What's it All about?

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Cilla Black

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Pages: 320 (Paperback)

ISBN: 0091890357

Pub: Ebury Press

Pub date: 2004-07-01

Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 122758

Editorial Review:

Cilla Black's autobiography, What's It All About, named after her signature Burt Bacharach hit, is fascinating for many reasons. One of these is the fact that, hard as it is to believe today, she was once considered to be a cutting-edge musical talent. She shared manager Brian Epstein with the Beatles and the boys even wrote several of her hits, including Love of the Loved. This early part of her career is particularly well evoked here and we are given a very vivid picture of growing up in a bomb-torn Liverpool of the late 40s.
The details of the rigidly Catholic background which the singer ultimately broke away from make a very interesting backdrop to the story of Cilla's success, which was achieved against all the odds. As she would be first to admit, it was her ability that had to take her places: she was by no means conventionally pretty. It was the steadily growing stage presence and (most of all) that memorable voice that marked her out from her contemporaries. After the Mersey explosion, which happened as Cilla reached the age of 20, there was a notable lull until she was able to reinvent her career as host to such long-running shows as the sometimes cloying Surprise, Surprise and Blind Date (from which she famously resigned on air). And while these shows, like Cilla herself, have as many detractors as supporters, there's no denying her sheer professionalism and thorough understanding of her audience.

Her life, famously, has been blighted by several personal tragedies, and they are dealt with frankly here. What's It All About won't necessarily win Cilla any new friends, but it's a frank and unvarnished account of a remarkable life in show business. --Barry Forshaw

Reader Reviews:

Brilliant!!! (3/3 people found this helpful)

What a great autobiography this really is. Cilla Black has had a truely amazing career in both feilds of music and TV as well as overcoming so much tragedy. This book is a compulsive insight into a truely incrediable life and long lasting success that has earned the great lady much deserved critical aclaim and millions of loyal fans.
Cilla goes into great detail about her childhood, early years in the business, family life, Blind Date, coming of age and the tragic death of her husband Bobby.
This is one bestseller that you'll find hard to put down.

What's it all about????? (5/5 people found this helpful)

This book is a great read, Cilla fan or not, but if you are a Cilla Fan, it's an amazing book. This isn't a book of 'facts' and events that we all knew about anyway, it's an insight into these and other events - seems to be written with a true honesty of Cilla's thoughts and feelings surrounding her life.
No one should miss this one, it's truly a book one hates to have put down because of the rude interruption of life!!! lol. I guarantee it will be something every Cilla fan will read more than once.

Cilla writes with strong convictions (4/5 people found this helpful)

Here we a have a gripping story of a superstar who has had more than her fair share of heartbreak and tragedy in her life.Cilla talks candidly of how her indomitable spirit to succeed and stay at the top has motivated her over the last forty years. At the same time she remains powerfully close to the family and friends that mean so much to her. Cilla is undoubtedly a 'British institution' and it will be very interesting to see how she develops her career now her reign with 'Blind Date' is over. The book charts the importance of people themselves to Cilla, and it is this 'common touch' and skill that should lead her into another fruitful decade at the top. Will she follow Arnold S into the realms of politics: or maybe become a female 'Parky'? Perhaps the singing career will have a renaissance? Certainly in changing times we still need Cilla around.

A refreshing change (6/6 people found this helpful)

I am a great Cilla fan and have found this book very refreshing and honest. The early years of her life especially were written very visual and funny and the early 60's time at the Cavern Club sounded really exiting so full of life with a real buzz. I was left feeling it must have been great to have been involved in that era. Her transition from a pop star to a mother was written with feeling and it came across how important family life was to Cilla.
The book is well written funny and sad at times in fact with more sadness than I imagined her to have had in her life (excluding Bobby of course)
It is well worth reading!!!

An icon of our times-a must to read (10/10 people found this helpful)

A must to read is this book-for all her many fans and more. She is a british institution. and an icon of our times. She has had the stamina to remain on top.She has had good times and bad, and bounced back.
She holds nothing back in the book.It is a sign of her honesty, probably one of the things that has kept her so popular. It is also fascinating to read about the people she mentions before they became stars also. She holds nothing back.
She's been around a long time, and i hope for many more years to come. A loving family woman. A terrific read.

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