Abbey Road Studios. Just the mention of that name gets the heart racing, at least for those who know what it is. If you’ve no idea what I’m on about let me enlighten you. Abbey Road Studios began life way back in 1931 and was for many years the domain of EMI Music. Among the many great names that have graced that famous building are Glenn Miller, Cliff Richard (more of that later), Pink Floyd and in 2005 Kanye West jetted over from the U.S.A. to record a live session there.
Of course the biggest name that goes hand in hand with Abbey Road is The Beatles who even have an album named after the road itself. I’m sure the iconic picture of them in the middle of the pedestrian crossing has had more views than the Mona Lisa. In fact the crossing itself was given a Grade II listing back in 2010 as a result of the many fans and tourists who flock there day after day. Anyway… here endeth the history lesson and time to get back to Cliff.
Way back in 1983 Dave and I were under contract to Bruce Welch (yes he of the Shadows) as writers and in our catalogue of material we had a song called ‘Back in Vaudeville’ which unbeknown to us Bruce had played to Cliff and apparently it had been very well received. So lo and behold we found ourselves in - wait for it - Abbey Road Studios working on the music for that very song. We really did have to pinch ourselves! Sadly Cliff didn’t record the vocal until a later date so we missed the chance to see him perform it but luckily all was not lost as I was given the task of laying down the guitar parts. No pressure then!
The 7” single (remember those?) came out shortly afterwards but as fate would have it the record only got released in mainland Europe and not in the UK which obviously would have been a huge big feather in our cap. It was a shame but as they say up in Newcastle... c'est la vie!
To end on a positive note, should you fancy a trip down Memory Lane you can listen to that very recording right here: https://kadiummusic.com/videos#back-in-vaudeville
Keith.
More photos here: https://kadiummusic.com/galleries/907944/abbey-road