key rather than re-pitching them for Cilla's voice. In her autobiography
What's It All About? she writes:
But after seeing her at a later date, at the Blue Angel jazz club, Epstein contracted with Cilla as his only female client on 6 September 1963. The local music newspaper
Mersey BeatMersey Beat was a music publication in Liverpool, England in the early 1960s. It was founded by Bill Harry, who was one of John Lennon's classmates at Liverpool Art College...
misprinted her name as Cilla Black, but Epstein liked the sound of it.
Epstein introduced Cilla to
George MartinSir George Henry Martin CBE is a British record producer, arranger and composer. He is sometimes referred to as "the Fifth Beatle"—a title that he owes to his work as producer of all but one of The Beatles' original records, as well as playing piano on some of The Beatles tracks—and is...
who signed her to
Parlophone RecordsParlophone is a record label, founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company. The ₤ trademark is a German L, for Lindström. It also resembles the British pound sign , which itself is derived from the letter L for Libra, meaning pound in Latin...
and produced her debut single, "Love of the Loved" (written by Lennon and McCartney), which was released only three weeks after she contracted with Epstein. The single peaked at a modest number 35, a failure compared to debut releases of Epstein's other artists.
Her second single, released at the beginning of 1964, was the
Burt BacharachBurt F. Bacharach is an American pianist and composer. He is known for his pop hits from the early 1960s through the 1980s, with lyrics written by Hal David, many of which were produced for and recorded by Dionne Warwick....
-
Hal DavidHal David is an American lyricist and songwriter. He grew up in Brooklyn, New York. David is best known for his words and music that were written along with musician, composer and singer Burt Bacharach. David is credited with popular music lyrics beginning in the 1940s with material written for...
composition "Anyone Who Had a Heart". The single scored #1 in Britain and became, for that time, the best selling single by a female artist in the history of popular music in England. Her second UK #1 success, "
You're My World"You're My World" is a popular ballad originally recorded in 1963 as "Il Mio Mondo" by Umberto Bindi, who co-wrote the Italian-language version with Gino Paoli. In 1964, English lyrics were rendered by Carl Sigman as "You're My World" and the song became a No. 1 hit for the British singer Cilla...
", was an English-language rendition of the Italian popular song
Il Mio Mondo. She also enjoyed chart success with the song in Australia, New Zealand, Europe, South Africa and Canada. This was followed by another
Lennon/McCartneyThe songwriting partnership of John Lennon and Paul McCartney is one of the best-known and most successful musical and cultural collaborations in history. Between 1962 and 1969, they wrote and published approximately 180 jointly credited songs, of which the vast majority were recorded by The...
composition,
It's For You.
Paul McCartneySir James Paul McCartney, MBE , is an English singer-songwriter, poet, composer, multi-instrumentalist, entrepreneur, record and film producer, painter, and animal rights and peace activist. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings, McCartney is the most successful songwriter in the history of popular music...
played piano at the recording session and the song proved to be another major international success for Black.
Cilla Black belonged to a generation of British female singers which included
Dusty SpringfieldMary Isabel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien OBE , known as Dusty Springfield, was a pop singer and entertainer. Of all the female British pop artists of the 1960s, she made one of the biggest impressions on the American market...
,
Petula ClarkPetula Clark, CBE is an English singer, actress, and composer whose career has spanned seven decades.Clark's professional career began as an entertainer on BBC Radio during World War II...
,
Sandie ShawSandie Shaw is a British singer. She was, as described in the Guinness Book of British Hit Singles & Albums, "the barefoot pop princess of the 1960s", owing to her distinctive penchant of performing on stage without shoes...
, and
LuluLulu Kennedy-Cairns, OBE , best known by her stage name Lulu, is a Scottish singer-songwriter, actress, model and television personality who has been successful in the entertainment business from the 1960s through to the present day...
. These artists were not singer-songwriters but interpreters of 1960s contemporary popular music song writers/producers. Cilla Black recorded much material during this time, including songs written by
Phil SpectorHarvey Philip "Phil" Spector is an American pioneering record producer and songwriter who was convicted of murder in 2009....
,
Randy NewmanRandall Stuart “Randy” Newman is an American singer/songwriter, arranger, composer, and pianist who is notable for his mordant pop songs and for his many film scores....
,
Tim HardinTimothy James Hardin was an American folk musician and composer. He is best remembered for writing the Top 40 hits "If I Were a Carpenter", covered by Bobby Darin and Robert Plant, and "Reason to Believe", covered by Rod Stewart, as well as his own recording career.-Career:Hardin dropped out of...
, and
Burt BacharachBurt F. Bacharach is an American pianist and composer. He is known for his pop hits from the early 1960s through the 1980s, with lyrics written by Hal David, many of which were produced for and recorded by Dionne Warwick....
. All were produced by
George MartinSir George Henry Martin CBE is a British record producer, arranger and composer. He is sometimes referred to as "the Fifth Beatle"—a title that he owes to his work as producer of all but one of The Beatles' original records, as well as playing piano on some of The Beatles tracks—and is...
at
Abbey Road StudiosAbbey Road Studios, established in November of 1931 by EMI in London, England, is an iconic recording studio located at Abbey Road, in St John's Wood in the City of Westminster...
.
Black's version of "You've Lost That Loving Feeling" scored no. 2 in the UK charts and was stopped from going to no. 1 by the original version of the same song, performed by
The Righteous BrothersThe Righteous Brothers were the musical duo of Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield. They recorded from 1963 through 1975, and continued to perform until Hatfield's death in 2003...
. This was the first of only three occasions in the history of the British Top 40 where the same song, recorded by two different artists, held the top 2 positions in the chart in the same week.
Being so closely associated with The Beatles, Cilla became the first artist to cover many Lennon/McCartney compositions. Her recordings of "
Yesterday"Yesterday" is a song originally recorded by The Beatles for their 1965 album Help!. According to the Guinness Book of Records, "Yesterday" has the most cover versions of any song ever written. The song remains popular today with more than 3,000 recorded cover versions, the first hitting the United...
", "
For No One"For No One" is a song written by Paul McCartney that originally appeared on The Beatles' seventh album, Revolver. A ballad about the end of a relationship, it is one of McCartney's most mature and poignant works to date...
" and "
Across The Universe"Across the Universe" is a song by The Beatles written by John Lennon, and credited to Lennon/McCartney. The song first appeared on the various artists charity compilation album No One's Gonna Change Our World in December 1969, and later, in modified form, on their final album to be released, Let...
" were acclaimed critically and became radio favourites. McCartney said Cilla's 1972 interpretation of "
The Long And Winding Road"The Long and Winding Road" is a ballad written by Paul McCartney that originally appeared on The Beatles' album Let It Be. It became The Beatles' last number-one song in the United States on 23 May 1970, and was the last single released by the quartet...
" represented for him how he always intended the song to be sung.
Black's career in the United States, although begun enthusiastically by Epstein and his PR team - was limited to a few television appearances (the
Ed Sullivan Show among them), a 1965 cabaret season at the
Plaza HotelThe Plaza Hotel in New York City is a landmark 20-story luxury hotel with a height of and length of that occupies the west side of Grand Army Plaza, from which it derives its name, and extends along Central Park South in Manhattan...
in New York, and a success with
You're My World which scored #26 on the
BillboardBillboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
charts. The song was to be her only Stateside chart success, and
Elvis PresleyElvis Aaron Presley was an American singer and actor. A cultural icon, he is commonly known simply as Elvis and is also sometimes referred to as The King of Rock 'n' Roll or The King....
had a copy on his personal jukebox at his
GracelandGraceland is a large white-columned mansion and estate that was home to Elvis Presley in Memphis. It is located at 3734 Elvis Presley Boulevard in the vast Whitehaven community about twelve miles from Downtown and less than four miles north of the Mississippi border. It currently serves as a...
home. Cilla herself recognised that to achieve popular status in the USA she would need to devote much time to touring there. But she was plagued by homesickness and a sense of loneliness and returned to the UK just as she was starting to become popular in the USA.
During 1966, Black recorded the Bacharach-David song "
Alfie"Alfie" is a song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David.It was the theme from the 1966 film Alfie. It was performed in the film during the end credits by Cher in an arrangement by Sonny Bono....
", inspired by the film,
Alfie. While the song was not included on the UK film version, Cher sang "Alfie" on the closing credits of the US version.
Alfie went on to become a success for
Dionne WarwickDionne Warwick is an American singer, actress, activist, United Nations Global Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization, former United States Ambassador of Health, and humanitarian. She is best known for her partnership with songwriters and producers Burt Bacharach and Hal David...
in the States and it was a major success for Black in the UK, scoring #9 on the British charts. Cilla's version of "Alfie" was arranged and conducted by Bacharach himself at the recording session at Abbey Road. Bacharach insisted on several takes, and Black cited the
Alfie recording session as one of the most demanding of her recording career. For Bacharach's part, he said "...there weren't too many white singers around, who could convey the emotion that I felt in many of the songs I wrote but that changed with people like Cilla Black..."
By the end of 1966, Cilla Black had guested on
Peter CookPeter Edward Cook was a British satirist, writer and comedian. He is widely regarded as the leading figure in the British satire boom of the 1960s...
and
Dudley MooreDudley Stuart John Moore, CBE was an English actor, comedian, composer and musician.Moore first came to prominence as one of the four writer-performers in Beyond the Fringe in the early 1960s and became famous as half of the popular television double-act he formed with Peter Cook...
's
Not Only... But AlsoNot Only... But Also was a popular 1960s BBC British television series starring Peter Cook and Dudley Moore.The show was originally intended as a solo project for Moore, called Not Only Dudley Moore, But Also His Guests...
, appeared in a Ray Galton-Alan Simpson revue in London's
West EndWest End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's "Theatreland". Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking world...
—
Way Out In Piccadilly — alongside
Frankie HowerdFrankie Howerd OBE , was a distinctive English comedian and comic actor whose career spanned six decades.-Biography:...
, made notable appearances on
The Eamonn Andrews Show, and starred in her own television special (the first of its kind to be shown in colour),
Cilla at the Savoy.
Brian Epstein's attempts to make Cilla Black a film actress were less successful. A brief appearance in the "beat" film
Ferry Cross the Mersey"Ferry Cross the Mersey" is a song written by Gerry Marsden. It was first recorded by his band Gerry & the Pacemakers and released in late 1964 in the UK and in 1965 in the US. It was a hit on both sides of the Atlantic, reaching number six in the US and number eight in the UK. The song is from the...
and a leading role alongside
David WarnerDavid Warner is an English actor, who is known for playing sinister or villainous characters.-Early life:Warner was born in Manchester, Lancashire, England, the son of Doreen and Herbert Simon Warner, who was a nursing home proprietor...
in the 1968 psychedelic comedy
Work Is a Four-Letter WordWork Is a Four-Letter Word is a British satirical comedy film directed by Peter Hall, adapted from Henry Livings' play "Eh?" and starring David Warner and Cilla Black...
were largely ignored by film critics. In a 1997 interview with
Record CollectorRecord Collector is the United Kingdom's longest-running monthly music magazine. It distributes both within the UK and worldwide. It started in 1979.-The early years:...
magazine, Black revealed she was asked to appear in the 1969 film
The Italian JobThe Italian Job is a British caper film, written by Troy Kennedy Martin, produced by Michael Deeley and directed by Peter Collinson. It was released in 1969 and was popular in Britain; subsequent television showings and releases on video have established it as something of a national institution...
, playing the part of
Michael CaineSir Michael Caine, CBE is an English film actor. Caine has appeared in more than 100 films, and is one of only two actors to have been nominated for an Academy Award for acting in every decade since the 1960s Sir Michael Caine, CBE (born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite, Jr.; 14 March 1933) is an...
's girlfriend, but negotiations fell through between producers and her management over her fee.
Brian Epstein died of an accidental drug overdose during August 1967, after negotiating a contract with the
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation, usually referred to by its abbreviation as the "BBC", is the longest established and largest broadcaster in the world...
for his only female artist to appear in a series of her own. Relations between Epstein and Black had somewhat soured during the year prior to his death, due largely to the fact that Epstein was not paying her enough attention, and due partly to his public admission that he had taken
LSDLysergic acid diethylamide, LSD-25, LSD, formerly lysergide, commonly known as acid, is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug of the ergoline family...
. In her autobiography, Cilla claims that Epstein had tried to pacify her by negotiating a deal that would see her representing the UK in the 1968
Eurovision Song ContestThe Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union .Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition...
. However, Black refused on the basis that
Sandie ShawSandie Shaw is a British singer. She was, as described in the Guinness Book of British Hit Singles & Albums, "the barefoot pop princess of the 1960s", owing to her distinctive penchant of performing on stage without shoes...
had won the previous year's contest, and that the chances of another British female artist winning were improbable.
After the death of Epstein, her boyfriend and songwriter
Bobby WillisRobert "Bobby" Willis was a British songwriter, who eventually became the husband and manager of British singer and television personality Cilla Black....
assumed management duties. Further recording successes followed:
Conversations,
Surround Yourself With Sorrow,
If I Thought You'd Ever Change Your Mind (all 1969),
Something Tells Me (Somethings Gonna Happen Tonight) (1971) and
Baby We Can't Go Wrong (1974).
The Beatles association continued. At a Cannes Film Festival during the 1970s, Cilla joined
George HarrisonGeorge Harrison MBE was an English rock guitarist, singer-songwriter and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist in The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian mysticism, and helped broaden the horizons of the other Beatles, as well as...
,
Ringo StarrRichard Starkey, MBE , better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer-songwriter, and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for the rock group The Beatles. When The Beatles formed in 1960, Starr belonged to another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes....
and popular music star
Marc BolanMarc Bolan , was an English singer, songwriter and guitarist whose hit singles, fashion sensibilities and stage presence with T...
to attend a screening of the
John LennonJohn Winston Ono Lennon, MBE was an English rock musician, singer-songwriter, author, and peace activist who gained worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles...
-
Yoko Ono, , is a Japanese-American artist and musician. She is known for her marriage to John Lennon and for her work as an avant-garde artist and musician.-Early life:...
experimental film
Erection. She also holidayed with them on a trip aboard a yacht chartered by Ringo.
Photograph was written on this trip — originally intended for Black to record — but Starr decided to record it himself. George Harrison also wrote two songs for Cilla:
The Light That Has Lighted The World and
I'll Still Love You (When Every Song Is Sung). The latter she recorded during 1974 with her then producer
David MackayDavid Mackay is an Australian record producer/arranger and musical director. He was born in Sydney, Australia and began his music career at the age of 15 in a production of Bye Bye Birdie for J.C. Williamson Theatre Company...
, but it was not heard publicly until 2003, when it re-surfaced on a retrospective collection entitled
Cilla: The Best of 1963-78.
She shows an increasing reluctance to sing nowadays, though there have been two returns to the recording studio in recent times; during 1993 Black released
Through the Years, an album of new material featuring a number of duets with
Dusty SpringfieldMary Isabel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien OBE , known as Dusty Springfield, was a pop singer and entertainer. Of all the female British pop artists of the 1960s, she made one of the biggest impressions on the American market...
,
Cliff RichardSir Cliff Richard OBE is a British singer-songwriter and entrepreneur.With his backing group The Shadows, Richard dominated the British popular music scene in the late 1950s and early 1960s, before and during The Beatles' first year in the charts...
, and
Barry ManilowBarry Manilow is an American singer-songwriter, musician, arranger, producer, conductor, entertainer, and performer, best known for such recordings as "I Write the Songs", "Mandy", "Weekend in New England" and "Copacabana"....
. Ten years later she released the album
Beginnings... Greatest Hits and New Songs.
In his 1969 study of popular music history
Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom, the rock music journalist
Nik CohnNik Cohn is a British rock journalist, born in London in 1946.He is considered a father of rock criticism, thanks to Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom, written at the age of 22 in the late 60s...
wrote prophetically:
"
Cilla Black outsold all other female recording artists in Britain during the 1960s . She has released 15 studio albums and 37 singles (many of which have charted world-wide).
During 2006–2007, Cilla's 1971 single "Something Tells Me (Something's Gonna Happen Tonight)" was used as the soundtrack to a new British advertising campaign for
Ferrero RocherFerrero Rocher is a spherical chocolate sweet made by Italian chocolatier Ferrero SpA, the producer of Tic Tac and Nutella. The sweets consist of a whole roasted hazelnut encased in a thin wafer shell filled with hazelnut cream and covered in milk chocolate and chopped hazelnuts and walnuts...
chocolates.
During the 2008/09 Christmas/New Year pantomime season, Cilla Black returned to live musical performance in the pantomime "Cinderella", appearing as the Fairy Godmother. Cilla was part of an all Scouse cast assembled in this 3-hour stage spectacular to mark the end of Liverpool's year as European Capital of Culture. The show incorporated a number of Cilla's successes, which she performed live, including "
You're My World"You're My World" is a popular ballad originally recorded in 1963 as "Il Mio Mondo" by Umberto Bindi, who co-wrote the Italian-language version with Gino Paoli. In 1964, English lyrics were rendered by Carl Sigman as "You're My World" and the song became a No. 1 hit for the British singer Cilla...
", "Something Tells Me (Something's Gonna Happen Tonight)", "
Step Inside Love"Step Inside Love" is a song written by Paul McCartney for Cilla Black in 1967 as a theme for her TV series Cilla, which first aired in the beginning of 1968. Her version was released as a single on 8 March 1968. It reached number 8 in the British charts...
" and "Sing A Rainbow". Cilla received rave reviews for her singing and overall performance (examples: , , and .)
On 7 September 2009, a total of 13 original studio albums (the first seven produced by Sir George Martin) recorded by Black between 1963 and 2003 will be released for download. These albums are all digitally re-mastered and feature an array of musical genres from pop, jazz, R&B, show tunes, sixties power-ballads, gospel and disco. Also released that same day by
EMIThe EMI Group is a British music company. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry, making it one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major publishing arm- EMI Music Publishing- based in New York City...
is a 2CD/DVD set entitled ‘The Definitive Collection (A Life In Music)’ featuring a DVD of rare BBC video footage; a digital download album of specially commissioned re-mixes ‘Cilla: All Mixed Up’; a remixed single on digital download of "Something Tells Me (Something’s Gonna Happen Tonight)".
BBC TV
Cilla was offered her own show on the
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation, usually referred to by its abbreviation as the "BBC", is the longest established and largest broadcaster in the world...
by
Bill CottonSir William Frederick "Bill" Cotton, CBE was a British television producer and executive, and the son of big-band leader Billy Cotton....
, then Assistant Head of Light Entertainment. The first series of
Cilla was broadcast on Tuesday 30 January 1968. On the first show her guest was
Tom JonesSir Thomas Jones Woodward, OBE , known by his stage name Tom Jones, is a Welsh singer. Since 1965, Jones has sold over 100 million records.-Early life:...
. The two popular music stars sang a duet together. Paul McCartney (without Lennon) wrote the theme tune - another chart success for Black - entitled "
Step Inside Love"Step Inside Love" is a song written by Paul McCartney for Cilla Black in 1967 as a theme for her TV series Cilla, which first aired in the beginning of 1968. Her version was released as a single on 8 March 1968. It reached number 8 in the British charts...
". This song was later covered by
Madeline BellMadeline Bell is an American soul singer, who became famous as a performer in the United Kingdom during the 1960s, having arrived from the US in the gospel show Black Nativity in 1962, with vocal group The Bradford Singers.-Career:She worked as a session singer, most notably backing for Dusty...
.
Henry ManciniHenry Mancini was an American composer, conductor and arranger. He is remembered particularly for being a composer of film and television scores. Mancini also won a record number of Grammy awards, including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995...
,
Ringo StarrRichard Starkey, MBE , better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer-songwriter, and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for the rock group The Beatles. When The Beatles formed in 1960, Starr belonged to another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes....
,
DonovanDonovan , is a Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist. Emerging from the British folk scene, he developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelia, and world music...
,
Georgie FameGeorgie Fame is a British rhythm and blues and jazz singer and keyboard player. The one-time rock and roll tour musician, who had a string of 1960s hits, is still a popular performer; often working with contemporaries such as Van Morrison and Bill Wyman.-Early life:Fame took piano lessons from the...
and
Dusty SpringfieldMary Isabel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien OBE , known as Dusty Springfield, was a pop singer and entertainer. Of all the female British pop artists of the 1960s, she made one of the biggest impressions on the American market...
were among the artistes who appeared in the earlier series of
Cilla, however many programmes were later wiped. Her BBC show was relatively successful and paved the way for a lengthy television career which continued intermittently until 2003.
Like so many of her contemporaries, during the 1970s her musical career declined, although she toured often. Increasingly thought of as a television "personality", she found herself experimenting with situation comedy for
ITVITV is a public service network of British commercial television broadcasters, set up under the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC. ITV is the oldest commercial television network in the UK...
. Her BBC series,
Cilla, continued however successfully until 1976, recessing during 1970, 1972 and 1975. The theme songs from the
Cilla series were also successful. "
Step Inside Love"Step Inside Love" is a song written by Paul McCartney for Cilla Black in 1967 as a theme for her TV series Cilla, which first aired in the beginning of 1968. Her version was released as a single on 8 March 1968. It reached number 8 in the British charts...
" opened the series in both the 1968 and 1969 runs and reached number 8 in the UK singles chart on its release.
Something Tells Me (Something's Gonna Happen Tonight) was the theme for the 1971 and 1973 shows, reaching number 3 and becoming Cilla's last top ten success. "Baby, We Can't Go Wrong" was used for the 1974 series and was a minor success, reaching number 36, Cilla's last UK chart siong until 1993. "It's Now" was the final theme from the 1976 series and failed to reach the charts, albeit released as a "B" side.
The UK's
Eurovision Song ContestThe Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union .Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition...
entry selection process was part of the
Cilla show in both 1968 and 1973, when her close friend
Cliff RichardSir Cliff Richard OBE is a British singer-songwriter and entrepreneur.With his backing group The Shadows, Richard dominated the British popular music scene in the late 1950s and early 1960s, before and during The Beatles' first year in the charts...
was the featured artist performing all the songs shortlisted in the
A Song For EuropeA Song for Europe may refer to:*A Song for Europe, former name of British pre-selection competition for the Eurovision Song Contest, now known as Eurovision: Your Country Needs You...
segment. Cilla herself was originally asked to sing for the UK in 1968 and was asked again for the 1970 contest, but declined; she was pregnant at the time.
Comedy Actress
On the 15 January 1975, Cilla performed as main entertainer of the first of six half-hour
situation comedyA situation comedy, usually referred to as a sitcom, is a genre of comedy programs which originated in radio. Today, sitcoms are found almost exclusively on television as one of its dominant narrative forms...
plays.
The series which was broadcast on ITV was entitled
Cilla's Comedy Six and written by Ronnie Taylor. During May 1975, the Writer's Guild of Great Britain named Cilla as
Britain's Top Female Comedy Star. The following year,
ATVAssociated TeleVision, often referred to as ATV, was a British television company, holder of various licenses to broadcast on the ITV network from September 24, 1955 until December 31, 1981.-Formation:...
was commissioned to film six more plays as the initial series had accrued healthy viewing figures and remained constantly among the best scoring three shows of the week. During August 1976, Cilla reprised her role as a comedy-actress in
Cilla's World of Comedy which featured her theme song and new single "Easy In Your Company".
London Weekend Television
By the beginning of the 1980s, Cilla Black was performing mainly in cabaret and concert, and had been absent from television since a
Thames TelevisionThames Television was a licensee of the British ITV television network, covering London and parts of the surrounding counties on weekdays from 30 July 1968 until 31 December 1992. It was both a broadcaster and a producer of television programmes, making shows both for the local region it covered...
special during 1978. During 1983 she appeared on the BBC's
Wogan programme. Her appearance on this peak-time talk show was a major success, and her career in television was resurrected.
She signed a contract with
London Weekend TelevisionLondon Weekend Television is the ITV network franchise holder for London and the South East at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5:15pm. to Monday mornings at 5:59am....
, which resulted in her becoming the host of two of the most popular and long-running evening entertainment shows of the 1980s and 1990s –
Blind DateBlind Date is a British dating game show produced by ITV contractor London Weekend Television. Although an unscreened pilot was made with comic Duncan Norvelle as presenter, it was eventually hosted by Cilla Black, who already hosted the successful LWT series Surprise, Surprise, and ran from 30...
(1985–2003) and
Surprise, SurpriseSurprise, Surprise was a British TV show hosted by Cilla Black, produced by London Weekend Television. It ran from 6 May 1984 to 26 December 2001. The production team overlapped with that of the earlier Game for a Laugh and the subsequent Blind Date...
(1984–2001). She also presented the gameshow
The Moment of Truth
The Moment of Truth was a game show based on the Japanese format entitled Happy Family Plan that was produced by London Weekend Television and was broadcast on ITV from 5 September, 1998 to 29 September, 2001. It was hosted by Cilla Black....
, which was initiated during 1998 and was a big success, running until 2002. All programmes were mainstream ratings winners and consolidated her position as the best paid female performer on British television.
Her TV appearances have made her spoken mannerisms ("Lorra lorra laughs" for example) and her habit of referring familiarly to her fellow presenters ("Our Graham") well known.
Recent TV work
Notable television performances since her resignation from LWT have included
ParkinsonParkinson is a British television chat show presented by Sir Michael Parkinson. It was first shown on BBC One from 1971 to 1982, totalling 361 editions. It returned in 1998, but transferred to ITV in 2004...
,
So Graham NortonSo Graham Norton is a British television programme, hosted by Irish personality Graham Norton. It ran from 3 July 1998 to 1 March 2002.-Theme:...
,
Friday Night with Jonathan RossFriday Night with Jonathan Ross is a comical chat show presented by Jonathan Ross. It is on the British terrestrial TV channel BBC One and is broadcast at 10.35pm on Friday nights. It was first shown on 2 November 2001 and is in it's seventeenth series...
,
Room 101Room 101 was a BBC comedy television series based on the radio series of the same name, in which celebrities are invited to discuss their pet hates and persuade the host to consign them to a fate worse than death in Room 101, named after the torture room in the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.Any item...
and a one off show titled
Cilla Live! for Living TV. Black was a judge on the first series of the Reality TV series
Soapstar SuperstarSoapstar Superstar is a reality singing competition produced by Granada Television for series 1 and ITV Productions for series 2 which first aired on British television station ITV in 2006. In the competition, ten soap opera actors perform in front of a celebrity panel, which included Cilla Black,...
, has featured in an episode of the series
Eating with... and has recently guest presented editions of
The Paul O'Grady ShowThe Paul O'Grady Show is a BAFTA award-winning British comedy chat show hosted by Birkenhead-born comedian Paul O'Grady. The format is a teatime chat show that consists of a mixture of celebrity guests, comic stunts, musical performances, and occasionally viewer competitions...
and
The Friday Night ProjectThe Sunday Night Project is a British comedy-variety show by Princess Productions that first aired on Channel 4 in February 2005 under the title The Friday Night Project...
for
Channel 4Channel 4 is a UK public-service television broadcaster which began working on November 2, 1982. Although commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station owned now and operated by the Channel Four Television...
.
Cilla Black filmed a pilot dating show for Sky One during 2008. The project referred to as Loveland was to be a ten-part "21st century" dating programme for the channel for the next year. Unlike on Blind Date, which Black hosted for 18 years, contestants would not sit in front of a studio audience but would be 'hidden' behind real-time animations as they date each other. Each episode concludes with the contestant picking their preferred animated character before meeting that person in real life. Production costs for the innovative pilot proved however too costly and it was terminated.
On October 10th 2009, Cilla appeared as a guest on
Piers Morgan's Life StoriesPiers Morgan's Life Stories is a British television chat show presented by journalist Piers Morgan. The series began on 22 February 2009 with Sharon Osbourne and ended on 5 April 2009 with Richard Madeley. The second series of six episodes began on 10 October 2009...
.
Personal life
She attended St. Anthony's School, which was behind St. Anthony's Church in Scotland Road, and Anfield Commercial College.
She was married to her manager Bobby Willis for more than 30 years until his death from
lung cancerLung cancer is a disease of uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. This growth may lead to metastasis, which is the invasion of adjacent tissue and infiltration beyond the lungs. The vast majority of primary lung cancers are carcinomas of the lung, derived from epithelial cells...
on 23 October 1999. They had three sons, Robert (now her manager, born in 1970), Ben (born in 1974), and Jack (born in 1980). Her daughter, Ellen (born in 1975), was 13 weeks
prematureIn humans, preterm birth refers to the birth of a baby of less than 37 weeks gestational age. Premature birth, commonly used as a synonym for preterm birth, refers to the birth of a premature infant. Because it is by far the most common cause of prematurity, preterm birth is the major cause of...
and died two hours after birth.
On 4 August 2004, Black became a grandmother for the first time when her eldest son, Robert, and his wife, Fiona, had their first child, Max. Her second grandchild, Alana, was born on 6 February 2007.
Black has previously been a keen supporter of the British Conservative Party. During 1992 she made prominent calls for the party's re-election.
Record producers
- 1963–73: George Martin
Sir George Henry Martin CBE is a British record producer, arranger and composer. He is sometimes referred to as "the Fifth Beatle"—a title that he owes to his work as producer of all but one of The Beatles' original records, as well as playing piano on some of The Beatles tracks—and is...
- 1974–77: David Mackay
David Mackay is an Australian record producer/arranger and musical director. He was born in Sydney, Australia and began his music career at the age of 15 in a production of Bye Bye Birdie for J.C. Williamson Theatre Company...
- 1978: Mike Hurst
Mike Hurst is an English musician and record producer.-Career:...
- 1980: Bruce Welch
Bruce Welch OBE, is an English guitarist, songwriter, producer and singer, best known as a member of The Shadows....
- 1985: David Mackay
David Mackay is an Australian record producer/arranger and musical director. He was born in Sydney, Australia and began his music career at the age of 15 in a production of Bye Bye Birdie for J.C. Williamson Theatre Company...
- 1990: Rod Edwards
- 1993: Charlie Skarbek
- 2003: Ted Carfrae
Autobiography
- Step Inside. London: Dent 1985. ISBN 0-460-04695-0
- What's It All About?. Ebury Press. ISBN 0-09-189036-5
External links