Clifford T. Ward
| Clifford T. Ward | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Clifford Thomas Ward |
| Born |
10 February 1944 Stourport-on-Severn, Worcestershire, England |
| Died | 18 December 2001 (aged 57) Tenbury Wells, Worcestershire, England |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter |
| Years active | 1962–2001 |
Clifford Thomas Ward (10 February 1944 – 18 December 2001) was an English singer-songwriter, best known for his career as a solo artist.
Born in Stourport-on-Severn, Worcestershire, Ward was the fifth child of Kathleen and Frank Ward, a carpet factory worker, and he had one older sister and three older brothers. He was educated at Stourport secondary modern school and King Charles grammar school at Kidderminster. He met his future wife, Pat, at school when she was 13 years old, and he 14. At school he spent some time as a choir boy. They married when he was 17 and she 16, after Pat became pregnant with the first of their four children: Debbie, Martin, Sam and Polly. They initially lived in Castle Road, then Stourbridge Road in Kidderminster, for several years and both were active in raising funds for cerebral palsy, a condition their daughter Debbie had from birth. He was also an English teacher for about a year and a half at North Bromsgrove High School.
In 1962, shortly after leaving school and supporting himself with a series of clerical jobs, Ward formed a beat band Cliff Ward and the Cruisers, which won the 1963 Midland Band of the Year contest in Birmingham. The band was popular in Birmingham and also in demand at American Army bases in France. It was during this time abroad that Ward wrote "Home Thoughts from Abroad" (a song that would later appear on his second solo album and also as the B-side of "Gaye"). In the mid 1960s and after several member changes, the group was renamed Martin Raynor and The Secrets, with Ward in the role of the elusive Raynor. The fictitious name was soon dropped and the band continued on as Raynor's Secrets, and went on to tour around Britain and France, achieving moderate success. Along the way, six singles were recorded by the group (ten of the songs penned by Ward himself), though these made little impact.
In 1968, following the demise of The Secrets, Ward decided he needed to get "a real job", and so spent the following three years at a teacher training college, ultimately finding employment at North Bromsgrove High School, teaching English and drama. One of his pupils was the future wife of Sting, Trudie Styler and Underworld singer Karl Hyde. The children heard singing on Ward's early albums were from North Bromsgrove High School. In his spare time, he continued song writing and recorded his first solo album Singer Songwriter, released in 1972 on Dandelion Records (a label formed by the disc jockey John Peel) just before it went into liquidation. As a result, the album received little media coverage and went largely unnoticed. Signing a new recording contract with Charisma Records, Ward went on to have a hit with the single "Gaye". It sold over a million copies worldwide and reached number 8 in the UK Singles Chart in July 1973.
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