Sir Cliff Richard

I was lucky enough to work for Cliff in the 80's. My company SGO still administers his music publishing company Patch Music.

This job was my apprenticeship for the music industry. I felt and still feel I became part of a very special family of very good people. One of the things I learnt there was that every song and every songwriter mattered. Songs seemed to be at the centre of everything. Every incoming song submission had to be listened to and responded to. I saw some of Cliff's greatest successes come to him by following this rule ... often from the most unexpected and unestablished quarters. I remember the innocent excitement running through the team when the next potential hit came in.

Cliff, his manager, Peter Gormley and the management team had the courage of their convictions - it didn't seem to matter to them who the writer was or what hits he or she had just written, they were more interested in how good the song was. 260 million record sales says they're right!

Stuart

So it's a big ...