Introduction:
Today, Carol Costa—known to the world as Cliff Richard’s first love—finally lifts the veil on a chapter of her life she kept hidden for more than two decades. She tells her story with warmth, humor, and a touch of nostalgia, recalling a time when a young Cliff, just 20 years old and still answering to the name Harry Webb, would rush to her home, knock at her door, and call up to her window with a teenage eagerness that now feels like something from another world. Carol still laughs when she remembers how she’d greet him in her curlers, a commonplace sight in those days, and how none of the glamour associated with stardom had yet touched their youthful simplicity.
Carol believes now that she genuinely expected to become “Lady Richard” one day, and though the idea makes her smile, the feeling back then was real. Cliff spoke of a shared future, of homes they might buy, and of a life they might build together. He made her believe, she says, that theirs was a love with permanence.
They first crossed paths in 1958, backstage at the Tisvic Empire in London. Carol had been accompanying her younger sister to a concert when Jet Harris noticed her and brought her to meet the rising young singer, still a newcomer fronting the Drifters. Cliff, shy but charming, made an immediate impression. Though he later summarized the relationship briefly in a biography—suggesting it had been little more than youthful infatuation—Carol remembers something far deeper: kindness, protection, and sincerity.
The early days of Cliff’s fame were overwhelming. Screaming fans, crowded venues, and sudden celebrity made it difficult for him to know who truly cared for him. But Carol insists he always remained thoughtful and gentle with her. She recalls how he would visit her grandmother in the hospital wearing dark glasses so he wouldn’t draw attention, or how they would spend quiet afternoons together at his family home in Hertfordshire.
Their story shifted course in June 1959, when Carol married Jet Harris. The marriage was short-lived; after discovering his infidelity, she ended it with heartbreak. Cliff called her, not out of jealousy, but out of concern. He wanted to make sure she was all right—something Jet, she says, failed to do.
Even as Cliff began dominating the charts—supported by the Shadows, reshaping British pop, and starring in beloved films like Summer Holiday—Carol held onto memories of the young man who once rode beside her in a bright red American car, singing along to the radio and dreaming aloud about the future.
Other relationships would come and go for Cliff, including his meaningful connection with Australian performer Diā Wicks, whose recently discovered letter revealed his internal struggle between personal affection and an all-consuming music career. But these stories, like Carol’s, show the human side of an artist who always seemed driven by something larger than life.
Today, at 84, Cliff continues to perform with the same energy that defined his youth. And for those who knew him in the earliest days—like Carol, Jet Harris, and the musicians who traveled alongside him—the memories remain vivid, tender, and forever tied to the rise of one of Britain’s most enduring musical legends.