54 Facts About Cilla Black

Priscilla Maria Veronica White, better known as Cilla Black, was an English singer and television presenter.

Cilla Black had 11 top 10 hits on the UK Singles Chart between then and 1971, and an additional eight hits that made the top 40.

Cilla Black died on 1 August 2015 at the age of 72, after a fall in her holiday villa in Estepona, a town in Spain.

The day after her funeral, the compilation album The Very Best of Cilla Black went to number one on the UK Albums Chart and the New Zealand Albums Chart; it was her first number one album.

In 2017, a statue of Cilla Black commissioned by her sons was unveiled outside the Cavern Club's original entrance.

Cilla Black grew up in the Scotland Road area of Vauxhall.

Cilla Black's maternal grandfather, Joseph Henry Blythen, was born to Irish parents in the Welsh town of Wrexham; all of Black's other great-grandparents were Irish.

Cilla Black was raised in a Roman Catholic household, and attended St Anthony's School in Scotland Road.

Cilla Black later attended Anfield Commercial College, where she learned office skills.

Cilla Black was encouraged to begin singing by a Liverpool promoter Sam Leach, who booked her first gig at the Zodiac Club on Duke Street, where she appeared as Swinging Cilla, backed by the Big Three.

Cilla Black later became a guest singer with the Merseybeat bands Rory Storm and the Hurricanes and Kingsize Taylor and the Dominoes.

Cilla Black was featured in an article in the first edition of the local music newspaper Mersey Beat by the paper's publisher, Bill Harry, who mistakenly referred to her as "Cilla Black" rather than her real name.

Cilla Black signed her first contract with longtime friend and neighbour Terry McCann, but this contract was never honoured as it was made when she was underage and her father subsequently signed her with Brian Epstein.

Cilla Black was introduced to Epstein by John Lennon, who persuaded him to audition her.

Cilla Black's first audition was a failure, partly because of nerves, and partly because the Beatles played the songs in their usual vocal key rather than re-pitching them for Black's voice.

Cilla Black's second UK No 1 success, "You're My World", was an English-language rendition of the Italian popular song "Il Mio Mondo" by composer Umberto Bindi.

Cilla Black enjoyed chart success with the song in America, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, South Africa and Canada.

Paul McCartney played piano at the recording session and the song proved to be another success for Cilla Black, peaking at No 7 on the UK charts.

Cilla Black belonged to a generation of British female singers which included Dusty Springfield, Helen Shapiro, Petula Clark, Sandie Shaw, Marianne Faithfull and Lulu.

Cilla Black recorded much material during this time, including songs written by Phil Spector, Tim Hardin and Burt Bacharach.

The single wasn't critically well received, however; the Rolling Stones' manager Andrew Loog Oldham took out an advert in the Melody Maker to deride Cilla Black's efforts compared with the original.

Cilla Black recognised that to achieve popular status in the USA she would need to devote much time to touring there.

In 1966 Cilla Black recorded the Bacharach-David song "Alfie", written as the signature song to the 1966 feature film of the same name.

Bacharach insisted on 31 separate takes, and Cilla Black cited the session as one of the most demanding of her recording career.

Epstein died of an accidental drug overdose in August 1967, not long after negotiating a contract with the BBC for Cilla Black to appear in a television series of her own.

However, Cilla Black refused on the basis that Sandie Shaw had won the previous year's contest, and that the chances of another British female artist winning were few.

Cilla Black had a further big hit with "Something Tells Me " in 1971.

Cilla Black holidayed with Harrison and Starr on a trip aboard a yacht chartered by Starr.

Cilla Black was part of an all-Scouse cast assembled in this three-hour stage spectacular to mark the end of Liverpool's year as European Capital of Culture.

Cilla Black received rave reviews for her singing and overall performance.

Cilla Black was the best-selling British female recording artist in the UK during the 1960s, releasing a total of 15 studio albums and 37 singles.

On 14 February 2020, a previously unreleased Cilla Black track titled "You're Sensational" was released via Warner Music.

Cilla Black was offered her own show on the BBC by Bill Cotton, then assistant head of light entertainment.

Cotton considered Cilla Black to take over from Bruce Forsyth as host of The Generation Game in 1978, but after a brief conversation, Cotton learned that Cilla Black wanted to maintain her singing career and was not ready to change course so drastically to light entertainment hostess.

On 15 January 1975 Cilla Black performed as the main entertainer of the first of six half-hour situation comedy plays.

Cilla Black sang the Gracie Fields song Walter, Walter on The Green Tie on the Little Yellow Dog, which was recorded in 1982, and broadcast by Channel 4 in 1983.

Cilla Black presented Cilla Black's Christmas, performing a comedy-duet with Frankie Howerd.

Cilla Black presented the game show The Moment of Truth.

Cilla Black was a judge on the first series of the reality TV series Soapstar Superstar, featured in an episode of the series Eating with.

In 2006, Cilla Black took part in the BBC Wales programme Coming Home about her Welsh family history, with roots in Wrexham and Holywell.

In 2008 Cilla Black recorded a pilot for the Sky 1 dating show Loveland.

In October 2009 Cilla Black guest-anchored Loose Women and on 28 November 2009 appeared on Sky 1 to present TV's Greatest Endings.

Cilla Black paid homage to Blind Date with the return of its most popular contestants and saw her star in a special edition of Coronation Street.

In 2014, Black was the subject of a three-part television drama series, Cilla, focusing especially on her rise to fame in 1960s Liverpool and her relationship with Bobby Willis.

However, in a 2004 interview with The Guardian, Cilla Black said that she was "apolitical".

Cilla Black married her manager, Bobby Willis, at Marylebone Town Hall in January 1969; they were married for 30 years until he died from cancer on 23 October 1999.

On 1 August 2015, at the age of 72, Cilla Black died at her holiday home in the Spanish town of Estepona.

Cilla Black had been suffering with rheumatoid arthritis for years and was in "considerable agony" towards the end of her life.

Cilla Black was buried in a private ceremony at Allerton Cemetery in Allerton on the same day.

Cilla Black's headstone has been the target of vandalism on several occasions.

In 2015, thieves stole a bronze plaque inscribed with her name from the site, and in 2020, Cilla Black's gravestone was vandalised with graffiti.

Cilla Black was appointed OBE for services to entertainment in the 1997 New Year Honours.

In 2014, Cilla Black was the recipient of the British Academy Television Awards' Special Award and the first Royal Television Society Legends Award in honour of her 50 years in entertainment.

In 2017, a statue of Cilla Black commissioned by her sons was unveiled outside the Cavern Club's original entrance as the venue celebrated its 60th anniversary.