NOW, I Can Learn About Her

I agree with your comments, althogh Petula Clark was before any of them (rather than a lot later). And one can't forget Sandie Shaw! All of them fine British singers with individual qualities.

I grew up in the USA in the 60's and I beg to differ. I recall Cilla being a pretty big thing. When the British Invasion hit over here she was huge.

She was more successful as a celebrity .That didn't make her a better singer.

I had to laugh at the part where Cilla is appearing on Ed Sullivan show and introduced her as being from "Wales in England". Did he really say that?

And no doubt why there has been a series about Cilla and not Pet Clark, nor Dusty ! (or Sandie Shaw / Lulu )
Always liked Cilla on her variety shows, went to quite a few at Shepherds Bush TV Theatre and TV Centre in the 70's :-)

I was born in 1955, and when I was 10 or so Cilla was extremely popular here in the UK (together with Lulu and Sandie Shaw). Petula Clark was much older (my Dad loved her!).

Dusty Springfield had the superior voice and she is the one I listen to nowadays, but Cilla's popularity in the mid-sixties cannot be downplayed.




Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain.

I think the bias may actually be yours.

She had one very successful year with two very good songs. However, your comment about the relative merits of Dusty and Petula is rather like suggesting how wonderful Ken Dodd was because he outsold the Beatles in 1965. Do you know he was the third biggest seller of records in the 60s ?

as an example did you know that despite singing a single Alfie the film producers decided to have Millicent Martin on the UK film release and Cher for the US release ? Her musical career had hit something of the doldrums by 1967 which she blamed on Brian Epstein ! Funny when you consider how well he was doing with other artists.

So her move to TV was an attempt (successful) to revitalise her career that was not doing so well. So Surprise Surprise and Blind Date were her salvation.

Just to show that it isn't only my 'bias' this is the write up on her box set Completely Cilla...

'Cilla Black wasn’t a natural singer when the Beatles’ manager, Brian Epstein, discovered her, and while she learned the ropes well enough and developed into a strong ballad singer, she was never a serious threat to Dusty Springfield in the talent department. But the pop world isn’t really about pure talent as much as it is a matter of timing, luck, having the right look, and maybe most of all, good material and good production. Black had all of those things going for her in the early ’60s, and since her producer throughout the decade was none other than George Martin, her signature body of work between 1963 and 1973, the period covered by this lavish box set (released in advance of Black’s 50th anniversary as a performer in 2013), holds up pretty well all these years later. Not bad for a onetime hatcheck girl at the Cavern Club — out of all Epstein’s Liverpool acts, which also included Gerry & the Pacemakers and Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas, she trailed only the Beatles in total record sales.'