Cilla Black OBE (born Priscilla Maria Veronica White on 27 May, 1943) is an English singer and television personality. After a successful recording career, she went on to become the highest paid female presenter in British television history. In 2013, Cilla Black celebrates 50 years in show business, as a prelude to this landmark anniversary EMI (the record label which launched her career in 1963) release 'Completely Cilla: 1963-1973' - a 5CD set containing all of her songs produced by George Martin with a bonus DVD of rare BBC TV music performances. Cilla Black was born in Liverpool to a Protestant father and a Catholic mother. ...show more

Cilla Black OBE (born Priscilla Maria Veronica White on 27 May, 1943) is an English singer and television personality. After a successful recording career, she went on to become the highest paid female presenter in British television history. In 2013, Cilla Black celebrates 50 years in show business, as a prelude to this landmark anniversary EMI (the record label which launched her career in 1963) release 'Completely Cilla: 1963-1973' - a 5CD set containing all of her songs produced by George Martin with a bonus DVD of rare BBC TV music performances. Cilla Black was born in Liverpool to a Protestant father and a Catholic mother.

As a child she was encouraged to sing by her family. In the early 1960s, determined to break into show business, she got a part-time job as a cloakroom attendant at the famous Cavern Club in Liverpool, where The Beatles regularly played. Ideally placed to promote herself to local musicians, she impressed the Beatles and others with her talent and began her stage career with impromptu performances at the Cavern. She became a guest singer with Merseybeat bands Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, Kingsize Taylor and the Dominoes, and later The Big Three.

During this period she also worked as a waitress at the Zodiac coffee lounge, where she met her future husband Bobby Willis. Brian Epstein, a former retail manager from a prominent Jewish family on Merseyside, had a stable of artists drawn from the local music scene, headed by the Beatles. Initially, he showed little interest in Cilla, often billed as Swinging Cilla, or Cilla White. She was introduced to Epstein by John Lennon who persuaded him to audition her. ...show less