Sir Cliff Richard pays touching tribute to ‘dear friend’ Olivia Newton-John with reworked ’emotional’ duet as he announces new album to mark his 65th year in music
Sir Cliff Richard has revealed he will be releasing a new album to celebrate his 65 years in the music business with a special tribute to Olivia Newton-John.
The singer, 82, has recorded orchestral versions of his greatest hits, called Cliff with Strings – My Kinda Life, set to be released November 3.
In his announcement of the album, he also divulged it will contain a reworked version of his and Olivia’s duet Suddenly in memory of the late star.
Olivia tragically died at age 73 on August 8 last year at her ranch in Southern California following the Grease star’s 30-year battle with breast cancer.
Discussing the upcoming album, Cliff said: ‘It is really an emotional journey to listen back to some of my original vocals and hear just how young I was and how my style changed over the years.
Touching: Sir Cliff Richard has revealed he will be releasing a new album to celebrate his 65 years in the music business with a special tribute to Olivia Newton-John (pictured together in 1995)
Announcement: The singer, 82, has recorded orchestral versions of his greatest hits, called Cliff with Strings – My Kinda Life, set to be released November 3 (pictured in December)
Tribute: In his announcement of the album, he also divulged it will contain a reworked version of his and Olivia’s duet Suddenly in memory of the late star (pictured together in 2004)
‘These tracks mean a lot to me and they are so refreshed with the orchestral arrangements.
‘The most emotional track on the album for me is Suddenly with my dear friend Olivia Newton-John.
‘We recorded this version together live for my 75th birthday in 2015 and it always strikes me how well our voices sounded together and the crystal gentility that Olivia always managed to exude.’
He added: ‘I’m glad I was able to highlight this great performance again.’
Suddenly was originally recorded by Cliff and Olivia in 1980 for the film Xanadu, with the reworked version taken from their performance at London’s Royal Albert Hall in October 2015.
The new arrangement has been created by Chris Walden and is said to bring ‘an emotional beauty’ to their voices in harmony.
Cliff and Olivia shared a long friendship and he and his manager had done a lot to help Olivia build her career by inviting her to appear on his first BBC TV series back in the 70s.
Speaking about her death in November, he revealed he spoke to her five weeks before her passing and said they had a ‘soul-mate friendship’.
Devastating: Olivia tragically died at age 73 on August 8 last year at her ranch in Southern California following the Grease star’s 30-year battle with breast cancer (pictured in 2019)
Close: Cliff and Olivia shared a long friendship and he and his manager had done a lot to help Olivia build her career by inviting her to appear on his first BBC TV series back in the 70s (pictured in 1971)
Heartbreaking: Speaking about her death in November, he revealed he spoke to her five weeks before her passing and said they had a ‘soul-mate friendship’ (pictured together in 2005)
He recalled: ‘I spoke to her five weeks before she died and she sounded just like her usual upbeat self: “Oh, g’day Cliff, how are you darling?”.
‘It was a terrible, terrible shock because occasionally in life you have a soul-mate friendship. We talked to each other a lot and we spent a lot of time together.’
‘We were locked together, and it never changed. Even now I feel sad, knowing that this glorious, gifted person was ripped away from us.’
There was much speculation that the pair were dating but Cliff said in his memoir they were ‘never an item’.
However, he admitted to being ‘in love’ with her at one point but that she was engaged at the time.
He said: ‘We hit it off straight away. She was the sort of soulmate that you meet and you know is a friend for life.’
Cliff later added: ‘It was clear from our on-screen chemistry that Olivia and I got on well. The papers began to speculate that we might be an item. We never were – but we were as close as it’s possible for two just-good-friends to be.’
Cliff with Strings – My Kinda Life features 12 tracks released over seven decades, including Summer Holiday, Living Doll, Wired for Sound and We Don’t Talk Any More.
It also includes a rare recording from 1999 of Cliff’s performance of Everything I Do (I do it For You) from his Millenium Countdown concert.
Greatest hits: Cliff with Strings – My Kinda Life features 12 tracks released over seven decades, including Summer Holiday, Living Doll, Wired for Sound and We Don’t Talk Any More
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