Sir Cliff Richard blames his impressive career for keeping him a bachelor.
The singer says he never found “the one”, despite his legion of admirers.
But the 80-year-old has hinted he is envious of modern musicians who have managed to get married and start a family.
He says he felt this was not allowed by the music industry at the start of his career.
And he feared the pressures of his growing success made it impossible to focus on relationships.
(Image: GC Images)
“I was never going to give up this career that I fought heavily for. Nowadays it doesn’t matter,” he said.
“Gary Barlow’s got a wife and he has children – that’s how it should have been back then, but it wasn’t.”
However, Sir Cliff admits that his need to please his female fans always put pressure on his relationships over the years.
(Image: BBC/Nine Lives Media/Matthew Richards)
He said: “I was dating a girl called Jean, but we came out of the theatre at Finsbury Park Empire, I think it was.
“She sat on my lap in the front of the car and I’m waving at the fans.
“I turned around and they were throwing their programmes on the floor and stamping them in the gutter, and I’m thinking: ‘No, no, no’.”
Sir Cliff, who is the only artist to have UK No 1 singles in five consecutive decades, dated the former tennis star Sue Barker during the 1980s.
And he says he does not think he will get over the police raid on his apartment in Sunningdale, Berks, six years ago. He added: “It’s not something you can wipe from your memory.”
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk