HISTORY OF
CLIFF RICHARD
&
THE SHADOWS
Hank Marvin (voorgrond) met
zijn ouders en broertje design M. Hénaux "Shadowmaniacs"
Bruce Welch met z'n moeder
Hank, Bruce en George Williams vormden samen de schoolband The Railroaders in 1957 en
besloten vanuit Newcastle naar Londen te gaan om het daar te gaan maken in de muziek-business.
Ze gingen naar de Two I's Bar, toen het mekka van de Londense muziekscéne, om deel te nemen
aan een wedstrijd waarin ze als derde eindigden.
Nadat ze besloten nog een nacht in de stad te blijven ontmoetten ze 's anderendaags de manager van Cliff Richard die hen vroeg om Cliff muzikaal te begeleiden
TheDriftersinde"TwoI'sBar".
met Terry Smart en Ian Samwell
The Drifters 2
v.l.n.r. Bruce, Terry Smart, Cliff, Ian Samwell en Hank. Cliff had toen al een hit: "Move It"
Hier in de studio met Norrie Paramor en Ian Samwell
Later sloot ook
Jet Harris en
Tony Meehan zich aan (The Drifters 3)
Omdat Jet Harris de enige was, die oud genoeg was om een contract te tekenen werd hij de leider van de groep. Hij was het die de nieuwe naam The Shadows voor de groep bedacht toen die verplicht werd hun oorspronkelijke naam The Drifters te wijzigen.
Cliff en The Shadows in de studio
tijdens de opname van een single.
Jet Harris was het laatst te horen op het nummer Wonderful Land en verliet de groep in april 1962 na een dispuut op tournee. Samen met Tony Meehan, die de groep al eerder had verlaten, 
nam hij enkele platen op waaronder Daimonds het meest bekend is. Het was de enige nr. 1 hit in Groot-Brittannië waarbij een basgitaar het solo-instrument is.
De opvolger van Tony Meehan was Brian Bennet.
En voor Jet Harris was dit Brian 'Licorice'Locking.
Cliff feliciteerd de nieuwe "aanwinst".
The Shadows 2 is een feit.
The Two I's Bar, waar het allemaal begon.
Cliff Richard
Sir Cliff Richard OBE (born Harry Rodger Webb on 14 October 1940 is an English singer-songwriter, actor and entrepreneur.
With his backing group The Shadows, Richard dominated the British popular music scene in the late 1950s and early 1960s, before and during The Beatles' first year in the charts. A conversion to Christianity and subsequent softening of his music led to his having more of a pop than rock image. 
He never achieved the same impact in the United States despite several chart singles there, but he has remained a popular music, film, and television personality in the United Kingdom and he retains a following in other countries.
During six decades, Cliff Richard has charted many singles, and holds the record (with Elvis Presley) as the only act to make the UK singles charts in all of its decades (1950s–2000s). He alone is the only singer to have had a number one single in the UK in five consecutive decades between the 1950's and the 1990's. If he can chart a single at number one in 2009 he will continue this record to six decades. On the British charts, Richard has had more than 130 singles, albums and EPs make the top 20, more than any other artist. He has sold more than 260 million records.
Harry Webb became lead singer of a rock and roll group, The Drifters (not to be confused with the U.S. group of the same name). Before their first large scale appearance, at the Regal Ballroom in Ripley, Derbyshire, in 1958, they adopted the name "Cliff Richard and the Drifters". The four members were Webb, Ian "Sammy" Samwell on guitar, Terry Smart on drums and Norman Mitham on guitar. None of the other three played with the later and better known Shadows, although Samwell wrote songs for Richard's later career.
For his debut session, Norrie Paramor provided Richard with "Schoolboy Crush", a cover of an American record by Bobby Helms. Richard was permitted to record one of his own songs for the B-side; this was "Move It", written by the Drifters' Samwell on a number 715 Green Line bus on the way to Richard's house for a rehearsal.
There are a number of stories about why the A-side was replaced by the intended B-side. One is that Norrie Paramor's young daughter raved about the B-side; another was that influential TV producer Jack Good, who used the act for his TV show Oh Boy!, wanted the only song on his show to be "Move It".
The single went to No. 2 on the UK charts. Music critics Roy Carr and Tony Tyler wrote that it was the first genuine British rock classic, followed by Johnny Kidd and the Pirates's "Shakin' All Over". John Lennon was quoted as saying that "Move It" was the first English rock record.
In the early days, Cliff Richard was marketed as the British equivalent to Elvis Presley. As did previous British rockers such as Tommy Steele and Marty Wilde, Richard adopted Presley-like dress and hairstyle. In performance he struck a pose of rock attitude, rarely smiling or looking at the audience or camera. His late 1958 and early 1959 follow-up singles, "High Class Baby" and "Livin' Lovin' Doll", were followed by "Mean Streak" which carried a rocker's sense of speed and passion, and Lionel Bart's "Living Doll". It was on "Living Doll" that the Drifters began to back Richard on record. By that time the group's lineup had changed with the arrival of Jet Harris, Tony Meehan, Hank Marvin, and Bruce Welch. The group was obliged to change its name to "The Shadows" after legal complications with the U.S. Drifters.
The Shadows were not a typical backing group. They would become contractually separate from Richard, and the group received no royalties for records backing Richard. In 1959, The Shadows (then still the Drifters) landed an EMI recording contract of their own, for independent recordings. That year, they released three singles, two of which featured double-sided vocals and one of which had instrumental A and B sides. In 1960, they recorded and released "Apache". Reaching the top of the charts in more than one country, the single set the Shadows on a path of their own. They thereafter had several major hits, including five UK No. 1s. The band also continued to appear and record with Richard and wrote many of his hits. On more than one occasion, a Shadows' instrumental replaced a Richard song atop the British charts.
The Shadows
The Shadows are a British instrumental and vocal group from the 1950s to the 2000s.
Formed as a backing band for Cliff Richard, under the name The Drifters. The members were founder Ken Pavey (born 1932), Terry Smart on drums (born 1942), Norman Mitham on guitar (born 1941), Ian Samwell on guitar and Harry Webb (before he became Cliff Richard) on guitar and vocals. The original Drifters had no bass player. Samwell wrote the group's first hit, "Move It" which is often mistakenly attributed to "Cliff Richard and The Shadows". None of the original Drifters were in the group when they became The Shadows.
Shortly after first manager Johnny Foster discovered them, the name was changed to Cliff Richard and The Shadows due to a name clash with the American group The Drifters. They signed for Jack Good's Oh Boy! television series. Producer Norrie Paramor of EMI signed Richard, and asked Johnny Foster to recruit a better guitarist. Foster went back to Soho's 2i coffee bar (famed for musical talent performing there, particularly in skiffle) in search of guitarist Tony Sheridan. Sheridan was not there but Foster's attention was caught by another musician, who was tall, good looking, played guitar well and had Buddy Holly glasses.
Hank Marvin was playing in a skiffle band with Bruce Welch. 
The pair had travelled from Newcastle and were surviving on little money. Foster offered Marvin the job, and he accepted on condition that Welch would also join. New manager Franklin Boyd could see the pair worked well and they were employed as lead and rhythm guitarists. Ian Samwell was moved to bass until he was replaced by the Most Brothers' bass guitarist, Jet Harris. Drummer Terry Smart left shortly afterwards and was replaced at Harris's suggestion by Tony Meehan. The Drifters' professional lineup was now complete, and they became The Shadows in early 1959. Johnny Foster continued for a time as Richard's manager, and Samwell wrote additional songs for The Drifters and The Shadows before writing and producing for others. Meehan recalled that Richard, backed by Marvin, Welch, Harris and himself had played together a year beforehand at least once at the 2i's.
The group started recording and performing with Richard and released two singles in their own right in 1959. ("Feelin' Fine"/"Don't Be A Fool With Love") and ("Jet Black"/"Driftin'"), The first two tracks were vocals and the second pair instrumental. Neither charted. A further (vocal) ("Saturday Dance"/"Lonesome Fella") also failed. The instrumental "Chinchilla" was included on a four-track soundtrack EP by Cliff Richard and the Drifters called Serious Charge released in early 1959 with the film of the same name.
In 1960, the band released "Apache", an instrumental by Jerry Lordan, which topped the charts for 5 weeks. Further hits followed, notably "Wonderful Land", another Lordan composition with orchestral backing, at the top of the charts longer than Apache (8 weeks). This, and "Kon Tiki" six months earlier, reached number one (1 week). The Shadows played on more chart-toppers as Richard's band. This group, referred to subsequently as "The Original Shadows" had seven hits.
In October 1961 Meehan was replaced by Brian Bennett and in April 1962 Harris was replaced by Brian Locking, also known as Licorice. Bennett and Licorice were friends from the 2I's and had all played together. This Shadows line-up produced seven hits, two of which, "Dance On" and "Foot Tapper" topped the charts. The Marvin-Welch-Bennett-Locking line-up lasted 18 months but held its own in the face of Merseybeat, headed by The Beatles. (The first original song ever recorded by the Beatles, somewhat ironically, was an instrumental homage to the Shadows entitled "Cry for a Shadow.")
In October 1963 Locking left to spend more time as a Jehovah's Witness. The band had met John Rostill on tour with other bands and had been impressed by his playing, so they invited him to take over. This final and longest-lasting line-up consolidated innovating as they tried different guitars and developed a wider range of styles and higher musicianship. They produced impressive albums but the chart positions of singles began to ease. The line-up had 10 hits but the most successful, "The Rise and Fall of Flingel Bunt", was also the first.
During the 1960s the group appeared with Richard in the films The Young Ones, Summer Holiday, Wonderful Life, Finders Keepers and as marionettes in the Gerry Anderson film Thunderbirds Are GO. They also appeared on stage in pantomime. Aladdin and his Wonderful Lamp was in 1964 at the London Palladium with Arthur Askey as Widow Twankey, Richard as Aladdin, and The Shadows as Wishee, Washee, Noshee and Poshee. 
Cinderella at the Palladium in 1966 featured Richard as Buttons and The Shadows as the Broker's Men, The film and stage roles allowed the group to develop as songwriters. They wrote only a few songs for the earliest movie, 1961's The Young Ones, but by Finders Keepers in 1966 almost the entire soundtrack was credited to Marvin-Welch-Bennett-Rostill.
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