Sir Cliff Richard, the evergreen singer, recorded his first hit, Move It, in 1958. It is considered the first authentic British rock 'n' roll single and it is at the heart of the controversy over the length of copyright for recorded music.

Move It will be the first of Sir Cliff's catalogue to fall into the public domain, meaning he will no longer be paid for the song, which he did not write. The prospect has made the singer a campaigner on the subject.

Three years ago, Sir Cliff made a submission to the European Commission in which he described himself as “an active and successful recording artist and performer”. He has recorded more than 1,000 songs in a career few could have expected to last five decades when it began. Sir Cliff, well known for his Christian beliefs, said that he had been told that his songs “could even be used in pornographic films and there's not a thing I could do about it”.

His campaign ran into trouble amid a row about his decision to lend his home in Barbados to Tony Blair for three annual holidays from 2003. According to documents obtained by The Sunday Times, the then Prime Minister raised the copyright issue at a meeting of Labour's National Executive Commitee in 2005. There was no evidence that Sir Cliff had lobbied Mr Blair and the singer said that “my very raison d'être is not to do anything like that”.

Sir Cliff has a fortune estimated at £40million after racking up 14 No1s, the most by a British solo artist. That list started with Living Doll in 1959 and includes Summer Holiday in 1963, Congratulations in 1968 and, 40 years after his first chart-topper, Millennium Prayer.

The sight of rich artists asking for more in a copyright campaign with which Sir Cliff is strongly associated did not endear him to Andrew Gowers, the former editor of the Financial Times, who was asked by Gordon Brown to launch a review of the subject. Mr Gowers was specifically told during his review to disregard any influence that he thought the Barbados holidays might have had on the outcome.

Sir Cliff was born as Harry Rodger Webb in India in 1940. The new name was chosen in 1958 when his recording career began as the frontman for Cliff Richard and The Drifters, the band's name later being changed to The Shadows.

Move It hit No2 in August 1959, from when Sir Cliff enjoyed the peak of his career until the early 1960s, when The Beatles took over.

But Sir Cliff endured, yet he believes that because he did not indulge in drugs, drink or sex he has never had the recognition that he deserved for being “the most radical rock star there has ever been”.

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