Cliff Richard opens up about his retirement plans and reveals exactly how he’d like to bow out

Sir Cliff Richard in concert. Picture: Getty Images

Sir Cliff Richard hints at how he’ll hang up his microphone.

Sir Cliff Richard was one of Britain’s very first rockers, and while so many of his contemporaries and successors have called it a day, he’s till going strong.

Cliff released his last album Cliff with Strings – My Kinda Life in 2023 and later this year will play the six-date Can’t Stop Me Now tour in the UK.

When it comes to retirement, Sir Cliff has shared his thoughts on when and how he might finally hang up his microphone – as well as speculating as to why some of his peers have retired and then un-retired.

“Artists have finished, and then they make four comebacks,” Sir Cliff told Woman’s Weekly (as quoted by the Daily Express).

“And every time I hear of a comeback, I think. ‘They’ve run out of money!’.

Cliff Richard – The Millennium Prayer (60th Anniversary Tour, Manchester, 12 Oct 2018)

He added: “And I don’t want people to say that about me. I would rather stop. I don’t have to announce, ‘Oh, I’ve stopped’.

“I can just wait a couple of years, maybe… retire for two years but don’t tell anybody and book the Albert Hall two years beforehand.”

Speaking of the Royal Albert Hall, Sir Cliff’s upcoming 2025 UK tour – which follows his 85th birthday – closes with two shows at the iconic London venue.