Letter from a ‘Cliffian’

Here’s an interesting letter from reader Darcy Gutierrez-Frederiksen, a Filipina-Swedish based in Stockholm, who is an avid "Cliffian" (as fans of Cliff Richard, who’s coming for a concert at the Araneta Coliseum on Feb. 13, would rather be known):

Dear Ricky,

My name is Darcy Gutierrez-Frederiksen, a Filipina-Swedish living in Stockholm for the last 19 years and a Cliff Richard fan. I read your column in the Internet last month about Sir Cliff and his concert in Manila on Feb. 13. I appreciate your writing about the concert as it may help bring out more Cliffians there. I am also glad and I’ve written to Sir Cliff about this, that he, after many, many years and after bypassing the Philippines during his last world tour, is finally doing this concert.

You seem to be also a Cliffian. I would love to go home just to see his concert but I am already scheduled to go home this coming Easter. Anyway, I’ve already been to his Here and Now Concert tour in Newcastle in Nov. 29,2006. It was my fifth Cliff concert and although I only go once a year, it had been as wonderful and fun as the last four concerts.

I would like to keep your readers up-to-date with the Cliff Richard I and the thousands of Cliffians here in Europe, Asia and Australia know and love. The man is simply amazing, talented (still got the same magnificent voice), youthful-looking (you wouldn’t believe that he turned 66 on Oct. l4 last year), still sexy and a tease.

He loves wriggling his leather-clad behind during concerts and you should hear women, mostly his own age, white-haired, some dragging their long-suffering husbands along, scream in ecstasy like school girls. His concerts are always sold out and fans (especially the hard-core ones) would set up tents outside the Royal Albert Hall weeks before the box-office opens. Sir Cliff is still the record holder when it comes to the number of sold-out concerts in the RAH.

It was my father who introduced me to Cliff at an early age. My mother told me she would come home from work and lull me to sleep listening to Cliff’s music. So when I found out in 2001 that Cliff is still doing concerts and he was coming to Sweden, I bought my first concert ticket. After that, I joined the Cliff Richard Fan Club here and through it I’ve met many Cliff friends from here and abroad and we try to meet during concerts and visit each other’s country whenever possible. I have been to his Celebrity Tennis Christmas Concert in Birmingham, his Midsummer Nights concert in Edinburgh, his TV appearances here in Sweden and lately in Newcastle.

My father, Rene, will, of course, be at the Araneta Coliseum concert and I wrote Sir Cliff that he should sing many of his classic songs like Vision, Constantly, Congratulations, Move It and, from later years, Ocean Deep, Miss You Nights and We Don’t Talk Anymore since his newer songs are not that known down there.

Funny that you mentioned Jose Mari Chan as the Cliff Richard of the Philippines. You see, I didn’t know that but I discovered the similarity in their voices a few years ago. In fact, once I had some Cliff friends over and we were listening to Cliff’s new CD and I played JMC’s song Refrain. They liked it and wondered which Cliff album that was in and they couldn’t believe it wasn’t Cliff.

Lastly, I would like to leave you with some known facts about Cliff, to his fans at least, but perhaps not to his fans in the Philippines:

• He was born Harry Webb in India on Oct. 14, 1940. He moved to the UK when he was seven or eight years old, and had his first hit Move It at 17. The rest is history.

• He owns a wonderful house in Barbados where Tony Blair vacationed last year.

• He also owns a vineyard in the Algarve, in Portugal and produces his own wine called Vida Nova.

• He sold his mansion in Surrey in the UK last year and moved to a smaller place because it has become too big for him and he’s always on the road.

• He’s the oldest of four siblings. He has three younger sisters and he said once that he used to walk his sisters to the kindergarten school and saw to it that he’s home before them to take care of them as his parents were both working.

• He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth of England in 1995, not for his music but for his charitable works.

• He always said that without Elvis Presley, there would never have been a Cliff Richard. Elvis was his idol and he became England’s answer to Elvis back in the ’50s and like Elvis was considered a bad influence to girls because of his hip movements.

• He still treasures his faith, a born-again Christian, thanks to his mentor, the Rev. Billy Graham. He still sings gospel songs.

• The secret of his youthful good looks is simple: He only eats one full meal a day (usually dinner), he takes lots of vitamins, plays lots of tennis and does lots of concerts. He never had plastic surgery. He used botox once but his eyebows fell and that was it.

• He said he’ll still do concerts when he’s 70 or as long as his fans keep coming, he’ll keep on showing.

Finally, although I never had the pleasure of meeting Sir Cliff (yet), he is very kind and accomodating. He signed a CD for my father after his TV appearance in Gothenburg and last June, he sent an autographed picture to my father, wishing him good luck on his retirement. Dad received many presents on his retirement but none like Cliff’s.

Thanks for reading this long letter, Ricky. I’ve been away for 19 years and most of the stars you write about, I don’t even recognize anymore. Well, except for Tito, Vic and Joey.

Very truly yours,

– DARCY G. FREDERIKSEN

Stockholm, Sweden

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