Cilla Black
Encyclopedia
Cilla Black OBE
(born Priscilla Maria Veronica White, 27 May 1943) is an English
singer, actress, entertainer and media personality, who has been consistently popular as a light entertainment
figure since 1963. She is most famous for her singles Anyone Who Had A Heart, You're My World
, and Alfie
. 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, Black's 45 years in showbusiness were celebrated by EMI (the record label which launched her career in 1963) with the release of a new CD/DVD set alongside an album of club remixes (aka Cilla All Mixed Up
). In May 2010, new research published by BBC Radio 2
claimed that Cilla Black's version of Anyone Who Had a Heart was the UK's biggest selling single by a female artist in the 1960s.
, England 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 was encouraged to start singing by Liverpool promoter, Sam Leach,who gave her her first gig at the Cassanova Club, where she appeared as "Swinging Cilla". 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 Willis
. She was featured in an article in the first edition of the local music newspaper Mersey Beat; the paper's publisher, Bill Harry
, mistakenly referred to her as Cilla Black, rather than White, and she decided she liked the name, and took it as a stage name.
She originally signed her first contract with long time friend and neighbour, Terry McCann, but this contract was never honoured because it was signed when she was under-age, and her father signed her with Brian Epstein.
Brian Epstein
had a portfolio of local artists. At first he showed little interest in Black. She was introduced to Epstein by John Lennon
, 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 Black's voice. In her autobiography What's It All About? she writes:
But after seeing her another day, at the Blue Angel jazz club
, Epstein contracted with Black as his only female client on 6 September 1963. Epstein introduced Black to George Martin
who signed her to Parlophone Records
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 a cover of the Burt Bacharach
-Hal David
composition Anyone Who Had a Heart which had been written for Dionne Warwick
. The single scored #1 in Britain and sold 800,000 copies there. Her second UK #1 success, "You're My World
", 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. Both songs sold over one million copies, and were awarded gold discs
.
This was followed by another Lennon/McCartney
composition, It's for You
. Paul McCartney
played piano at the recording session and the song proved to be another major international success for Black.
Black belonged to a generation of British female singers which included Dusty Springfield
, Petula Clark
, Sandie Shaw
, and Lulu
. These artists were not singer-songwriters but interpreters of 1960s contemporary popular music song writers/producers. Black recorded much material during this time, including songs written by Phil Spector
, Randy Newman
, Tim Hardin
, and Burt Bacharach
. All were produced by George Martin
at Abbey Road Studios
.
Black's version of "You've Lost That Loving Feeling" reached 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 Brothers
. 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 two positions in the chart in the same week.
Being so closely associated with The Beatles, Black became the first artist to cover many Lennon-McCartney compositions. Her recordings of Yesterday
, For No One
and Across The Universe
were acclaimed critically and became radio favourites. McCartney said Black's 1972 interpretation of The Long And Winding Road
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 Hotel
in New York, and a success with "You're My World", which made it to #26 on the Billboard
chart. The song was to be her only stateside chart success, and Elvis Presley
had a copy on his personal jukebox at his Graceland
home. Black herself recognised that to achieve popular status in the US
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 US.
During 1966, Black recorded the Bacharach-David song "Alfie
", 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 Warwick
in the States and it was a major success for Black in the UK, scoring #9 on the British charts. Black'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 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, Black had guested on Peter Cook
and Dudley Moore
's Not Only... But Also
, appeared in a Ray Galton-Alan Simpson revue in London's West End
— Way Out In Piccadilly — alongside Frankie Howerd
, 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 Black a film actress were less successful. A brief appearance in the "beat" film Ferry Cross the Mersey
and a leading role alongside David Warner
in the 1968 psychedelic comedy Work Is a Four-Letter Word
were largely ignored by film critics. In a 1997 interview with Record Collector
magazine, Black revealed she was asked to appear in the 1969 film The Italian Job
, playing the part of Michael Caine
'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 BBC
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 LSD
. In her autobiography, Black claimed that Epstein had tried to pacify her by negotiating a deal that would see her representing the UK in the 1968 Eurovision Song Contest
. However, Black refused on the basis that Sandie Shaw
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 Willis
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, Black joined George Harrison
, Ringo Starr
and popular music star Marc Bolan
to attend a screening of the John Lennon
-Yoko Ono
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 Black: "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 Mackay
, 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 Springfield
, Cliff Richard
, and Barry Manilow
. 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 Cohn
wrote prophetically:
Black was one of the best-selling female recording artists in Britain during the 1960s. To date, she has released 15 studio albums and 37 singles. During 2006–2007, Black's 1971 single "Something Tells Me (Something's Gonna Happen Tonight)" was used as the soundtrack to a new British advertising campaign for Ferrero Rocher
chocolates.
During the 2008/09 pantomime
season, Black returned to live musical performance in the pantomime "Cinderella
", appearing as the Fairy Godmother
. Black was part of an all-Scouse
cast assembled in this three hour stage spectacular to mark the end of Liverpool's year as European Capital of Culture
. The show incorporated a number of Black's successes, which she performed live, including "You're My World", "Something Tells Me (Something's Gonna Happen Tonight)", "Step Inside Love
" and "Sing a Rainbow". Black received rave reviews for her singing and overall performance.
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 were released for digital download. These albums were all digitally re-mastered and featured an array of musical genres. Also released by EMI at the same time was a double album
and DVD
set, The Definitive Collection (A Life In Music), featuring 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)".
For the winter 2010 pantomime
season, Black appeared in Cinderella
at the Aylesbury Waterside Theatre in Buckinghamshire.
by Bill 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 Jones
. 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
". This song was later covered by Madeline Bell
. Henry Mancini
, Ringo Starr
, Donovan
, Georgie Fame
and Dusty Springfield
were among the artistes who appeared in the first series of Cilla. But 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. Black began the 1970s by appearing on the BBC
's highly rated review of the sixties music scene Pop Go The Sixties
, performing Anyone Who Had A Heart live on the show broadcast across Europe and BBC1, on December 31, 1969. Black recorded her performance for this show separately, in a different studio without an audience, although she did sing live.
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 ITV
. Her BBC series, Cilla, continued successfully until 1976, recessing during 1970, 1972 and 1975. The theme songs from the Cilla series were also successful. "Step Inside Love
" 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 Black'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, Black's last UK chart song until 1993. "It's Now" was the final theme from the 1976 series and failed to reach the charts, though it was released as a "B" side.
The UK's Eurovision Song Contest
entry selection process was part of the Cilla show in both 1968 and 1973, when her close friend Cliff Richard
was the featured artist performing all the songs shortlisted in the A Song For Europe
segment. Black was originally asked to sing for the UK in 1968 and was asked again for the 1970 contest, but declined because she was pregnant at the time.
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 Black as Britain's Top Female Comedy Star. The following year, ATV
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, Black 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".
special. In 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 Television
, becoming the host of two of the most popular and long-running evening entertainment shows of the 1980s and 1990s—Blind Date
(1985–2003) and Surprise, Surprise (1984–2001). She also presented the game show The Moment of Truth
(1998-2001). 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.
, So Graham Norton
, Friday Night with Jonathan Ross
, Room 101
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 Superstar
, has featured in an episode of the series Eating with... and has recently guest presented editions of The Paul O'Grady Show
and The Friday Night Project
for Channel 4
.
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, however, were too high and it was terminated.
On 10 October 2009, Black appeared as a guest on Piers Morgan's Life Stories
.
In October 2009, Black guest anchored Loose Women
and between September 2010 and June 2011, Black made 10 guest panellist appearances.
On 28 November 2009, she appeared on the channel Sky 1
to present TV's Greatest Endings.
She also appeared as herself in the first episode of Series 4 of ITV comedy-drama Benidorm
in 2011.
She was married to her manager Bobby Willis
for more than 30 years until his death from lung cancer
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 premature
and died two hours after birth.
On 4 August 2004, Black became a grandmother 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 been a keen supporter of the British Conservative Party
. During 1992 she made prominent calls for the party's re-election
..She was very supportive of Margaret Thatcher
.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(born Priscilla Maria Veronica White, 27 May 1943) is an English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
singer, actress, entertainer and media personality, who has been consistently popular as a light entertainment
Light entertainment
Light entertainment is a term used to describe a broad range of usually televisual performances. These include comedies, variety shows, quiz/game shows, sketch shows and people/surprise shows.-Light entertainment in Britain:...
figure since 1963. She is most famous for her singles Anyone Who Had A Heart, You're My World
You're My World
"You're My World" is a ballad originally recorded in 1963 as "Il Mio Mondo" by Umberto Bindi, who co-wrote the Italian-language version with Gino Paoli. Rendered with English lyrics by Carl Sigman as "You're My World",the song has reached No...
, and Alfie
Alfie (song)
"Alfie" is a song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David in 1965 most successfully recorded by Cher, Cilla Black and Dionne Warwick.-Background:...
. 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, Black's 45 years in showbusiness were celebrated by EMI (the record label which launched her career in 1963) with the release of a new CD/DVD set alongside an album of club remixes (aka Cilla All Mixed Up
Cilla All Mixed Up
Cilla All Mixed Up is the title of Cilla Black's sixteenth solo album released worldwide on 7 September 2009 by EMI to digital download. The album was conceived to celebrate Cilla Black's 45th year in the music business...
). In May 2010, new research published by BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...
claimed that Cilla Black's version of Anyone Who Had a Heart was the UK's biggest selling single by a female artist in the 1960s.
Early life and career
Priscilla White was born in LiverpoolLiverpool
Liverpool 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...
, England 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
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
. Impromptu performances impressed The Beatles and others. She was encouraged to start singing by Liverpool promoter, Sam Leach,who gave her her first gig at the Cassanova Club, where she appeared as "Swinging Cilla". She became a guest singer with the Merseybeat bands Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, Kingsize Taylor and the Dominoes
Kingsize Taylor and the Dominoes
Kingsize Taylor and the Dominoes were a British rock and roll band, formed in Liverpool in the late 1950s. One of the first beat groups in the Merseyside area, they were a locally popular and influential group who were contemporaries and rivals of The Beatles, and featured Cilla Black as a singer...
and, later, with The Big Three
The Big Three (musical group)
The Big Three were a Merseybeat group from Liverpool. They are best known for their 1963 recording of "Some Other Guy".-Career:The Big Three evolved from a group called Cass & The Cassanovas, formed in May 1959 by Brian Casser as a trio comprising Casser , Adrian Barber The Big Three were a...
. She was also, meantime, a waitress at the Zodiac coffee lounge, where she was to meet her future husband Bobby Willis
Bobby Willis
Robert "Bobby" Willis was a British songwriter, who eventually became the husband and manager of British singer and television personality Cilla Black.-Career:...
. She was featured in an article in the first edition of the local music newspaper Mersey Beat; the paper's publisher, Bill Harry
Bill Harry
Bill Harry is the creator of Mersey Beat, an important newspaper of the early 1960s, which focused on the Liverpool music scene...
, mistakenly referred to her as Cilla Black, rather than White, and she decided she liked the name, and took it as a stage name.
She originally signed her first contract with long time friend and neighbour, Terry McCann, but this contract was never honoured because it was signed when she was under-age, and her father signed her with Brian Epstein.
Brian Epstein
Brian Epstein
Brian Samuel Epstein , was an English music entrepreneur, and is best known for being the manager of The Beatles up until his death. He also managed several other musical artists such as Gerry & the Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, Cilla Black, The Remo Four & The Cyrkle...
had a portfolio of local artists. At first he showed little interest in Black. She was introduced to Epstein by John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
, 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 Black's voice. In her autobiography What's It All About? she writes:
But after seeing her another day, at the Blue Angel jazz club
Blue Angel (nightclub)
The Blue Angel, commonly known as 'The Raz' is a nightclub in Liverpool, England. It is located where Seel Street meets Berry Street in Liverpool City Centre. It is a venue in Liverpool which The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and many other bands played at in the 1960s...
, Epstein contracted with Black as his only female client on 6 September 1963. Epstein introduced Black to George Martin
George Martin
Sir George Henry Martin CBE is an English record producer, arranger, composer and musician. He is sometimes referred to as "the Fifth Beatle"— a title that he often describes as "nonsense," but the fact remains that he served as producer on all but one of The Beatles' original albums...
who signed her to Parlophone Records
Parlophone
Parlophone is a record label that was founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch was formed in 1923 as "Parlophone" which developed a reputation in the 1920s as a leading jazz label. It was acquired in 1927 by the Columbia Graphophone Company which...
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 a cover of the Burt Bacharach
Burt Bacharach
Burt F. Bacharach is an American pianist, composer and music producer. He is known for his popular hit songs and compositions from the mid-1950s through the 1980s, with lyrics written by Hal David. Many of their hits were produced specifically for, and performed by, Dionne Warwick...
-Hal David
Hal David
Harold Lane "Hal" David is an American lyricist. He grew up in Brooklyn, New York. David is best known for his collaborations with composer Burt Bacharach.-Career:...
composition Anyone Who Had a Heart which had been written for Dionne Warwick
Dionne Warwick
Dionne Warwick is an American singer, actress and TV show host, who became a United Nations Global Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization, and a United States Ambassador of Health....
. The single scored #1 in Britain and sold 800,000 copies there. Her second UK #1 success, "You're My World
You're My World
"You're My World" is a ballad originally recorded in 1963 as "Il Mio Mondo" by Umberto Bindi, who co-wrote the Italian-language version with Gino Paoli. Rendered with English lyrics by Carl Sigman as "You're My World",the song has reached No...
", 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. Both songs sold over one million copies, and were awarded gold discs
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...
.
This was followed by another Lennon/McCartney
Lennon/McCartney
The Lennon–McCartney songwriting partnership is one of the best-known and most successful musical collaborations in history...
composition, It's for You
It's for You
"It's for You" is a song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney of the Beatles for Cilla Black for whom it was a UK Top Ten hit in 1964....
. Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
played piano at the recording session and the song proved to be another major international success for Black.
Black belonged to a generation of British female singers which included Dusty Springfield
Dusty Springfield
Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'BrienSources use both Isabel and Isobel as the spelling of her second name. OBE , known professionally as Dusty Springfield and dubbed The White Queen of Soul, was a British pop singer whose career extended from the late 1950s to the 1990s...
, Petula Clark
Petula Clark
Petula 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 Shaw
Sandie Shaw
Sandie Shaw is an English pop singer, who was one of the most successful British female singers of the 1960s. In 1967 she was the first UK act to win the Eurovision Song Contest...
, and Lulu
Lulu (singer)
Lulu Kennedy-Cairns, OBE , best known by her stage name Lulu, is a Scottish singer, actress, 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. Black recorded much material during this time, including songs written by Phil Spector
Phil Spector
Phillip Harvey "Phil" Spector is an American record producer and songwriter, later known for his conviction in the murder of actress Lana Clarkson....
, Randy Newman
Randy Newman
Randall Stuart "Randy" Newman is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, composer, and pianist who is known for his mordant pop songs and for film scores....
, Tim Hardin
Tim Hardin
James Timothy "Tim" Hardin was an American folk musician and composer. He wrote the Top 40 hits "If I Were a Carpenter", covered by, among others, Joan Baez, Bobby Darin, Johnny Cash, Ramblin' Jack Elliot, and Robert Plant, and "Reason to Believe", covered by many, including Rod Stewart, as well...
, and Burt Bacharach
Burt Bacharach
Burt F. Bacharach is an American pianist, composer and music producer. He is known for his popular hit songs and compositions from the mid-1950s through the 1980s, with lyrics written by Hal David. Many of their hits were produced specifically for, and performed by, Dionne Warwick...
. All were produced by George Martin
George Martin
Sir George Henry Martin CBE is an English record producer, arranger, composer and musician. He is sometimes referred to as "the Fifth Beatle"— a title that he often describes as "nonsense," but the fact remains that he served as producer on all but one of The Beatles' original albums...
at Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios is a recording studio located at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music company EMI, its present owner...
.
Black's version of "You've Lost That Loving Feeling" reached 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 Brothers
The Righteous Brothers
The 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 two positions in the chart in the same week.
Being so closely associated with The Beatles, Black became the first artist to cover many Lennon-McCartney compositions. Her recordings of Yesterday
Yesterday (song)
"Yesterday" is a song originally recorded by The Beatles for their 1965 album Help!. The song first hit the United Kingdom top 10 three months after the release of Help!. The song remains popular today with more than 1,600 cover versions, one of the most covered songs in the history of recorded...
, For No One
For No One
"For No One" is a song written by Paul McCartney that originally appeared on The Beatles' seventh album, Revolver. A baroque pop song about the end of a relationship, it was one of McCartney's most mature and poignant works upon its release...
and Across The Universe
Across the Universe
"Across the Universe" is a song by the English group The Beatles. It was 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 different form, on Let It Be,...
were acclaimed critically and became radio favourites. McCartney said Black's 1972 interpretation of The Long And Winding Road
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' 20th and 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 Hotel
Plaza Hotel
The 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. Fifth Avenue extends along the east side of Grand Army Plaza...
in New York, and a success with "You're My World", which made it to #26 on the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
chart. The song was to be her only stateside chart success, and Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
had a copy on his personal jukebox at his Graceland
Graceland
Graceland is a large white-columned mansion and estate that was home to Elvis Presley in Memphis, Tennessee. It is located at 3764 Elvis Presley Boulevard in the vast Whitehaven community about 9 miles from Downtown and less than four miles north of the Mississippi border. It currently serves as...
home. Black herself recognised that to achieve popular status in the US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
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 US.
During 1966, Black recorded the Bacharach-David song "Alfie
Alfie (song)
"Alfie" is a song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David in 1965 most successfully recorded by Cher, Cilla Black and Dionne Warwick.-Background:...
", 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 Warwick
Dionne Warwick
Dionne Warwick is an American singer, actress and TV show host, who became a United Nations Global Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization, and a United States Ambassador of Health....
in the States and it was a major success for Black in the UK, scoring #9 on the British charts. Black'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 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, Black had guested on Peter Cook
Peter Cook
Peter Edward Cook was an English satirist, writer and comedian. An extremely influential figure in modern British comedy, he is regarded as the leading light of the British satire boom of the 1960s. He has been described by Stephen Fry as "the funniest man who ever drew breath," although Cook's...
and Dudley Moore
Dudley Moore
Dudley 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 the ground-breaking comedy revue Beyond the Fringe in the early 1960s, and then became famous as half of the highly popular television...
's Not Only... But Also
Not Only... But Also
Not Only... But Also was a popular 1960s BBC British television series starring Peter Cook and Dudley Moore.-History: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 End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. 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...
— Way Out In Piccadilly — alongside Frankie Howerd
Frankie Howerd
Francis Alick "Frankie" Howerd OBE was an English comedian and comic actor whose career, described by fellow comedian Barry Cryer as "a series of comebacks", spanned six decades.-Early career:...
, 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 Black a film actress were less successful. A brief appearance in the "beat" film Ferry Cross the Mersey
Ferry Cross the Mersey (film)
Ferry Cross the Mersey is a 1965 musical film featuring Gerry and the Pacemakers.The film, directed by Jeremy Summers, is one of the more uncommon artifacts of the Mersey scene, shown very rarely on television and never issued on video...
and a leading role alongside David Warner
David Warner (actor)
David Warner is an English actor who is known for playing both romantic leads and sinister or villainous characters, both in film and animation...
in the 1968 psychedelic comedy Work Is a Four-Letter Word
Work Is a Four-Letter Word
-External links:*...
were largely ignored by film critics. In a 1997 interview with Record Collector
Record Collector
Record 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 Job
The Italian Job
The Italian Job is a 1969 British caper film, written by Troy Kennedy Martin, produced by Michael Deeley and directed by Peter Collinson. Subsequent television showings and releases on video have established it as an institution in the United Kingdom....
, playing the part of Michael Caine
Michael Caine
Sir Michael Caine, CBE is an English actor. He won Academy Awards for best supporting actor in both Hannah and Her Sisters and The Cider House Rules ....
'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 BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
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 LSD
LSD
Lysergic acid diethylamide, abbreviated LSD or LSD-25, also known as lysergide and colloquially as acid, is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug of the ergoline family, well known for its psychological effects which can include altered thinking processes, closed and open eye visuals, synaesthesia, an...
. In her autobiography, Black claimed that Epstein had tried to pacify her by negotiating a deal that would see her representing the UK in the 1968 Eurovision Song Contest
Eurovision Song Contest
The 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 Shaw
Sandie Shaw
Sandie Shaw is an English pop singer, who was one of the most successful British female singers of the 1960s. In 1967 she was the first UK act to win the Eurovision Song Contest...
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 Willis
Bobby Willis
Robert "Bobby" Willis was a British songwriter, who eventually became the husband and manager of British singer and television personality Cilla Black.-Career:...
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, Black joined George Harrison
George Harrison
George Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...
, Ringo Starr
Ringo Starr
Richard Starkey, MBE better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in...
and popular music star Marc Bolan
Marc Bolan
Marc Bolan was an English singer-songwriter, guitarist and poet. He is best known as the founder, frontman, lead singer & guitarist for T. Rex, but also a successful solo artist...
to attend a screening of the John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
-Yoko Ono
Yoko Ono
is a Japanese artist, musician, author and peace activist, known for her work in avant-garde art, music and filmmaking as well as her marriage to John Lennon...
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 Black: "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 Mackay
David Mackay (producer)
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...
, 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
Recording studio
A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...
in recent times; during 1993 Black released Through the Years, an album of new material featuring a number of duets with Dusty Springfield
Dusty Springfield
Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'BrienSources use both Isabel and Isobel as the spelling of her second name. OBE , known professionally as Dusty Springfield and dubbed The White Queen of Soul, was a British pop singer whose career extended from the late 1950s to the 1990s...
, Cliff Richard
Cliff Richard
Sir Cliff Richard, OBE is a British pop singer, musician, performer, actor, and philanthropist who has sold over an estimated 250 million records worldwide....
, and Barry Manilow
Barry Manilow
Barry Manilow is an American singer-songwriter, musician, arranger, producer, conductor, and performer, best known for such recordings as "Could It Be Magic", "Mandy", "Can't Smile Without You", 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 Cohn
Nik Cohn
Nik Cohn is a British rock journalist, born in London in 1946. He was brought up in Derry, in the North of Ireland, the son of historian Norman Cohn and Russian writer Vera Broido...
wrote prophetically:
Black was one of the best-selling female recording artists in Britain during the 1960s. To date, she has released 15 studio albums and 37 singles. During 2006–2007, Black's 1971 single "Something Tells Me (Something's Gonna Happen Tonight)" was used as the soundtrack to a new British advertising campaign for Ferrero Rocher
Ferrero Rocher
Ferrero Rocher is a spherical chocolate sweet made by Italian chocolatier Ferrero SpA. Introduced in 1982, the chocolates consist of a whole roasted hazelnut encased in a thin wafer shell filled with hazelnut cream and covered in milk chocolate and chopped hazelnuts. The sweets each contain 73...
chocolates.
During the 2008/09 pantomime
Pantomime
Pantomime — not to be confused with a mime artist, a theatrical performer of mime—is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, South Africa, India, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, and is mostly performed during the...
season, Black returned to live musical performance in the pantomime "Cinderella
Cinderella
"Cinderella; or, The Little Glass Slipper" is a folk tale embodying a myth-element of unjust oppression/triumphant reward. Thousands of variants are known throughout the world. The title character is a young woman living in unfortunate circumstances that are suddenly changed to remarkable fortune...
", appearing as the Fairy Godmother
Fairy godmother
In fairy tales, a fairy godmother is a fairy with magical powers who acts as a mentor or parent to someone, in the role that an actual godparent was expected to play in many societies...
. Black was part of an all-Scouse
Scouse
Scouse is an accent and dialect of English found primarily in the Metropolitan county of Merseyside, and closely associated with the city of Liverpool and the adjoining urban areas such as the boroughs of south Sefton, Knowsley and the Wirral...
cast assembled in this three hour stage spectacular to mark the end of Liverpool's year as European Capital of Culture
European Capital of Culture
The European Capital of Culture is a city designated by theEuropean Union for a period of one calendar year during which it organises a series of cultural events with a strong European dimension....
. The show incorporated a number of Black's successes, which she performed live, including "You're My World", "Something Tells Me (Something's Gonna Happen Tonight)", "Step Inside Love
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 eight in the British charts...
" and "Sing a Rainbow". Black received rave reviews for her singing and overall performance.
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 were released for digital download. These albums were all digitally re-mastered and featured an array of musical genres. Also released by EMI at the same time was a double album
Double album
A double album is an audio album which spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically records and compact discs....
and DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
set, The Definitive Collection (A Life In Music), featuring rare BBC video footage; a digital download album of specially commissioned re-mixes Cilla All Mixed Up
Cilla All Mixed Up
Cilla All Mixed Up is the title of Cilla Black's sixteenth solo album released worldwide on 7 September 2009 by EMI to digital download. The album was conceived to celebrate Cilla Black's 45th year in the music business...
; a remixed single on digital download of "Something Tells Me (Something’s Gonna Happen Tonight)".
For the winter 2010 pantomime
Pantomime
Pantomime — not to be confused with a mime artist, a theatrical performer of mime—is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, South Africa, India, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, and is mostly performed during the...
season, Black appeared in Cinderella
Cinderella
"Cinderella; or, The Little Glass Slipper" is a folk tale embodying a myth-element of unjust oppression/triumphant reward. Thousands of variants are known throughout the world. The title character is a young woman living in unfortunate circumstances that are suddenly changed to remarkable fortune...
at the Aylesbury Waterside Theatre in Buckinghamshire.
BBC TV
Black was offered her own show on the BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
by Bill Cotton
Bill Cotton
Sir 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 Jones
Tom Jones (singer)
Sir Thomas John Woodward, OBE , known by his stage name Tom Jones, is a Welsh singer.Since the mid 1960s, Jones has sung many styles of popular music – pop, rock, R&B, show tunes, country, dance, techno, soul and gospel – and sold over 100 million records...
. 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
"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 eight in the British charts...
". This song was later covered by Madeline Bell
Madeline Bell
Madeline 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 Mancini
Henry Mancini
Henry Mancini was an American composer, conductor and arranger, best remembered for his film and television scores. He won a record number of Grammy Awards , plus a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award posthumously in 1995...
, Ringo Starr
Ringo Starr
Richard Starkey, MBE better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in...
, Donovan
Donovan
Donovan Donovan Donovan (born Donovan Philips Leitch (born 10 May 1946) 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 Fame
Georgie Fame
Georgie 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 Springfield
Dusty Springfield
Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'BrienSources use both Isabel and Isobel as the spelling of her second name. OBE , known professionally as Dusty Springfield and dubbed The White Queen of Soul, was a British pop singer whose career extended from the late 1950s to the 1990s...
were among the artistes who appeared in the first series of Cilla. But 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. Black began the 1970s by appearing on the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's highly rated review of the sixties music scene Pop Go The Sixties
Pop Go The Sixties
Pop Go The Sixties! was a one-off, seventy five-minute TV special originally broadcast in colour on 31 December 1969, to celebrate the major pop hits of the 1960s. The show was a co-production between the United Kingdom's BBC and Germany's ZDF broadcasters...
, performing Anyone Who Had A Heart live on the show broadcast across Europe and BBC1, on December 31, 1969. Black recorded her performance for this show separately, in a different studio without an audience, although she did sing live.
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 ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
. Her BBC series, Cilla, continued 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
"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 eight 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 Black'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, Black's last UK chart song until 1993. "It's Now" was the final theme from the 1976 series and failed to reach the charts, though it was released as a "B" side.
The UK's Eurovision Song Contest
Eurovision Song Contest
The 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 Richard
Cliff Richard
Sir Cliff Richard, OBE is a British pop singer, musician, performer, actor, and philanthropist who has sold over an estimated 250 million records worldwide....
was the featured artist performing all the songs shortlisted in the A Song For Europe
A Song for Europe
A 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. Black was originally asked to sing for the UK in 1968 and was asked again for the 1970 contest, but declined because she was pregnant at the time.
Comedy actress
On the 15 January 1975, Black performed as main entertainer of the first of six half-hour situation comedySituation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...
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 Black as Britain's Top Female Comedy Star. The following year, ATV
Associated TeleVision
Associated Television, often referred to as ATV, was a British television company, holder of various licences to broadcast on the ITV network from 24 September 1955 until 00:34 on 1 January 1982...
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, Black 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, Black was performing mainly in cabaret and concert and absent from television since a 1978 Thames TelevisionThames Television
Thames 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....
special. In 1983, she appeared on the BBC's Wogan
Wogan
Wogan was a chat show on British television, hosted by Terry Wogan. It followed the format of a series broadcast in 1980 entitled What's On Wogan?, which failed to gather viewers. The Wogan show was initially broadcast on Tuesday evenings on BBC1 in 1981 and from 1982 to 1984, it moved into the...
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 Television
London Weekend Television
London Weekend Television was the name of the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties including south Suffolk, middle and east Hampshire, Oxfordshire, south Bedfordshire, south Northamptonshire, parts of Herefordshire & Worcestershire, Warwickshire, east Dorset and...
, becoming the host of two of the most popular and long-running evening entertainment shows of the 1980s and 1990s—Blind Date
Blind Date (UK TV series)
Blind Date is a British dating game show produced by London Weekend Television. An unscreened pilot was made with comic Duncan Norvelle as presenter but it was eventually hosted by Cilla Black, who already hosted the LWT series, Surprise, Surprise...
(1985–2003) and Surprise, Surprise (1984–2001). She also presented the game show The Moment of Truth
The Moment of Truth (UK game show)
The Moment of Truth was a game show based on the Japanese format 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. A similar show, Celebrities Under Pressure followed two years after...
(1998-2001). 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 (TV series)
Parkinson is a British television talk show that was presented by Sir Michael Parkinson. It was first shown on the BBC from 1971 to 2004, and on ITV from 2004 to 2007.-Background:...
, So Graham Norton
So Graham Norton
So 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 Ross
Friday Night with Jonathan Ross
Friday Night with Jonathan Ross was a British comedy chat show presented by Jonathan Ross. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 2 November 2001. The programme featured Ross's take on current topics of conversation, guest interviews and live music from both a guest music group and the house band...
, Room 101
Room 101 (TV series)
Room 101 is a BBC comedy television series based on the radio series of the same name, in which celebrities were 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, which is...
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 Superstar
Soapstar Superstar
Soapstar Superstar was a reality singing competition produced by Granada Television 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, Billy Sammeth and Chris Cowey...
, has featured in an episode of the series Eating with... and has recently guest presented editions of The Paul O'Grady Show
The Paul O'Grady Show
The Paul O'Grady Show was a BAFTA award-winning British comedy chat show hosted by Birkenhead-born comedian Paul O'Grady. The format was originally devised by Granada Television and was broadcast on ITV before moving to Channel 4...
and The Friday Night Project
The Friday Night Project
The Sunday Night Project was 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 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
.
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, however, were too high and it was terminated.
On 10 October 2009, Black appeared as a guest on Piers Morgan's Life Stories
Piers Morgan's Life Stories
Piers Morgan's Life Stories, also known as Life Stories, is a British television chat show presented by journalist Piers Morgan. Filmed in front of a studio audience, each programme is devoted to one special celebrity guest. The interviews are intimate, in-depth and emotionally-charged as Piers...
.
In October 2009, Black guest anchored Loose Women
Loose Women
Loose Women is a British lunchtime television programme, first broadcast in 1999 on ITV. It consists of a panel of four women who interview celebrities and discuss topical issues, ranging from daily politics and current affairs, to celebrity gossip...
and between September 2010 and June 2011, Black made 10 guest panellist appearances.
On 28 November 2009, she appeared on the channel Sky 1
SKY 1
The Box is an entertainment channel in New Zealand available on SKY Network Television.The channel shows are a variety of the most recent shows such as from the United States, for example CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, The Simpsons, Family Guy, World Wrestling Entertainments hit shows, and...
to present TV's Greatest Endings.
She also appeared as herself in the first episode of Series 4 of ITV comedy-drama Benidorm
Benidorm (TV series)
Benidorm is an award-winning British television comedy-drama that is produced by Tiger Aspect for ITV and written by Derren Litten, co-writer of The Catherine Tate Show, exploiting the working-class stereotype of this popular tourist destination....
in 2011.
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
Bobby Willis
Robert "Bobby" Willis was a British songwriter, who eventually became the husband and manager of British singer and television personality Cilla Black.-Career:...
for more than 30 years until his death from lung cancer
Lung cancer
Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...
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 premature
Premature birth
In humans preterm birth refers to the birth of a baby of less than 37 weeks gestational age. The cause for preterm birth is in many situations elusive and unknown; many factors appear to be associated with the development of preterm birth, making the reduction of preterm birth a challenging...
and died two hours after birth.
On 4 August 2004, Black became a grandmother 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 been a keen supporter of the British Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
. During 1992 she made prominent calls for the party's re-election
United Kingdom general election, 1992
The United Kingdom general election of 1992 was held on 9 April 1992, and was the fourth consecutive victory for the Conservative Party. This election result was one of the biggest surprises in 20th Century politics, as polling leading up to the day of the election showed Labour under leader Neil...
..She was very supportive of Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
.
Record producers
- 1963–73: George MartinGeorge MartinSir George Henry Martin CBE is an English record producer, arranger, composer and musician. He is sometimes referred to as "the Fifth Beatle"— a title that he often describes as "nonsense," but the fact remains that he served as producer on all but one of The Beatles' original albums...
- 1974–77: David MackayDavid Mackay (producer)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 HurstMike Hurst (producer)Mike Hurst is an English musician and record producer.-Biography:...
- 1980: Bruce WelchBruce WelchBruce Welch OBE, is an English guitarist, songwriter, producer and singer, best known as a member of The Shadows.-Biography:...
- 1985: David MackayDavid Mackay (producer)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 2003. ISBN 0-09-189036-5
External links
- Official website
- Conversations - The Cilla Black Forum
- Official MySpace
- The Girl From Abbey Road (Blogspot)