23 November 2023 , 14:29
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He has criticised punk and Elvis in recent days – and now Cliff Richard has taken a swipe at Adele.
The Congratulations singer has claimed he's "not a fan" and also had a pop at her for postponing her Las Vegas residency at the 11th hour last year. It comes after Sir Cliff, 83, admitted he thought The Beatles would be a flop when he first heard them and dismissed punk as "a racket".
He was also in bother earlier this week after an appearance on This Morning to plug his new book A Head Full of Music in which he said he turned down the chance to meet his idol Elvis because he didn't want a picture of him while he was overweight.
Cliff Richard said he didn't want a photo with Elvis because he was overweight during an appearance on This Morning (Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)When it comes to Adele, he said he loved the song Rolling In The Deep but not her cover version because he believes Aretha Franklin sang it better. He said: "Aretha had made it her own. She unleashed that incredible octave range on Rolling in the Deep and completely reimagined it. Aretha’s singing style is totally different from Adele’s.
"I guess I shouldn’t say that her version is better than the original, but what I can safely say is that I enjoy it more, due to a couple of beautiful high notes Aretha threw in. Let’s face it, her voice has forever struck a chord deep inside of me. It always will. I’d like to sing Rolling in the Deep one day. I think it’s a great rock and roll song.
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Cliff has taken a swipe at Adele, saying he's 'not a fan' (Getty Images for AD)"I’d love to record it in Nashville, with the band I use there. We’d keep the melody, of course, but work out a new arrangement that would suit my voice. If we do it, maybe not everyone will like it... but I will! I first heard Adele, like everybody else, when her debut album, 19, was hitting Number One and breaking sales records in 2008. I quite liked it without thinking it was extraordinary.
"It’s one of those instances where I can see that somebody is very good, and talented, but at the same time, I’m not a fan. I’ll never deny that Adele has a good voice. I’ve never heard her sing a bum note. But I grew up listening to Ella Fitzgerald, Etta James and Aretha, and Adele just doesn’t do it for me in the way that they did."
In his book, A Head Full Of Music, Cliff also had a go at Adele for pulling the plug on her Sin City shows in the States last year. Fans were sympathetic about her decision on the whole, but Cliff was not impressed. He moaned: "While we’re talking about Adele, I was perplexed, at the start of 2022, when she postponed a Las Vegas residency the day before it was due to begin.
"She said that she wasn’t happy with the staging of the show, and she didn’t feel able to go ahead with it until it was completely right. Well, I don’t get that. How could she only realise the day before the show?! When I go on tour, I rehearse for weeks beforehand. I talk with the sound guys, the lighting guys, the staging guys – everybody.
"My next tour is eight months away, as I write, and I’m planning it now! I get everything nailed down in advance. I thought Adele pulling the dates so late must have been a big disappointment for her fans, who’d not only paid for tickets, but probably also shelled out for flights and booked time off work.
"But she offered refunds for tickets and for accommodation at the venue, Caesars Palace, and the show got great reviews when it went ahead. I guess that’s what matters". Earlier this week it was reported that squeaky-clean Cliff had slated punk rock as "rubbish!"
He said: "Most of the punk bands were just a racket. For me, they hardly even qualified as music." The Young Ones hit-maker also said he thought The Beatles were "dreadful" and "horrible" when he first heard them. He said he told pals in his backing group The Shadows: "This sounds like a band who will always be playing their local church." Meanwhile, Cliff has also said he is hoping for a biopic to made about his life, just like pal Sir Elton John.
He added: "In 2019, I went to the cinema to see the official biopic of Elton’s life, Rocketman. I thought it was great, and the young guy who played Elton, Taron Egerton, was terrific. I only had one issue with it, and it was the same one as with the Freddie Mercury film and the Elvis movie: Why don’t they use the original music?
"In all of those movies, the actor who played the lead role was fine, but when they came to sing the songs, they didn’t sound like Elton, or Freddie, or Elvis. I mean, how could they? They are three of the most legendary singers in rock and roll history.
"You can’t expect an actor to just open their mouth and reproduce what they did. I can understand actors in a stage musical singing their lines, but films are forever. If it’s a movie, they should mime to the original vocals.
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"If they ever film the Cliff Richard movie – and it would be quite a story, what with one thing and another – I will insist that they do that. I don’t want anybody else singing Move It for me!"
A Head Full Of Music by Cliff Richard is published by Ebury Spotlight and out now.