HE would go on to win the hearts of the nation – but only Bobby Willis won hers.
It was while working as a waitress in a Liverpool café that 17-year-old Cilla first laid eyes on the man who would become the love of her life.
She recalled: “Like it or not, resist it or not, we both sensed that whatever else was going to happen in our lives we were meant for each other, and we’d only be truly happy when we were together.”
And happy they were for four decades until Bobby died in 1999.
From that 1961 meeting at the Zodiac coffee bar, the pair built a showbiz legend, travelled the world, raised three sons and survived the tragic loss of their baby daughter.
But their union did not have the smoothest start.
He was eager to impress and wasn’t entirely truthful about his roots.
He convinced Cilla, who died last week aged 72, he was 21, drove his own car and that his family owned a bakery chain. He was 19, worked in the bakery at Woolworths and had hired the car for that night.
But Cilla gave him another chance, revealing: “Despite the very rocky beginning . . . he couldn’t do any wrong in my eyes.”
Bobby became Cilla’s driver, roadie and later her manager, although they had to keep their relationship from original manager Brian Epstein, who feared his young star’s image would be damaged if her fans knew she had a steady boyfriend.
In order to ensure Cilla’s rise to the top, Bobby sacrificed his own budding singing career.
Also a talented songwriter, he dutifully turned down record deals to devote his time to his partner.
She said: “When it came to Bobby, yes, I gave him an ultimatum. I said, ‘There’s only room for one ego here and I’ve got it’. He sounded like Johnny Mathis. He was a better singer than I was, but he couldn’t do it on stage.”
In a candid interview, Cilla admitted if they had both tried to forge a singing career: “We’d have gone our separate ways. I’m convinced of that.”
But she never forgot Bobby’s sacrifice, describing it as “the most romantic thing he could have done”.
In an interview last year their eldest son, Robert, 44 — known as Bobby Jr — said: “My father always made sure she was happy and well looked after, never looking for the limelight himself.
Day 1: The tragedies that haunted Cilla
Day 2: From council flat to mansions
“She could be broadcasting to millions but she’d look just off camera and there he’d be, making sure everything ran smoothly.”
Bobby was fiercely protective of his girl. He’d been a champion boxer at school and wasn’t afraid to throw a punch if he felt another man was taking advantage.
As she began to rack up No 1s she was offered residencies at London theatres, including the Palladium.
She left behind her beloved Liverpool and moved south with Bobby.
It wasn’t until 1969 that they made the partnership official.
For her wedding, Cilla wore a two-year-old red velvet dress she’d bought for £8 and took up the hem. She had a bouquet of anemones as they wed at a register office on January 25, Bobby’s 27th birthday.
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét