Sir Cliff Richard will be celebrating his 50th year in the music business next year with the Time Machine tour in arenas all over the UK. The two-times Eurovision Song Contest participant is still going strong with a new single to be released on the 29th October and a new album coming out in November.
Born Harry Webb in 1940 in Calcutta, India, Sir Cliff Richard is one of the most successful acts of all time with #1 hits in every single one of his five decades in the music industry. He recorded his first single in 1958 and his first two albums in 1959. According to British law, an artist's work goes out of copyright after 50 years and they no longer receive royalties for their music. Sir Cliff Richard supported a royalties campaign last summer to persuade the UK government to extend the number of years claiming that it is unfair to senior artists counting on the royaltiesas a pension.The idea was rejected on the grounds that ".… an extension would not benefit the majority of performers, most of whom have contractual relationships requiring their royalties be paid back to the record label". So very soon, Cliff Richard will see his early songs become public domain.
Fortunately, Sir Cliff says that he still has records that will take another 50 years to go out of copyright, the next one, Love ….the album, coming out on 12 November. The first single from the album, When I need you, will be released on 29 October and it will be available from various providers here. On 26 November, Universal will also release a box set of three Cliff DVDs featuring live performances – Here & now, Castles in the air, and On the beach.
To celebrate his 50th anniversary on stage, Cliff Richard will be playing arenas in London, Cardiff, Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle, Glasgow and Belfast during his Time Machine 2008 tour. Tickets are already on sale exclusively through the artist's official website which received 50.000 visits on the day the online ticket sales opened. More information on venues and ticketing can be found here.
