BY LUCY CAULKETT
Amiable Cilla Black is making a hit with fans from beyond the grave, as she closes in on notching up her first top 40 hit in more than forty years. As flowers and tributes continue to mount outside the Cavern club, a sharp rise in sales of the lovable entertainer’s best album and former No 1, ‘Anyone Who Had a Heart’ has been observed. Her loyal fans continue to mourn the British television sweetheart who passed away in Spain last Sunday. Tributes have included toys, cards and newspaper front pages. Her family have since confirmed that she fell as a result of a stroke whilst sunbathing at her villa in Costa del Sol, Spain, and met a death, which some of her close friends say was ominously within her anticipation.
Anyone Who Had a Heart, by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, reached number 59 in the Official Charts, according to a s sale figures on Tuesday.
The song which reached the number 1 spot in 1964 is within touching distance of entering the top 40 . Originally a top 10 hit in the U.S, it is set to attain its highest ranking in 41 years since her other song ‘Baby we can’t go wrong peaked at number 36.
If the track cracks the Top 40 it will be Black’s first UK top 40 entry in 41 years, since 1974’s Baby We Can’t Go Wrong peaked at No 36. Last night, the BBC Radio 2 changed their schedule to pay special tribute to Cilla Black between 10 pm and midnight. Today, the Director of the BBC, Tony Hall, told eye of media ”Cilla Black was a wonderful artist and talented entertainer who brought joy to Millions of artists. She will be deeply missed”
And Black’s ‘Very Best Of retrospective’ dramatically rose from 67 to 25. ITV featured a documentary last night -The one and Only Cilla- which featured footage of some of her good shows, but unfortunately did not include scenes from her epic shows of blind date and Surprise surprise. Black whose humble beginnings in living above a shop house were dramatically transformed by her exploits in British public life was worth £18m at the time she died, and luxuriated in properties from Britain to the Caribbean to Costs del Sol in Spain where she died. We will all miss her dearly. Her death proved that Cilla was a hit when alive, and an even bigger hit from beyond the grave.
