Evergreen pop idol Sir Cliff Richard has generated some outstanding nationwide press coverage for Danilo, with the news that his latest calendar is all set to be a bestseller for the 38th year running.
Now 81, Sir Cliff is one of the bestselling music artists of all time, with worldwide record sales of more than £250million, and his 2023 calendar will be adding to the three million+ sold since 1985, outselling Danilo’s licensed offer from the likes of Kylie, Madonna and One Direction.
And stories of this year’s officially-licensed shots – none topless – sporting a snazzy red snake-print blazer, gold tie, leather waistcoat, and embellished jacket have already featured in the Daily Mirror, Daily Mail, Mailonline, Daily Record, Daily Express, Daily Star. It also featured on Lorraine’s ITV morning show reaching its 1.2m viewers, which you can watch below, plus Danilo founder and chairman Laurence Prince had a six-minute interview slot on BBC Radio West Midlands on Wednesday, 17 August.
Having told his fans in 2020 there would be no more shirtless shots, Sir Cliff did relent for the 2022 calendar but has stayed clothed this time for the calendar that’s most requested calendar every year from the danilo.com website.
Sir Cliff consistently has made Danilo’s Top 10 calendar chart for more than 30 years, taking the 2022 top spot ahead of the likes of Elvis in second place, ex-One Direction star Harry Styles, Kylie Minogue, Little Mix, Taylor Swift, Robbie Williams, and Queen.
Laurence told radio show host Paul Franks: “The only other person to really sell big is Elvis, but Cliff is our bestseller. Elvis was our first pop star and the next big pop star after that was Cliff. I’ve worked with Cliff and known Cliff for many, many years.
“Cliff is our mainstay. He’s an absolute gentleman to work with. There’s been a lot made of this story ‘why don’t you appear topless’ – he’s got a great body but decided he’s not a pin-up, people like him for his records, and people will buy him for that, and we like to give style and character to everybody.
“We started out with pop stars as I had the idea to go into pop because I think people at the time were sick of looking at pictures of cows and dogs and everything on their mantlepiece, so that was why I went into all the other things.”
In response to Paul’s questions about who still buys physical calendars, and how Danilo got started on the whole licensed product journey, Laurence explained: “We sell worldwide and the American market is huge as well, so it’s not just a British thing – people love calendars.
“People say, who buys calendars because you’ve got electronic phones with everything on there, you’d be surprised at the amount of calendars that we sell and calendars are sold worldwide. People want to look at things, they don’t want everything on their phones all the time.”
Having told the story of sending a telex to The King’s manager Colonel Tom Parker just after the star’s death in 1977 and meeting him in Los Angeles to clinch his first licensed calendar deal, Laurence gave his thoughts on the new Baz Luhrmann movie Elvis: “The film was brilliant. He was a businessman, he knew what he was doing, he was a firm businessman. He’s characterised in the film a little bit that he was a rogue, that he had a gambling problem, we know that, the film was true. It portrayed him fairly well but I found his dealings were very good and honourable.
“I got to know him quite well – I did say to him at the time was why didn’t Elvis ever tour England and it does come out in the film, I actually knew the story, that he couldn’t leave America with the colonel because the colonel couldn’t get back as he was an illegal immigrant.
“When I went to do the first deal with him, the money was agreed and he wanted $25,000 and the first thing he said was ‘where’s my money’ and I gave him a banker’s draft, and he said ‘no, I want cash’!
“I actually went back to the bank but they didn’t have it, so I went to another bank and came out like a film with $25,000 in $100 bills in a briefcase and went back in a taxi. It was an exciting time and introduced me to that world. He was a hustler, he was a businessman but he started me off, and that’s how the company’s grown to what it is today, from little beginnings. But he’s the only person, not for Cliff or anybody else, I can assure you we don’t deal in cash!”
Ever the canny businessman, Laurence took the opportunity to push the Danilo website, spelling it out as host Paul had mispronounced the company name in his introduction, and that their next big thing is the official Lionesses’ calendar.
Laurence added: “We deal with all the major football clubs, Liverpool, Arsenal, Man Utd, Chelsea, Man City, the lot. And, again, there is no cash – cash used to be king, but these days it’s not.
“We handle all the football clubs and all the top pop stars and we handle all the Disney films, Warner Bros etc, so you’ve really got to look at our website. We try to stay ahead, we do a lot of gaming calendars and different things.”
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