He didn’t know it until it had happened of course, but fate had decided that 1958 was going to be the biggest year in the life of Harry Webb. It was the year he was going to be eighteen – not that that was a big a deal back then, when you had to wait another three years to get the proverbial key of the door. More to the point though, for our purposes, what he might have dreamed about but could never have foreseen was that ’58 was the year that he would sign a record contract, release a single, and become a star – and all within a few weeks, around that eighteenth birthday.
Harry Rodger Webb was born on August 14 1940 in Lucknow in India, the son of Rodger Webb, a restaurateur. The family returned to Britain by steamer during the War, and they settled first in Carshalton in Surrey, and then moved to Enfield in Middlesex. Harry left Cheshunt Secondary Modern School in 1957 and got a job as a clerk in a factory, but he had ambitions to go a lot further than that. In the evenings he played with a skiffle group, but his heart lay in rock ‘n roll. His hero was Elvis and he made no bones about the fact that he copied Elvis’s moves, looks and style. His ambition, wild and mad as it seemed, was to become ‘the British Elvis’.
Late in ’57 he put together a band; basically him fronting a backing group. Originally called The Planets, they re-named themselves Harry Webb and The Drifters – apparently unaware that there was a top American group of the same name. Harry Webb wasn’t a very rock ‘n roll name, all too obviously, so something different was needed there. He became Cliff Richards and the group became Cliff Richards and The Drifters, and then – in a further refinement - the ‘s’ was dropped off Richards. Eventually the band became The Shadows.
While they were still Harry Webb and The Drifters they recorded a demo of cover versions of Breathless and Lawdy Miss Clawdy in a tiny studio above the HMV shop in Oxford Street – at a cost of £10, a far from inconsiderable sum - and began hawking that around. The cash for the recording session came from the indulgent parents of John Foster, sewage farm worker and the band’s would-be manager.
Just as usefully Cliff used to haunt the famous 2Is coffee bar in Old Compton Street in Soho, and got the band a week’s residence there. The 2Is was the place for aspiring young talent to hang out. It was right in the middle of Britain’s Tin Pan Alley, where the heart of the British music industry beat.
At this point they were joined by guitarist Ian Samwell, which was to be a very good move, as we shall see. The next highlight was Foster arranging for the band to play in a talent contest at the Gaumont Cinema in Shepherd’s Bush. There they were seen by Norrie Paramor, who was head of EMI Record’s Columbia label. He could see that the group had potential and decided to sign them up. They were on their way.
What was needed was a song, or maybe two. They were booked into number two studio at Abbey Road and Paramor suggested they cut a version of Schoolboy Crush, which had been recorded by American rockabilly singer Bobby Helms, who was little known in Britain (he had three minor hits over here in ’57 and ’58; none making it into the top twenty).
They also needed to come up with a B-side, something that still wasn’t decided on the morning of the recording session. Sitting on a number 715 bus, on his way to meet up with Cliff before they set off for Abbey Road, Ian Samwell had an idea and scribbled down a few words. He also had a bit of a melody running through his head – a bit of a riff, rather than a full melody. It was simple, to the point, and was 100% rock ‘n roll. It wasn’t skiffle, it owed nothing to country ‘n western; it was pure rock ‘n roll and if you’d guessed at the time that if was an Eddie Cochran composition no one would have mocked you.
Within an hour or so both songs were recorded and the guys were all back on their respective buses making their way home. Paramor had a better than half decent cut of Schoolboy Crush and would schedule it for release. He also had a B-side, but that was entirely incidental of course. No one spotted the fact that the first British rock ‘n roll record had in fact been cut that day. One curious fact though is that the guitarists on the session weren’t members of the band. Paramor wasn’t confident of their abilities so he drafted in two session musicians who he knew and trusted. The parts were actually played by guitarist Ernie Shears and bass player Frank Clarke.
It was all happening very fast. Cliff and the band had signed to Columbia on August 9, and Schoolboy Crush was released on the 29th of that month. On September 12 it went into the charts.
On Saturday September 13 something very important happened. Cliff and the guys appeared on Jack Good’s Oh Boy television show – their first time in a TV studio. Jack, was then in his late twenties, knew that rock ‘n roll was the music of the future, and was busy dedicating his life to it. This had already got him fired from the BBC but he had walked straight into the opening arms of the then-infant independent television service, who were doing everything they could to make the BBC look old and staid. And they didn’t need much help in doing that.
Jack heard the band play the B-side and recognised genius. He insisted that Cliff and The Shadows played that song and he raved about it. He was right. From the Monday morning the single was zooming out of the doors of record shops all over Britain. Everybody could now see that Cliff had a huge hit on his hands.
The lyrics of Move It could hardly be simpler; just ten lines. A second verse was planned at the time but no one got round to it at that time, so Cliff signs the one verse twice.
The song opens with that glorious riff, rolling down the stave, which crashes into echoing chords – a bit Duane Eddy, a bit Eddie Cochran – and within seconds Cliff launches straight in with the lyrics; no long, drawn-out intro here. His voice is crystal clear, right on the melody, and nothing if not youthful and vibrant. There’s a hint of waver in his voice, something he would work on in years to come, and more than one vocal reference to Elvis. Every time he pauses the guitar cuts in again. The rhythm is solid, all-purpose rock ‘n roll – with perhaps a hint of rockabilly. Listen to the bass – it’s an electric guitar but it’s been played as it were an upright acoustic instrument, being slapped rather than plucked. That’s the rockabilly touch. It’s the guitar that makes this record really jump though; insistent and exciting. Perfect to dance too; perfect for tapping your fingers on a Formica surface. What teenager could listen to Move It in 1958 and not start … well, moving it?
Twangy and toppy was good for juke boxes and transistor radios too. It ran two minutes and twenty-one seconds and was the perfect juke box choice; an instant classic.
The record didn’t get to number one. It was held off the top spot by, firstly, When by The Kalin Twins, and then by Connie Francis’s Carolina Moon. Still, a number two with his very first release was a remarkable result. No British-born rock ‘n roll singer had got to number one; those rockers who had, Bill Haley, Frankie Lymon, Elvis, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis and The Everly Brothers had all, of course, been American. Tommy Steels and Lonnie Donegan had seen number one hits the previous year but neither of them were really rock ‘n rollers. There wouldn’t be another British teenager at the top of the charts until Adam Faith at the end of 1959, by which time Cliff would have made it to the top with Living Doll.
Cliff and The Shadows started a UK tour on October 5, supporting The Kalin Twins appropriately enough. The Kalins, brothers Herbie and Hal, turned out to be one-hit wonders; they never had another hit of any shape or size and wisely gave it up and went back to College. Cliff brought them back to the stage in the late Seventies by persuading them to sing When at the concert he gave to celebrate his thirtieth year in music – though, in a certain light, that could be seen to have been slightly cruel.
As well as Ian Samwell – who moved over to bass – The Shadows included Bruce Welch on rhythm guitar and Terry Smart on drums. Just before the tour with The Kalin Twins John Foster decided to add another guitarist, to play lead. He really wanted Tony Sheriden but couldn’t find him, so he invited a young Geordie he’d seen playing with The Vipers to join the band. That was Brian Rankin – or Hank Marvin as he was now known. After the tour Ian decided to leave both the band and the business, and Cliff opted immediately for Jet Harris to play rhythm guitar instead. By the end of ’58 Tony Meehan had replaced Terry Smart and the classic Shadows line-up was in place. As well as their hits with Cliff, The Shadows were to have a staggering career as an instrumental band – they saw twenty four top ten hits, of which five went to number one.
Cliff’s career moved away from ‘pure’ rock ‘n roll almost immediately. Whether that was a good thing or not isn’t worth debating, but his next few singles were ballads (though they often had faster, rockier songs on the B-sides). Again following Elvis’s lead he started starring in films. He seemed to be aiming purely at the female market, turning his back on the more testosterone-heavy side of rock. In time this would be defined as the mum’s market. Perhaps it was wise; it did mean that he survived the coming of The Beatles, which meant professional death for so many purist rock ‘n rollers.
Cliff never recorded anything with the sheer raw force of Move It though; the next highlight in that department was Johnny Kidd’s Shakin’ All Over in 1960. He’s not around now though, and of course Cliff is – a pillar of the establishment, a wine connoisseur, a friend of royalty and prime ministers, and possessed of a multi-million pound fortune. Cliff was the first rock star to be knighted. He received the honour in October 1995, well ahead of Elton John, Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger. Sir Cliff has seen more than one hundred and fifty records make the charts in the UK and has sold more than a quarter of a billion records, cassettes and CDs in total. He has had fourteen number one singles in the UK. He has also had a top five hit in each of six consecutive decades – but for many that first, short single, recorded almost as an after-thought, remains just about the very best thing he has ever done.