Cliff Richard's new album out soon

Cliff Richard said the album Rise Up, due out on Nov 23, reflects the "bad period" he had been through. PHOTO: REUTERS

LONDON • Cliff Richard announced on Wednesday that he will release his first album of new material in 14 years, a month after the veteran British pop star won a landmark privacy case.

Richard, 77, said the album Rise Up, due out on Nov 23, reflects the "bad period" he had been through.

He won damages from the BBC after it broadcast live footage, including sweeping helicopter shots, of a 2014 police raid on his home as detectives investigated an allegation of sexual assault dating to the 1980s.

The singer was never arrested or charged with any offence and England's High Court found his rights had been seriously infringed in a sensationalist fashion.

Britain's first home-grown pop star announced the new 16-track album 60 years to the day after his first single, Move It, was released on Aug 29, 1958.

"I chose Rise Up as the title track because after the bad period I went through in my life, I've managed to 'rise up' out of what seemed like a quagmire," he told journalists at Abbey Road Studios in London.

"I love the lyric 'They're never gonna break me down, they're never gonna take me down'.

"It is always great to sing lyrics you can 'feel' - and I really felt those words."

Richard said the record could be a "revival" for him.

"Give me a chance, that is all we can ask," he said.

The album has him reuniting with Grease (1978) actress and singer Olivia Newton-John for the first time in nearly 24 years, on the track Everybody's Someone, after duetting on Had To Be in 1995.

Richard is the third biggest-selling artist in British singles chart history, behind The Beatles and Elvis Presley. His hits include The Young Ones, Living Doll, Summer Holiday, Mistletoe And Wine and The Millennium Prayer.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on August 31, 2018, with the headline Cliff Richard's new album out soon. Subscribe