Cliff was born in Cape Town, South Africa, and before arriving in the United Kingdom in 2004, he had spent 25 years directing and conducting congregational and regional choirs all over Southern Africa.  Cliff is employed full-time as Head of Business Development for a major international bank, BNP Paribas - based in London.

Cliff’s involvement in the Nkosi Johnson AIDS Foundation charity in South Africa brought him close to the suffering of children and families who were being devastated by the effect of HIV/AIDS. Cliff’s desire to find a way to help raise money and awareness of their plight is what sparked the idea of forming his first choir in South Africa - the Sandton Choir – this choir  helped raised thousands of life-saving pounds for children’s charities in and around Johannesburg.

To those that know him, it was no surprise when Cliff formed the Elmbridge Choir in 2005 with the mission to create a way for people from all walks of life, regardless of their musical ability, to share their passion for singing with the rest of the world. The choir exists solely to do charity concerts and there is no doubt, listening to and looking  at this group, that every member takes pride and finds pleasure in being instrumental in trying to help those in need around them in this way.

Listening to the choir today, one would be hard pressed to believe that Cliff has no musical training.  It was at the tender age of 13 when he first opened up the cover of the antique Victorian pump-organ that in some strange way had been beckoning at him – normally out of bounds to kids of his age.  In Cliff’s own words “I had waited until the adults were away, and when I opened the cover, there on the music stand was a hymn book, opened at the hymn "Sweet Hour of Prayer". Being from a very poor family, I had never touched a musical instrument before, and my little hand quivered as I started pumping the organ pedals with my feet and pressing my first notes - and attempted to play  Sweet Hour of Prayer. Ten minutes later, when the adults returned from their outing, the cover was closed and the organ was silent - till this day no one ever knew what happened between me and that little pump-organ then!”

Seven years later, when his church choir ended up without a conductor, remembering his encounter with the pump-organ and armed with the memory of his note-less version of Sweet Hour of Prayer Cliff volunteered for the job. He fondly remembers playing "There's Power in the Blood" and "Higher Ground" with one finger, trembling so much that the packed church could have been forgiven for thinking that the organ's Vibrato was set on maximum, and a nervously-tapping left foot that would have “left Fred Astaire in a fit of jealous rage!”

Through the years Cliff did improve however, and people came from far-and-wide to hear their little church choir sing popular hymns such as "Church in the Wildwood" and "Nearer my God to Thee".  In 1981 Cliff conceptualized and present the first ever Choir Festival in South Africa.   This event spread out all over the country and his personal highlight was being director of a mass choir of over 1,800 members in Durban City Hall in September 1986.

Cliff is constantly advancing the choir and in 2009, together with the choir committee, formed the "Elmbridge Community Music Society", a registered charity which consists of 4 musical sections: The Elmbridge Choir which consists of approximately 130 regular members, the Elmbridge Ladies Choir of 104 members, the Elmbridge Community Big Band consisting of around 40 members and the newly integrated Elmbridge Young Musicians (EYM) consisting of around 36 8 to 15 year old musicians.

Both choir repertoires consists mainly of works of a popular nature from across the choral spectrum. The choir performs with professional backing tracks and from 2010 accompanied by the Elmbridge Big Band at some concerts. Their aims are to entertain and ignite the love of music in all who hear them.

contact Cliff

Your Name / Email Address
Security Check. Please enter this code Listen to code