Cilla Black (born 27 May 1943) is an English singer-songwriter and television personality, born Priscilla Maria Veronica White to a Protestant father and a Catholic mother in Liverpool. She holds a unique position in the history of pop music, and the British invasion. As Brian Epstein's discovery and protégé, she was the first and only important female performer to emerge from Liverpool in the heyday of the British beat boom. In conjunction with Epstein's management and George Martin's production skills, she became a formidable ballad singer, her hits lasting longer than any of Epstein clients other than The Beatles. And she became one of the most beloved pop-rock performers in England during the late '60s and '70s, and one of the country's most popular and enduring television stars.
In the early 1960s, determined to break into show business, she got a part-time job as a cloakroom attendant at the famous Cavern Club in Liverpool, where The Beatles regularly played. Ideally placed to promote herself to local musicians, she impressed the Beatles and others with her talent and began her stage career with impromptu performances at the Cavern. She became a guest singer with Merseybeat bands Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, Kingsize Taylor and the Dominoes, and later The Big Three. During this period she also worked as a waitress at the Zodiac coffee lounge, where she met her future husband Bobby Willis.
Epstein signed Cilla to Parlophone Records and introduced her to George Martin, who produced her debut single, Love of the Loved (written for her by Lennon and McCartney), which was released only three weeks after she signed with Epstein. The single peaked at a modest #35, a failure compared to debut releases of Epstein's other artists.
Her second single - released at the beginning of 1964 - was the Burt Bacharach-Hal David composition "Anyone Who Had a Heart". In the United States, it was a new single destined to be a hit for Dionne Warwick where it peaked at #8 while Cilla's version shot to #1 in Britain - where it remains to this day the top selling single of all time by a British female artist. Her second UK #1 hit, You're My World, was an English-language reading 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-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.
She belonged to a generation of British female singers which included Dusty Springfield, Sandie Shaw, and Lulu. These artists were not singer-songwriters but interpreters of Sixties contemporary pop song writers/producers. She recorded a great range of 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. She has unfairly been dubbed by the uneducated as the "Queen of covers". Statistics prove that this is quite untrue. Of the 21 hit singles Cilla has had in the UK, only 2 were covers - "Anyone Who Had A Heart" and "You've Lost That Loving Feeling" - and both of these were major chart successes for Cilla in the UK and internationally.
Cilla Black outsold all other female recording artists in Britain during the 60s and was second most successful act after the The Beatles to emerge out of the 60s Liverpool Merseybeat boom. She has released 15 studio albums and 37 singles (many of which have charted world-wide). Her first TV series called "Cilla" aired in 1968 and continued successfully until 1976. By the 80's she performed mainly in cabaret and concert tours. Her marriage to her manager Bobby Willis (born 25 January 1942) lasted for over 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 1973), and Jack (born in 1980). Find out more about this English icon at: http://www.cillablack.com/
Research info gathered at: www.wikipedia.org
Visit my ezine: http://www.concelebratory.blogspot.com/
and personal blog: http://www.copyat5.blogspot.com/
In the early 1960s, determined to break into show business, she got a part-time job as a cloakroom attendant at the famous Cavern Club in Liverpool, where The Beatles regularly played. Ideally placed to promote herself to local musicians, she impressed the Beatles and others with her talent and began her stage career with impromptu performances at the Cavern. She became a guest singer with Merseybeat bands Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, Kingsize Taylor and the Dominoes, and later The Big Three. During this period she also worked as a waitress at the Zodiac coffee lounge, where she met her future husband Bobby Willis.
Epstein signed Cilla to Parlophone Records and introduced her to George Martin, who produced her debut single, Love of the Loved (written for her by Lennon and McCartney), which was released only three weeks after she signed with Epstein. The single peaked at a modest #35, a failure compared to debut releases of Epstein's other artists.
Her second single - released at the beginning of 1964 - was the Burt Bacharach-Hal David composition "Anyone Who Had a Heart". In the United States, it was a new single destined to be a hit for Dionne Warwick where it peaked at #8 while Cilla's version shot to #1 in Britain - where it remains to this day the top selling single of all time by a British female artist. Her second UK #1 hit, You're My World, was an English-language reading 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-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.
She belonged to a generation of British female singers which included Dusty Springfield, Sandie Shaw, and Lulu. These artists were not singer-songwriters but interpreters of Sixties contemporary pop song writers/producers. She recorded a great range of 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. She has unfairly been dubbed by the uneducated as the "Queen of covers". Statistics prove that this is quite untrue. Of the 21 hit singles Cilla has had in the UK, only 2 were covers - "Anyone Who Had A Heart" and "You've Lost That Loving Feeling" - and both of these were major chart successes for Cilla in the UK and internationally.
Cilla Black outsold all other female recording artists in Britain during the 60s and was second most successful act after the The Beatles to emerge out of the 60s Liverpool Merseybeat boom. She has released 15 studio albums and 37 singles (many of which have charted world-wide). Her first TV series called "Cilla" aired in 1968 and continued successfully until 1976. By the 80's she performed mainly in cabaret and concert tours. Her marriage to her manager Bobby Willis (born 25 January 1942) lasted for over 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 1973), and Jack (born in 1980). Find out more about this English icon at: http://www.cillablack.com/
Research info gathered at: www.wikipedia.org
Visit my ezine: http://www.concelebratory.blogspot.com/
and personal blog: http://www.copyat5.blogspot.com/
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