LONDON – Britain’s pop stars are fuming, but that’s not keeping a recording of the Lord’s Prayer off the top of the Billboard charts.
Sir Cliff Richard, an aging pop musician with 14 No. 1 hits dating back to the 1950s, topped the charts again in December with a recording of the Lord’s Prayer set to the music of “Auld Lang Syne.”
The success of the song is surprising because radio stations initially refused to play it and Richard’s recording label turned it down, but Christians have been buying it in droves.
Spice Girls band member Sporty Spice complained that the song was “put together very cheaply, and it’s ripping off fans.”
British singer George Michael, who recently made his homosexuality public, called the song “vile” and added, “Just knowing there was a Christian campaign for it — I think it is so exploitive of people’s religion.”
Richard, whose squeaky clean image has not been soiled by scandal, said, “I have just been astounded by the knives that have come out on a personal level. I am the one who has been dubbed the ‘Nice Boy’ of pop. Suddenly I find myself hated.”
All profits of the song go to charity.
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