Cliff Richard: Devil Woman - On Top of the Pops – 1976 (My "Stereo Studio Sound" Re-Edit)

Cliff Richard: Devil Woman - On Top of the Pops – 1976 (My "Stereo Studio Sound" Re-Edit)

"Devil Woman" is a 1976 single by British singer Cliff Richard from his album I'm Nearly Famous.
The song was written by Terry Britten and Christine Authors (who was the singer of the Family Dogg under the name Christine Holmes). The song is told from the point of view of a man jinxed from an encounter with a stray cat with evil eyes, and his discovery that the psychic medium whose help he sought to break the curse was the one responsible for the curse in the first place. However, the nature of the curse is not made clear.

Released in late April 1976, "Devil Woman" rose to number 9 on the singles chart in Richard's native UK in June 1976. It became Richard's first single to reach the Top 20 in the US, making number 6 on the Hot 100, Richard's highest-peaking single and biggest seller in the US. "Devil Woman" is the third biggest-selling Cliff Richard single, with over two million copies sold worldwide. It was certified Gold by the RIAA in the US and the CRIA in Canada.

The musicians featured on the recording are Terry Britten on guitar, Alan Tarney on bass, Clem Cattini on drums, Graham Todd on keyboards, and Tony Rivers, John Perry, and Ken Gold on backing vocals, with string arrangements by Richard Hewson. The song is heavily guitar-driven, with soft-distortion lines doubling the melody in the chorus and long, high, sustained single notes providing atmosphere over the verses. A Rhodes electric piano, bass guitar, drums, and percussion are the only other instruments.