Editing Cliff Richard (section)

===1964–1975: Changing circumstances===
As with the other contemporary rock acts in Britain, Richard's career was affected by the advent of the Beatles and the [[Beat music|Mersey sound]] in 1963 and 1964. He continued to be popular, and have hits in the charts throughout the 1960s, though not at the level that he had enjoyed before. Nor did doors open to him in the US market; he was not considered part of the [[British Invasion]], and despite four Hot 100 hits (including the top 25 "It's All in the Game") between August 1963 and August 1964, the American public had little awareness of him.

Although [[Baptism|baptised]] as an [[Anglican]], Richard did not practise the faith in his early years. In 1964, he became an active [[Evangelicalism|evangelical]] Christian and his faith has become an important aspect of his life. Standing up publicly as an evangelical affected his career in several ways. Initially, he believed that he should quit rock 'n' roll, feeling he could no longer be the rocker who had been called a "crude exhibitionist" and "too sexy for TV". Richard intended at first to "reform his ways" and become a teacher, but evangelical Christian friends advised him not to abandon his career. Soon after, Richard re-emerged, performing with Christian groups and recording some overtly Christian material. He still recorded secular songs with the Shadows, but devoted a lot of his time to Christian based work, including appearances with the [[Billy Graham (evangelist)|Billy Graham]] crusades. As time progressed, Richard balanced his faith and work, enabling him to remain one of the most popular singers in Britain, as well as one of its best-known evangelical Christians.

Richard's 1965 UK No. 12 hit "On My Word" ended a run of 23 consecutive top ten UK hits between "A Voice in the Wilderness" in 1960 to "The Minute You're Gone" in 1965, which, to date, is still a record number of consecutive top ten UK hits for a male artist.<ref name="everyHit.com" /> Richard continued having international hits, including 1967's "The Day I Met Marie", which reached No. 10 in the UK Singles Chart and No. 5 in the [[ARIA Charts|Australian]] charts.

Richard acted in the 1967 film ''[[Two a Penny]]'', released by Billy Graham's [[World Wide Pictures]],<ref>{{Citation|last=Collier|first=James F.|title=Two a Penny|date=14 June 1968|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0140642/|type=Drama, Romance|publisher=World Wide Pictures (WWP)|access-date=31 January 2023}}</ref> in which he played Jamie Hopkins, a young man who gets involved in [[drug dealing]] while questioning his life after his girlfriend changes her attitude. He released the live album ''Cliff in Japan'' in 1967.

In 1968, Richard sang the UK's entry in the [[Eurovision Song Contest]], "[[Congratulations (Cliff Richard song)|Congratulations]]", written and composed by [[Bill Martin (musician)|Bill Martin]] and [[Phil Coulter]]; it finished second, however, by one point to Spain's "[[La La La (Massiel song)|La La La]]" by [[Massiel]]. According to [[John Kennedy O'Connor]]'s ''The Eurovision Song Contest—The Official History'', this was the closest result yet in the contest, and Richard locked himself in the toilet to avoid the nerves of the voting.<ref>O'Connor, John Kennedy. Richard says: Spain is the best of Eurovision Song Contest.</ref> Nevertheless, "Congratulations" was a huge hit throughout Europe and Australia, and yet another UK No. 1 in April 1968.

[[File:Cliff Richard Allan Warren.jpg|thumb|upright|Portrait of Richard by [[Allan Warren]] (1973)]]
After the Shadows split in 1968, Richard continued to record. During the 1970s, Richard took part in several television shows and fronted his own show ''It's Cliff Richard'' from 1970 to 1976. It starred [[Olivia Newton-John]], [[Hank Marvin]] and [[Una Stubbs]], and included ''A Song for Europe''. He began 1970 by appearing live on the [[BBC]]'s review of the sixties music scene, ''[[Pop Go The Sixties]]'', which was broadcast across Britain and Europe on 31 December 1969. He performed "Bachelor Boy" with the Shadows and "Congratulations" solo. In 1972, he made a short BBC television comedy film called ''The Case'' with appearances from comedians and his first ever duets with a woman—Newton-John. He went on to release a double live album, ''Cliff Live in Japan 1972'', which featured Newton-John.

His final acting role on the silver screen to date was in 1973, when he starred in the film ''[[Take Me High]]''.

In 1973, he sang the British Eurovision entry "[[Power to All Our Friends]];" the song finished third, close behind Luxembourg's "{{lang|fr|[[Tu te reconnaîtras]]|i=no}}" by [[Anne-Marie David]] and Spain's "{{lang|es|[[Eres tú]]|i=no}}" by [[Mocedades]]. This time, Richard took [[Diazepam|Valium]] to overcome his nerves, and his manager was almost unable to wake him for the performance.<ref>O'Connor, John Kennedy. ''The Eurovision Song Contest – The Official History''. Carlton Books, UK. 2007. {{ISBN|978-1-84442-994-3}}</ref> Richard also hosted the BBC's qualifying heat for the Eurovision Song Contest, ''[[A Song for Europe]],'' in {{esccnty|United Kingdom|y=1970|t=1970}}, {{esccnty|United Kingdom|y=1971|t=1971}}, and {{esccnty|United Kingdom|y=1972|t=1972}} as part of his BBCTV variety series. He also presented the [[Eurovision Song Contest Previews]] for the BBC in 1971 and 1972.

In 1975, he released the single "[[Honky Tonk Angel (Cliff Richard song)|Honky Tonk Angel]]", produced by Hank Marvin and John Farrar, oblivious to its connotations or hidden meanings. As soon as he was notified that a "honky-tonk angel" was southern US slang for a prostitute, the horrified Richard ordered EMI to withdraw it and refused to promote it, despite making a video for it. EMI agreed to his demand despite the fact the single was expected to sell well. About 1,000 copies are known to exist on vinyl.