Cliff Richard and his famous backing band, The Shadows, celebrate a landmark anniversary today. Sixty years ago, on October 17th, 1959, Cliff Richard and The Shadows hit the No. 1 spot in the UK with 'Travellin' Light'. This was the first single credited to Cliff Richard and The Shadows – renamed from their original title - The Drifters. The American Drifters had got there first, so a new moniker was required, thus, The Shadows were born, at the suggestion of bassist Jet Harris during a band meeting at the Six Bells pub in Ruislip! This notable anniversary will be marked with a brand-new album: CLIFF RICHARD and THE SHADOWS: The Best of The Rock 'n' Roll Pioneers is a 2CD collection which focuses, for the first time, solely on Cliff's output with The Shadows (or The Drifters for pre-October '59 releases). All seven No. 1 singles and a further sixteen Top 10 hits are included. Their effortlessly slick combination of Bruce Welch's rhythm guitar and Hank Marvin's elegant, pioneering lead guitar licks were an inspiration. Roy Wood, of The Move, once described the Shadows as "the cleanest sound I'd ever heard, like it had been dipped in Dettol". Other notable musicians inspired by The Shadows include Brian May, Eric Clapton, Peter Frampton, David Gilmour, Pete Townsend and Tony Iommi. For the fans, the combination of Cliff and The Shadows was the ultimate: "before Cliff and the Shads, there was no Rock 'n' Roll (in the UK)" said Grammy Award winning White Stripes engineer, Liam Watson during an interview with The Guardian in 2009. That piece was written by journalist, musician and fan Bob Stanley, who has written the sleeve notes for this album, where he reminds us of the seismic musical and cultural impact Cliff and The Shadows had in the late 50's and early 60's. "It takes 50 years to get as good as we are," joked Cliff during their 2009 reunion tour. Listen to this album and be reminded that this band was not just good: they were awesome - from the off.