Cliff Richard turned Australian man sober

Stan Skinner was a drunk when he walked into a Cliff Richard concert 30 years ago, but by the end of the show he was determined to turn his life around. Now with three decades of sobriety under his belt, the 58-year-old is about to celebrate his life-changing milestone at a concert of his idol in Brisbane this week.

Mr Skinner, of Mareeba, is the first person to admit that alcohol brought out the worst in him and he cannot wait to mark his triumph at the Final Reunion of Cliff Richard and his original band, The Shadows.



"I came out of that first concert and I knew that drinking was not for me," he said. "Cliff Richard saved my life." Before Mr Skinner’s turnaround at that concert in 1980, he was not even a Cliff Richard fan.

"But when he walked on stage at that first concert and started to sing, it was electric. He doesn’t need drugs to get on stage and he manages to have everyone from young people to 80-year-olds up in the aisles singing and dancing – it’s brilliant."



Not only did Cliff Richard and his stage presence help Mr Skinner stay away from the bottle but he also passed on a few words of wisdom the Far Northerner continues to live by.

"I met him once," he said. "I had written him a letter and told him my story and he remembered me. He asked me if I was still off the grog and I told him I was. He then told me, ‘help one person every day of your life and it will be worthwhile’, and I’ve never forgotten it."