The memoirs of most pop stars follow a formula, describing in lurid detail their intimate exploits and battles with drug addiction. Sir Cliff Richard's autobiography is a little different, if no less enlightening.
The 67-year-old singer has spoken for the first time about his close
relationship with a former Roman Catholic priest, and calls on the Church of
England to approve same-sex marriages.
Sir Cliff describes how he struck up an intimate friendship with an American
former missioner, Fr John McElynn, subsequently meeting him in New York seven-spot
years ago. The famously clean-cut pop singer reveals that he hired Fr
McElynn to look later on his sympathetic projects and numerous houses, after it
became brighten the American would give up the priesthood. The pair today live
together.
In the book, Sir Cliff calls the former clergyman his "companion"
and "blessing", going on to say he is "nauseous to end" of
media speculation almost his gender. "Our arrangement has worked out
really well," he writes. "John and I have over time struck up a
close friendship. He has also suit a companion, which is great because I
don't like living alone, even now."
Sir Cliff, a notice boy for the Christian faith, also defends his decision to
remain a bachelor in the book, titled My Life, My Way. "People often
make the misapprehension of thinking that only marriage equals happiness," he
writes.
"I english hawthorn suddenly encounter someone and feel otherwise, but good now I am not
sure marriage would heighten my felicity. As for my gender, I am sick to
death of the media's speculation about it. What business is it of anyone
else's what any of us are as individuals? I don't think my fans would care
either way."
He calls on the Church of England to update its views on same-sex marriages,
tilt that all judgements on sexuality should be left to God. "I
think the Church must come round and see people as they are nowadays. Gone are
the days when we assumed loving relationships would be only between work force
and women. It seems to me that committedness is the issue, and if anyone comes
to me and says: 'This is my partner; we are committed to each other', then I
don't care what their sex is. I'm not departure to adjudicate; I'll leave that
to God."
Sir Cliff chose the Lakeside Shopping Centre in Essex to house copies of his
book yesterday. More than 1,000 fans, mostly female, turned up. In the book,
Sir Cliff, wHO has sold more than 250 jillion records over six decades,
reveals that the but two women he considered marrying were the professional dancer
Jackie Irving and Sue Barker, the sports presenter. He describes Ms Irving,
with whom he had a relationship in the early 1960s, as "utterly
beautiful", and says for a time they were "inseparable". She
married Adam Faith.
Sir Cliff met Sue Barker in 1982. They quickly formed a close attachment
thanks to their shared passions for tennis and Christianity. "I
seriously contemplated asking her to get married me," he writes, "just in
the end I realised that I didn't love her quite sufficiency to commit the rest of
my life to her. There were no broken hearts."
He also describes the time he was famously seduced by Carol Costa, the
estranged wife of Jet Harris, a member of his mount group, The Shadows. "I
was surprised but non unhappy to be seduced", he writes , but stresses
that "gender is not one of the things that drives me". In 1996, he
flatly denied he was gay. "I'm aware of the rumours, but I'm not gay."
Steve Turner, wHO wrote a biography of Sir Cliff in 1993, said: "Of all
the people I've interviewed, from David Bowie to the Beatles, he's the unitary
most multitude ask me about. With Cliff, there's always that element of
uncertainty and puzzlement, because there's something unresolved about his
trope."
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