Daily Mail - Daily Mail Weekend Magazine
Every day I thank God that I’m living here
As he puts the past behind him with a new album, Cliff Richard tells David Wigg – who he’s known more than 40 years – how his Portuguese vineyard became a sanctuary during his ordeal
The last of this season’s grapes have been harvested, their skins seared a deep purple by the late summer sun. Now the pea-green vines are stripped bare, stretching down the hillsides towards the sea glistening in the distance. This is Sir Cliff Richard’s winery, Adega do Cantor (which translates as ‘winery of the singer’) on Portugal’s Algarve coast, where he’s been producing award-winning wines for 16 years.
When we drive through the iron gates of the 30-acre estate, his Alsatian guard dog Shana rushes over to the car to greet us. On either side of the manicured lawns is a lengthy avenue of olive trees with splashes of glorious colour from the bushes and flowers edging the borders. Among them are bougainvillea with its purple, white, yellow and pink flowers and pink and white oleanders, the rainbow of colours completed with a variety of greens from the bottle brush, palm and carob trees, and a dash of red from geraniums lined up like foot soldiers along the driveway.
It’s a setting so idyllic that it’s little wonder the Algarve has been Cliff’s home from home for 55 years, a sanctuary from the hurly burly of celebrity life. I was last here just four weeks before Cl iff ’s world was turned ups ide down when his Berkshire home was raided by South Yorkshire Police after allegations against him of hi s tor ic s ex abuse, a raid that was filmed by the BBC from a helicopter. He couldn’t have been happier then, leaping like a teenager from the top of one wine barrel to another for our exclusive Weekend photoshoot, showing me around the magnificent white-walled farmhouse with its rustic tiled roof, its windows and shutters painted yellow and blue, and beautiful purple-flowered creepers scampering up the walls.
Out in the sunshine, he showed me the vineyard and the cellars where barrel upon barrel of wine is stored ready for shipping. It’s been going since the year 2000, launched by Cliff in partnership with a father and son who are wine experts. A member of the team confided to me, ‘It’s Cliff’s little baby.’
At the rear is a pillared courtyard, where we sat in the early evening sunshine over a glass of Cliff’s rosé (‘It’s strong,’ he laughed, ‘we’ve got it down to 12.5% from 14%’) and looked out to the large swimming pool. On the other side of the house is a tennis court, where Cliff likes to play at least three times a week with his professional coach Milan as part of his fitness regime. He also likes keeping up with the latest music, playing some of the older stuff as well such as Sinatra, Boyzone and even a few of his own hits (‘I don’t want to watch myself, but I don’t mind hearing myself!’), or curling up on one of his huge sofas to read.
‘Every day at this time I sit on my terrace having something to eat and a glass of wine, and I think, “I watched this wine growing last year.” It’s a good feeling. We were the first to make a good wine in the Algarve, but my own little 16 acres of grapes has led to there being about 30 wineries over 3,000 acres here, and some are doing really well.’
Cliff was first introduced to Albufeira in 1961 by his former manager Peter Gormley, who also managed Olivia Newton-John, Frank Ifield and The Shadows. ‘ Blow me down,’ recalled Cliff, ‘Peter came down here then returned to London telling us he’d bought six houses, one for himself and his partner, one for Bruce Welch [of The Shadows], two for our agent Leslie Grade, one for me and one for Frank Ifield. I was next door to Frank.
‘So I came down and had my first holiday here and absolutely loved it. In those days you could walk down to the fruit market under the trees in Albufeira Square and pick up a melon for just a few old pennies. A bottle of Mateus Rosé was seven shillings and sixpence [about 38p] and you’d get four shillings [20p] back on the bottle. It was a very simple holiday and I fell in love with the view from my house over the rooftops to the sea. Tom Jones once stayed in Bruce’s place so it was a nice little social scene for us.’
Cliff moved out of Albufeira – where even now huge billboards of this smiling pop star holding a glass of his red wine line the roadways – to his farmhouse in Guia in the early 1990s, but the town has never forgotten its most famous resident and has named a street after him, Rua Sir Cliff Richard. ‘I bought the farmhouse because I fell in love with it. I quite like looking at houses, and when I first saw this one it looked so attractive, even in the terrible state it was in. I found myself a dream.’
He got into winemaking almost by chance – he’d set his heart on growing figs. ‘The house came with a farm, which I’d always fancied, and I planted figs. Then I met an Australian winemaker, David Baverstock, and he suggested I plant grapes. He said, “We could be the first to make good wine in the Algarve.” But I’d already planted five acres of figs and the next year they would have fruited for the first time. “Well, you’ve got a simple choice,” he told me. “It’s either a nice bottle of wine or a bottle of syrup of figs!” So we pulled up all the figs.’
Some years ago he bought a boat, and he loves taking his family and friends out on it when they visit him for a picnic at sea. ‘Yes, it’s fantastic and great fun. We spend three or four hours out. I provide a light lunch, crack a couple of bottles of champagne and you’re back home in time for a cup of tea and bed. ‘One year, Albufeira was celebrating its 500th birthday and they asked me if I would do a concert. The band and I were rehearsed so we did.’ Some 40,000 people turned up to watch on the beach and almost as many as that couldn’t get into the village. ‘My business partner and my family and friends took the boat out. So they had a picnic out on the boat watching the show. They said, “We’ll send a little speedboat out to pick you up afterwards.” I said, “Well, how am I going to get there? I’m never going to get through the crowds.” But as soon as the concert was over, I got changed and made my exit with a security man just as they started a firework display. So all the audience were looking up into the sky and they didn’t see little old me scrambling around behind them, jumping into the speedboat. It was fantastic, a really good night.’
But Cliff’s dream turned into a nightmare when the police raided his Berkshire home in August 2014, the start of a 22-month ordeal that finally came to an end when the Crown Prosecution Service confirmed there would be no further action. And the farmhouse in Portugal has played a key role in this most distressing episode of his life. For it was here that he first learned of the raid as he packed to go for what should have been a convivial lunch with David Baverstock up in the hills. It was here that he sought sanctuary during the investigation, supported by visiting friends and family. And it was here, 22 months later, that he learned the CPS had thrown the case out due to a lack of evidence. A review of the case rejected any further investigation within a matter of weeks, and Cliff is now suing both South Yorkshire Police and
‘I just fell in love with it. I found myself a dream’
the BBC for damages and loss of earnings over their ‘flagrant disregard’ for his privacy.
I’ve known Cliff for more than 40 years, and when I met him shortly after the file had been closed, he told me how the farm had become his haven throughout his ordeal. ‘When I got the call that the police had a warrant to search my apartment in England, I said, “Please let them in, I don’t want them smashing the door down.” I continued to pack my case for our trip to the hills. I had no idea why they were there at the apartment. They never told me they were coming. So I drove up to Alentejo with my sister and my friends. We stayed the night there and when we got to the hotel the raid was on Portuguese television. That was my introduction to what they were doing, it was horrible and that’s when I discovered what I was supposed to be accused of.
‘When we got back to the farmhouse it was surrounded. Fortunately my house is in the middle of a lot of land, but all the gates were full of peo- ple. We backed the car down to the front door because there’s a whole bunch of oleander trees there so nobody would see me get out of the car. My friends went in the back door and opened the front door for me. But that evening it just overcame me. I couldn’t imagine what depression is like, but I have an idea now. I was on my knees in tears in the kitchen. That was the point of my deepest despair.
‘My sister Joan and her partner were there and some friends, and one of them walked into the kitchen and said, “Stand up, hold your head up, you’re not guilty of this.” Then I lived in a section of my house for two weeks without leaving it because I didn’t want to be photographed.’
After the ‘dark cloud’ came over him a series of friends came and stayed at the farmhouse. ‘Fortunately I have a lot of friends so I’ve never been on my own. I’ve had company the whole time and we’ve managed to laugh a lot, and played a lot of tennis. But when every- one goes home and you go to bed, the laughter stops and you’re back in there thinking, “What did I do to deserve this?”’
It was in June this year that the CPS decided Cliff had no case to answer, and he was in Portugal when he heard the news. ‘It was another worst moment really, the last five minutes before I was given the news that the enquiry was all over. Waiting for that conference call with my lawyer when I was thinking, “We don’t know whether it’s going to be good or bad.” So my heart was beating away. Then I got the good news. Just like that. ‘After it was all over I sat on the side of my bed and thought, “This is so fantastic.” And I wept. I couldn’t help it with all the emotion pent up all that time. Then I drove up to Lisbon with some friends for the Queen’s birthday where they wanted me to sing the National Anthem. They’d asked me weeks earlier. What I loved was they’d asked me before I was cleared, so they’d trusted me. So I went to the garden party, had two glasses of champagne and sang two verses of God Save The Queen at the Governor’s Residence. And this was the day the call came through that I was clear.
‘I heard the bad news that they were going to raid my apartment while I was at the farm, and 22 months and two days later I was at the farm when I got the good news. So for me it was kind of like a circle completed that it was in the same place. It made me feel really good actually, that that’s where it started and that’s where it ended. I joke that if ever you want to find me, just phone the BBC, they’ll send a helicopter for you!’
Now, with the harvest over and the case thrown out, it’s time for Cliff to resume his career. He’s to release his 102nd album, Just... Fabulous Rock’n’Roll, on 11 November. Thanks to the wizardry of technology, the first song on the album is a duet with his idol Elvis Presley on Blue Suede Shoes, with the two singers’ voices cleverly mixed together. As a teenager
in the mid-1950s, Cliff had fallen under Presley’s spell. ‘I was so desperate to be a singer and once I heard Elvis, it really lit the fire inside me,’ he tells me, full of his usual excitement and enthusiasm again. ‘So when I made my first record Move It and played it to my mother and father I was absolutely blown away by it. I was so excited by something I could never have dreamed possible. I didn’t even know if I’d still be alive at 50, let alone have a career that’s more than 50 years old! It’s ridiculous.’
It’s one of his deepest regrets that he missed an opportunity to meet Elvis in 1976 when he was in the US promoting his hit Devil Woman. Priscilla Presley had once told Cliff that Elvis was very much aware of Cliff’s popularity in Britain. ‘She said, “He knows everything about you because he keeps up with everything you do.” He’d read about me all over the world. So it was a reciprocal thing. I loved him the first time I heard him. It’s such a shame we never met up. When it looked like it might be possible, Elvis was very overweight and I thought he’d prefer not to be photographed with me so I suggested we postpone it. I knew that when he was due to make a film he’d go on a diet and get himself down to how I remember him from his photos. But he died not long afterwards, and I’ve been kicking myself ever since.’
First visiting Memphis in 1962, he was invited by Presley’s father Vernon to visit Graceland. Elvis was away, but Cliff was shown the King’s huge bed and a barber’s chair in his bathroom that tilted right back. Downstairs was a pool table and hundreds of gold discs on the walls. Years later Cliff revisited Graceland. ‘When I went the first time Elvis was still alive, and you could feel his vibe in every room as if he could walk in at any moment. The next time I went he’d died and they’d changed it quite a bit so I was glad I’d seen it at its best.’
For the new duet with Elvis on Just... Fabulous Rock’n’Roll, he asked Presley’s widow Priscilla how she felt about him teaming up – at least electronically – with Elvis. ‘She said, “Well, if it was up to me, I’d say OK. But Sony now own all his recording rights.” Anyway, I got in touch and they said, “Well, which track would you pick?” I said Blue Suede Shoes and they agreed on condition they had final approval.’
But Cliff need not have worried. After he went to Nashville in October 2014 and recorded his Presley duet, Sony immediately gave it the green light. Now it’s the stand-out song on the album, one of 15 rock favourites including Roll Over Beethoven, Great Balls Of Fire, Sweet Little Sixteen, Keep A Knockin’ and Cliff’s own debut single Move It. ‘I’m back to my
roots,’ he says. ‘Not only do I find it hard to believe my career has spanned this length of time, but also that I still get the chance to do the thing I love best, and that’s to get into a studio. I will always love this music.’
He’d considered putting the Nashville trip on hold, as the case against him was still ongoing. ‘We were talking about cancelling it, but my friends all said, “You have nothing to feel guilty about, so don’t behave guilty.” So I said, “Let’s go and do it.”’
Elvis may have had gold discs on his walls, but in the Algarve the walls of the winery are lined with gold and silver awards Cliff’s wine has won. The tourist board acknowledge that he’s done much to increase the
Algarve’s popularity, with 18,00020,000 people visiting Adega do Cantor each year. Many of his fans want a bottle personally signed by Cliff.
Cliff, who celebrated his 76th birthday last month and also has homes in Barbados and New York, has been trying to downsize. ‘Whenever anyone asks me, “Where do you actually call home?” I want to say, “The planet!” I feel at home everywhere. I’ve been trying to downsize since the year 2000. I sold Charters, my house in Surrey, and got the apartment in Berkshire, which I’ve now sold because of what happened. I’m going to sell my home in Barbados and build something else because it’s very big and I have four permanent staff there. I don’t want to lose contact, you know, there are a lot of memories of Cilla, who had a house there. But I still have an apartment in New York.
‘Portugal’s a peaceful, quiet place where I can recharge my batteries, but it’s in Barbados where I run my batteries down! When I go on tour I have to have tests and they always come back fine and I say, “What about the liver?” but it’s fine. So I say, “Can I keep drinking the way I drink now?” and they say yes.’
In his early 20s, though, he was teetotal. ‘I had my first taste of wine making Summer Holiday in Greece in 1962. After filming with Una Stubbs and Melvyn Hayes we’d go to the marina and have some local fish. I’d have an orange juice and they’d all have wine. One night somebody said to me, “Come on, try a drop of this wine.” Well, I did, and I’ve never looked back.’
Cliff’s always been careful about his diet. He avoids dairy, red meat, crustaceans, mangoes, papayas, bananas, potatoes, aubergines and tomatoes, and follows a regime called Eat Right 4 Your Type which tailors your diet to your blood type. ‘It makes sense. Your blood is vital. It takes everything to every part of you. I started to follow it and it works. I used to eat one meal a day to keep my weight off, now I eat three meals a day and my weight remains steady.
‘It’s funny, whether I’m living in Portugal or Barbados, the first thing I do in the morning is open the window and say, “Thank you God, how did I ever deserve to get here? How can I possibly be living here and having this kind of life?” I’m a very fortunate man. I’m giving myself more gaps these days, to stop being a showbiz personality and just be with friends who see you for what you are. And it’s kind of nice to have a normal lifestyle.
‘I was born in India and we wanted for nothing there, but when we came to England, when I was eight, we went through terrible poverty. But somehow my parents survived all that. So I pinch myself regularly to make sure it’s real. And would you believe it? It is real! That’s why each morning when I wake up, the very least I can do is say, “Thank you.” I feel so privileged. Blessed to have been given a voice.’
And the main thing for him is that he has not lost any enthusiasm. Neither does he believe in false modesty. ‘I don’t kid myself, but I think I’m quite good at what I do,’ he says with that grin, as he happily takes another sip of his own wine. Cheers Cliff, it’s good to see you back!
Just… Fabulous Rock’n’Roll is out on Friday. For details of Cliff’s 2017 UK tour, visit smarturl.it/CliffRichardDM