Cliff to Critics: Stuff Them All

FOR a week now, Sir Cliff Richard has been turning the other cheek.
While George Michael branded his No 1 record Millennium Prayer "vile" and Mel C called it "a complete pile of s**t", devout Christian Sir Cliff has soaked up the hurt in stoic silence.
But today, in an exclusive interview with The Mirror, the veteran star rounds on his celebrity critics and a cruel pop industry which has made him an outcast.
"Stuff them all," says Sir Cliff. "I really wanted to avoid a slanging match with George Michael and Sporty Spice. "But I'll say this much. In criticising Millennium Prayer, they've made a big mistake. And if people are not big enough to admit they've made an error, then that's fine by me.
"If I started calling them names, I would make the same mistake as them.
"I'm not sure that they realise that every penny from the sales of Millennium Prayer is going to the Children's Promise charity. It would be sad if they had a problem with that."
Sir Cliff reveals that when George launched his astonishing attack last week, it shocked him so much he was plunged into a deep depression. Superstar Michael labelled Sir Cliff's hit a "heinous piece of music".
Sir Cliff says: "It hit me like a body blow. It left me feeling very, very low. Then Sporty Spice gets in on the act. "What hurts me so much with these people slamming me is that it is so painful to know it is all coming from my own industry. From people I would regard as colleagues and fellow artists.
"I have been true to pop-rock throughout my career. But this last week has made me realise that maybe singers and musicians aren't all one big unit.
"I'm a big boy, I'll get over it - but I won't pretend that I am not very hurt by some of the things people have said about me."
We are chatting in the hospitality suite of Birmingham's National Indoor Arena where Sir Cliff is rehearsing for a 10-day concert run which began last night. Sunday's show will be screened tomorrow on Sky Box Office. More than 100,000 tickets have already been sold and the 12,000-capacity venue's officials were confident yesterday that by the time Cliff struts on to the stage for the first show, every one will be a sell-out. It is a tremendous testament to his enduring popularity with the fans he says the music industry does not want to know.
Nearly a million people have bought Millennium Prayer - and Sir Cliff confides he'll be "hysterical" if he manages to hold on to the No 1 slot over Christmas and the New Year.
HE IS proud of his fans, especially the famous "blue rinse brigade" who have followed him throughout his remarkable 41-year career.
He says: "My fans aren't all middle- aged or old - they are all ages. But in terms of the people that are middle-aged and old, I am proud to call them fans. "It seems to me that the record industry conveniently ignores the people of middle England because it only wants to sell records to their children.
"Fine - I'll take middle England because it's quite clear that they can still put a record to No 1." Sir Cliff is wearing white jeans, a mottled leather jacket and training shoes.
He is pencil-slim and his famous Peter Pan looks show no signs of fading - even though he is on a course of antibiotics to battle a fierce throat infection.
He takes another sip of bottled water and declares: "All this criticism of me and my record has to be ageism. They say I am too old, they say my fans are too old, they won't play my records.
"Well, here I am at 60 - and I'm No 1. So, stuff them all. "Rock and roll music has got nothing to do with age or religious beliefs. I'm not trying to change the world. I'm just a pop singer. So I find it really disturbing that all these people are having a go at me. I have never heard of an artist who gets to No 1 and then gets slagged off by others. I don't understand their motives. What are their motives?"
George Michael, Sporty Spice, DJs and critics alike are all united in their hatred of Sir Cliff's rendition of The Lord's Prayer set to the tune of Auld Lang Syne. More seriously from his point of view is the fact that major stations such as Radio One and even middle-of-the-road Radio Two have refused to put Millennium Prayer on their regular playlists.
"Every story has its villains," he says. "The people who think they have the right to control what people listen to are the villains of this story.
"In the first week Millennium Prayer was released, I got 85 air plays all over the country. Eighty-five! Last week I got 1,500 air plays - a fantastic improvement. But Robbie Williams got 8,000 air plays and he is only at No 8. Something is very wrong here.
"What is happening is that I am effectively being cut out of the race.
IN THE end, pop music is only really about people going into record shops and choosing which one they want to buy.
"One week they might buy mine, the next week they might buy George Michael's and the week after that they might buy Sporty Spice.
"How do we get them interested in our records? By having them played on the radio.
"Rock and roll music and the radio have always been synonymous. But now some people seem to have decided that I am too old to be on the radio. Well, I'm not going away.
"I certainly don't want to crow about Millennium Prayer but I had a gut instinct that it was a hit record and I think I have been proved right.
"But boy, have I had to work to get it there!"
If Sir Cliff does hold off his main challengers Westlife for the festive No 1 slot, it will be the fifth time he has been at the top of the charts for Christmas.
Over his career he has achieved 14 chart-toppers. But he admits that if he makes it for the millennium, it will be really special.
"Of course, I hope I'm No 1 at Christmas. If I make it, I'll be hysterical. But even if I don't, I have achieved all this by six weeks of solid hard work. It's the reason I've lost my voice.
"It has been a really stressful time and I don't want to work like this. But I am not going away."
Defending Millennium Prayer is old ground for Sir Cliff who has been pounding the streets taking his message to the people since his record was released.
But he still bristles at all the criticism.
He says: "I thought that the idea for Millennium Prayer was one of the most brilliant ever presented to me in my career.
"It is really nothing more than a collection of positive thoughts for the millennium - that we are fed, that we are kept away from evil and that we are more forgiving at this special time. I think that's why people have responded to it. But then people say it is controversial. What is so controversial about it?
"To find Millennium Prayer controversial, it seems to me you would have to be an absolute devil worshipper." EVEN though his record label EMI refused to release the single, Sir Cliff went to a smaller label and got it out anyway. And yesterday he made it clear that this could be a blueprint for his future: "I don't intend to make records that don't get heard.
"So I am going to re-evaluate how I record, when I record and how I promote my music to the public. I am going to have to find a way. I don't know what it is but some people seem to be annoyed that I am still successful. "I still get to the top of the charts and I still sell out concert halls.
"And while I am the first to admit that my instincts can be wrong sometimes, I am not without a little satisfaction that all the people who said that Millennium Prayer would turn out to be a disaster have been proved wrong. "I still love what I do, I know there are a lot of people out there who love what I do."
As far as Sir Cliff is concerned, it boils down to this: If George, Sporty and the gang think he is going away, then quite simply they haven't got a Millennium Prayer.