Cilla Black

I once watched a film about Cilla's life in which, far from being the smiling, friendly girl-next-door, she was portrayed as dominating and manipulative. She cruelly prevented her husband/manager, Bobby Willis, from following his career.

He was a talented singer-songwriter but she effectively scuppered all his attempts to become professional, insisting he concentrate only on her career.

I never knew much about Cilla Black, in fact I didn't even know she was dead but then I'm no music fan.

In the 80s when Cillas career was in the doldrums she was touring the country doing shows. One was in Skegness so I took my mum as she was a Cilla fan. After the show I said lll get her autograph for you so we went to the area and we were told she’d come out soon to see us. There was a handful of people there mostly older ladies. We waited and waited and after a very long time her husband came and said Cilla was too exhausted to sign autographs!! Exhausted from singing in a half empty theatre for an hour. No truth no doubt would have been can’t be bothered with that lot so tell them I’m too tired. She put this act on for the tv audience but in real life was just as the previous poster described. B.A.staff said she was a nightmare to look after as she was so demanding . Her husband was a saint to put up with her.

There was a thread a while ago on Mumsnet regarding famous people and whether any members had met any and were they nice. There were loads of replies and it was an eye-opener, many well-loved celebrities had let their masks slip, and had not been very well-behaved or very nice. Just goes to show, when you are in the public eye, you are always being judged, and being famous shouldn't be an excuse to treat people badly!

Apparently she was agreed to be the most disliked air passenger by flight attendants.

Some of these stars who achieved fame very quickly at a young age seem to live in a bubble of privilege and detach from reality with a mantra of ‘Don’t you know who I am?’ Rod Stewart is a case in point judging by his recent behaviour.

She was a renowned breeder of Briards; that's the only 'bet you didn't know that' information I have about her. I hope she was nice to the dogs.....

Gosh.

Poor Cilla

Only yesterday my daughter told me that Cilla wasn't very nice in real life.........oh dear!

I didn't know any of this, it was more her music I was interested in. Wow.

A friend knew her when they were at college together in Liverpool.
I must say I liked the public persona but my friend's stories were of quite a different personality.

Yet, The Beatles, Paul O'Grady and Frankie Howard all thought the world of her. They all seemed to be close to Cilla. I know Paul McCartney wrote Step Inside Love especially for her show. A song I always liked.

She could have been lovely with her close friends, who knows.

You make good points Fiachna50 and Callistemon I was only thinking earlier that one of her good friends was the late Dale Winton and when he died everybody said what a lovely man he was.

Fiachna50 she wouldn’t have been able to play the ‘big star’ with those though would she as they were ‘bigger’ than her. I never understood how she got where she did, I didn’t like her voice at all! More screeching than singing. Sorry Cilla fans ?

I have to say that I loved "Blind Date" - I associate it with eating dinner on a Saturday in front of the tv

I really liked some of her songs and thought she did Blind Date very well. At times I thought she was a good sport.

Jane - what has Rod Stewart been up to?

Rod has been allegedly took a swipe in New Year’s Eve in Vegas as he was denied access to a previously booked table. Apparantley he just pushed the guy and now he’s claiming he punched him. I’ve got an open mind as he’s my favourite singer. Sorry guys!

Oh, right. Thank you. I forgive him because I'm a fan, too. Tonight's the night!

I loved Blind Date and Surprise Surprise.
I thought she was a good TV host, very entertaining.

Thanks for the info on the programme Fiachna

I think many of the top people in entertainment, especially singers and the like, only get where they do because they are hardnosed, pushy and manipulativ, otherwise they would just get knocked down in the rush.

My parents lived near her and she was disliked locally. Not a nice person at all.

Quite a while ago now I went to a spa resort for a couple of days that had photographs of all their famous guests. I got chatting to one of the beauty therapists and asked who was the nicest famous person they'd met and who was their least favourite. CB and a famous actress from a well known soap opera on tv, (who's still alive) were said to be the guests they dreaded coming in because they were so demanding and rude.

I read her biography and she wasn't a nice person by all accounts, not well liked and very haughty