Cilla Black

Presenter0:00

This download is the only extract the BBC has of this edition of Desert Island Discs. The presenter was Roy Plumley.

Presenter0:09

You're from Liverpool, so what part of Liverpool?

Cilla Black0:12

Scotland Road. It's very famous really. It's famous for the pubs'cause it's got one on every corner. You couldn't miss it. You know, everybody knows Scotland Road deliverable.

Presenter0:20

Near the river.

Cilla Black0:22

Oh, yes, a b

Cilla Black0:24

Rowed across it, or I've been on a a boat across it many as a time.

Presenter0:28

Mm-hmm.

Presenter0:29

Do you come from a big family, a lot of brothers and sisters?

Cilla Black0:32

Well today people would say it was a big family, but I don't think it's a big family at all. I've got three brothers.

Presenter0:37

Yeah.

Presenter0:38

As a little girl did you hear a lot of music about the hut?

Cilla Black0:41

Oh yes, well having three brothers and they have really three different tastes.

Cilla Black0:46

And uh the eldest brother George, he liked um

Cilla Black0:50

sort of Hank Williams records and things like that, and Frank Sinatra and then my other brother John. He likes traditional jazz and modern jazz.

Cilla Black0:59

'Cause my younger brother he liked gospel and the latest trend of the moment.

Presenter1:03

Mm-hmm.

Cilla Black1:03

And I liked a bit of everything.

Presenter1:05

So you played all that records?

Cilla Black1:06

Oh yeah.

Presenter1:08

Did you have any music lessons?

Cilla Black1:10

No, not really. Only at school. My mother never really paid for any lessons for me.

Presenter1:14

Yeah.

Presenter1:16

Did you have any particular ambition as a schoolgirl?

Cilla Black1:19

Yes, I wanted to be a film star. Well, I think every every schoolgirl wants to be a film star. Yeah. And uh

Cilla Black1:26

Up till the age of fourteen, I really b sincerely believed I was going to be at the Shirley Temple of the North.

Cilla Black1:32

I mean I it was a terrible thing to find out that, you know, I wasn't. So I had to

Cilla Black1:38

put my mind service to it and then I went to commercial school and became a cloctypist.

Presenter1:43

Mhm. In what kind of office?

Cilla Black1:46

It was a cable manufacturer.

Cilla Black1:49

I stayed there for f well, it was my first job and I stayed there for nearly four years.

Presenter1:53

Hm, until you became a professional singer, in fact.

Cilla Black1:56

Yeah.

Presenter1:57

When did you first sing in public?

Cilla Black2:00

Um when at the age of sixteen

Cilla Black2:02

Uh I used to go around with a lot of girlfriends and we'd go to all these clubs and we got friendly with the boys and one night uh one member of a group came down from the stage and passed me a hand mic to sing, just for a giggle. He didn't know I sang, so I said, Well, all right, mate, I'll show you and I just continued where he left off and it all happened from there. I joined another group.

Presenter2:26

Yes. Whi which groups did you sing with?

Cilla Black2:29

Um, the big three.

Cilla Black2:31

and another group called King Size Tale and the Dominoes. But I had to leave them because those groups were going to Hamburg, because it was very popular.

Cilla Black2:40

at that time. And my parents wouldn't let me go to Hamburg'cause I was too young.

Presenter2:44

Yeah.

Presenter2:45

Were you paid for this or was this just for fun?

Cilla Black2:49

Well, the first night was just for fun, but then later on I got down to some serious thinking.

Cilla Black2:55

and was paid very handsomely thirty bob a night.

Presenter2:57

Yes. In addition to what you were making as a clock type.

Cilla Black3:00

Oh yeah.

Presenter3:01

Which other groups did you see with?

Cilla Black3:03

I've sung with The Beatles, not permanently, I wasn't their permanent girl singer, but I did do a spot of singing with The Beatles, Joan and the Pacemakers, The Foremost, and many other Liverpool groups, which are very famous.

Presenter3:15

But

Presenter3:17

Oh, you were working as a typist by day and and singing every evening. What did your parents think about this? You were working a very long day.

Cilla Black3:24

Yes, but I was young and healthy. Skinny, too, but ha ha They didn't really mind anything for my you know, my own good. They believed in me.

Presenter3:34

What was the big thing that happened that enabled you to stop being a typist and be a full-time singer?

Cilla Black3:41

Oh, one night I went to uh the Blue Angel Club in Liverpool.

Cilla Black3:45

And um

Cilla Black3:47

It was one of the batter clubs, you know.

Cilla Black3:50

The group there wasn't a rhythm and blues group, it was a modern jazz group.

Cilla Black3:54

and they asked me to get up to sing. So I got up and did a number, and when I came back to my seat

Cilla Black4:00

Who should be there but Brian Epstein, and he came right over to me. He'd already got the Beatles on the map by this time.

Cilla Black4:08

And he said, Sullah,

Cilla Black4:09

I have an idea and from then on I knew, you know, everything was going to happen.

Presenter4:14

He put you under contract.

Cilla Black4:15

Yeah.

Presenter4:16

Scylla Black isn't your real name. Is it did he change it?

Cilla Black4:20

No, no, it was a misprint in the paper.

Cilla Black4:23

Very bad mistake, really,'cause I would have liked to have still a wife.

Presenter4:27

Mm.

Cilla Black4:27

But it couldn't be helped. Everybody knew me as Sulla Black and that was it.

Presenter4:32

Yeah.

Presenter4:33

Or what next, or first record? Was that a success?

Cilla Black4:36

Uh well, it was a big success to me, but not to other people. It went to number twenty five.

Cilla Black4:43

in the chart and then drop

Presenter4:45

but big enough for you to be able to go out on the road doing one night's dance.

Cilla Black4:50

Oh yes. I did my first tour with Jerry and the Pacemaker.

Presenter4:53

all over the country.

Cilla Black4:54

Yes, yes.

Cilla Black4:56

It was marvellous really, because I widened my geography knowledge, especially Carlisle.

Cilla Black5:02

I didn't know, I thought I was in the Chester area and found out it was on the way to Scotland.

Presenter5:07

You thought that journey was going on rather a long time.

Cilla Black5:10

Yeah.

Presenter5:12

And then came your very big record that took took you to number one in the chart.

Cilla Black5:16

Oh yeah.

Presenter5:18

Anyone who had a heart.

Cilla Black5:20

'Cause it was uh my first record to get to number one and I was so pleased, you know, because everybody told me that girl's a failure in show business.

Presenter5:29

Their records held how many zero.

Cilla Black5:32

Uh eight hundred thousand copies.

Presenter5:34

Hmm.

Cilla Black5:35

In England.

Presenter5:36

And you were the first girl to be number one for how long?

Cilla Black5:40

Two years.

Presenter5:41

Yes.

Presenter5:42

But that record wasn't really an original one, was it? In other words, it was pretty well a copy of one that had been made in America.

Cilla Black5:49

Oh, yes. Well, I wouldn't say a coffee really. Um, I did

Cilla Black5:53

My version of Deion Morrick's Anyone Who Had a Heart, and recorded it here because it was so beautiful, you know. The song was.

Presenter6:00

Yeah, this

Cilla Black6:01

Very pretty, and the moment I heard it, you know, I just had to record it.

Presenter6:06

Well since then you've been number one again, and this time with an original number.

Cilla Black6:10

Uh well, uh original here. It was an Italian one, but never did anything at all in Italy, but I just fell in love it.

Cilla Black6:18

on first hearing I had to do it.

Presenter6:20

Mm.

Cilla Black6:22

You're my world, El Mio Mondo.

Presenter6:25

And now straight into the palladium, where all the big stars of the world entertain. Were you coached intensively for this?

Presenter6:32

Great big event, because you hadn't been in show business very long when you opened at the palladium, had you?

Cilla Black6:36

No. Nine months, or even it might have been eight months.

Cilla Black6:41

Now I taught myself really. I watched really professional artists work. I went to a lot of nightclubs in London and I did go to the playroom before I actually played it myself. And I was sitting in the audience and I was terrified.

Cilla Black6:57

'Cause I thought if I've got to go on stage I I'm just going to die.

Cilla Black7:01

You know,'cause it's a terrible feeling sitting in the audience and looking at somebody else's work.

Presenter7:07

So now who are your fans? Are they boys or girls?

Presenter7:10

What age are they? Do you know, have you any clear picture of

Presenter7:13

A fan group?

Cilla Black7:14

Well, before I recorded Anyone Who Had a Heart, all my fans were teenagers, and most of them were girls anyway. They are mostly girls now.

Cilla Black7:23

But uh since I recorded anyone who had a heart,

Cilla Black7:26

I found that I'd got a lot of it older.

Cilla Black7:28

fans and to the other extreme the younger children, you know.

Presenter7:33

Hmm.

Cilla Black7:33

It's Marvels. I've got the best of both words actually. I'm very pleased.

Presenter7:37

Well, after your present show, what are you going to do?

Cilla Black7:40

Well, I'm going to have a holiday in Jamaica.

Cilla Black7:42

That's an island, isn't it?

Presenter7:43

That's not a

Cilla Black7:44

Yes, marvellous. And then I'm going to take out my own tour. I will be toffing the bill for the first time. Gosh.

Presenter7:52

Landed.

Presenter7:53

Do you want to open up your career by acting as well?

Cilla Black7:58

I'd like to try. I I did a part in, um, Joan the Pacemaker film not so long ago.

Cilla Black8:04

And I hated the singing bit because it was like doing a television only ten hours longer, very long hours doing film work. But I loved the acting bit, it was great.