Sir Cliff Richard, 84, concedes ‘I might be dead next year’ as singer makes stark retirement confession
Sir Cliff Richard has admitted he “might be dead next year” as the 84-year-old singer revealed he will probably have to quit touring soon.
Speaking to New Zealand radio station Coast ahead of his Can’t Stop Me Now tour, Richard acknowledged the physical toll of performing.
“The thing I would have to give up probably at some time is touring,” he candidly conceded.
“It’s very wearing, and you never know when you wake up in the morning whether your voice is still there,” he told the station.
When asked if his upcoming tour could be a farewell tour, Richard was undecided. “I don’t know,” he admitted.
“I might be dead (in) the next year! So I don’t even think about it anymore. It’s one of those things. As I get older, maybe I’ll become less able to perform, so I can’t say…”
The singer, known as the Peter Pan of Pop, expressed concerns about maintaining his famous dance moves at his age. “I don’t want to be an 85-year-old guy trying to be 18,” he said.
Richard revealed he hopes to perform a routine with two backing singers to his 1962 hit Do You Want To Dance? but acknowledged uncertainty about whether it would be possible.
“I used to move around a heck of a lot, and there was a period when I would get four girl dancers, four guy dancers, and I used to dance with them,” he explained.
Despite scaling back his movements, Richard remains enthusiastic about performing. “I like singing now, I’m as excited now as I was when I came [to New Zealand] last time,” he said.
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Richard’s comments mark a shift from his previous stance on retirement. In 2022, he told The Mirror: “I don’t know if I ever want to retire. I don’t mind stopping.”
He went on to explain that “retiring is not in my vocabulary, but stopping is good for me – I can work whenever I want to, if I want to.”
The singer, who has sold more than 260 million records worldwide, previously expressed hopes of performing into his 90s.
His upcoming Can’t Stop Me Now tour will include performances in Australia and New Zealand before returning to the UK in November, a month after he turns 85.
Richard remains the only artist to have achieved a top five album in eight different decades. His career spans over 65 years, with 67 UK top ten singles and 14 UK number ones.
Richard’s Can’t Stop Me Now tour will include two dates at the Royal Albert Hall, where he holds a record for performing 32 dates in two batches. The tour begins in Australia and New Zealand before returning to the UK in November.
“I’m sure the audience will see that we – the big band and I – are friends and almost a family when we’re on tour,” Richard told Coast radio. “So we’ll try and do something that will make it look as though I’m 18! But I’m not.”
The singer, who turns 85 in October, has previously performed at the Royal Albert Hall on over 100 occasions during his career.
Despite his concerns about mortality and the physical demands of touring, Richard maintains his excitement about the upcoming performances.