Sir Cliff Richard announces first Christmas album in nearly 20 years

Virgin Radio

6 Sep 2022, 08:12

Sir Cliff Richard has revealed he will be releasing his first Christmas album in nearly two decades.

The singer is behind some of the best-known Christmas songs in the UK, including Mistletoe And Wine, Saviour’s Day and The Millennium Prayer and his last dedicated festive album, Cliff at Christmas, which was released 19 years ago in 2003.

Now he is returning to the game and will be dropping a new record titled Christmas With Cliff on 5th November, complete with 13 tracks comprising of well-known festive classics and some new songs.

Speaking about the album, Sir Cliff said: “I have always loved being in recording studios ever since Studio 2, Abbey Road, in 1958.

“I recorded this album in Criteria Studios in Miami, Florida – 4,427 miles away from Abbey Road – and once again I felt that I was in a world of my own! I had the help of two producers, Sam Hollander and Chris Walden. They guided me through the ‘well known’ Christmas songs and freed me to sing them my way.”

The singer continued: “They had differing approaches to the songs that I asked them to produce for me, and they gave this album the dynamics that I had hoped for.

“This album is not just mine, it belongs to all of us involved in creating it, and I hope that we add a little something special to your Christmas season.”

Christmas With Cliff will feature some classic festive tunes, including It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year, Sleigh Ride, Joy To The World, When A Child Is Born and Jingle Bell Rock. It will also feature some new tracks such as First Christmas, Six Days After Christmas (Happy New Year) and Heart Of Christmas.

It’s fair to say Sir Cliff has had a lot of success with festive songs in the past, with Mistletoe And Wine bagging the all-important Christmas number one slot in 1988 and Saviour’s Day doing the same two years later in 1990 (via Official Charts Company).

Out of the 15 UK number one singles the singer has had, four have achieved the Christmas top spot, including Band Aid II in 1989- which saw Sir Cliff collaborate with the likes of Bananarama, Jason Donovan, Chris Rea, Wet Wet Wet and Kylie Minogue.

Christmas With Cliff comes out on 5th November.