What's it All About? Book

Cilla Black's autobiography, What's It All About, named after her signature Burt Bacharach hit, is fascinating for many reasons. One of these is the fact that, hard as it is to believe today, she was once considered to be a cutting-edge musical talent. She shared manager Brian Epstein with the Beatles and the boys even wrote several of her hits, including Love of the Loved. This early part of her career is particularly well evoked here and we are given a very vivid picture of growing up in a bomb-torn Liverpool of the late 40s. The details of the rigidly Catholic background which the singer ultimately broke away from make a very interesting backdrop to the story of Cilla's success, which was achieved against all the odds. As she would be first to admit, it was her ability that had to take her places: she was by no means conventionally pretty. It was the steadily growing stage presence and (most of all) that memorable voice that marked her out from her contemporaries. After the Mersey explosion, which happened as Cilla reached the age of 20, there was a notable lull until she was able to reinvent her career as host to such long-running shows as the sometimes cloying Surprise, Surprise and Blind Date (from which she famously resigned on air). And while these shows, like Cilla herself, have as many detractors as supporters, there's no denying her sheer professionalism and thorough understanding of her audience. Her life, famously, has been blighted by several personal tragedies, and they are dealt with frankly here. What's It All About won't necessarily win Cilla any new friends, but it's a frank and unvarnished account of a remarkable life in show business. --Barry ForshawRead More