David Richard

"Romance" is David Cassidy's 7th studio album as a solo artist and his first released by Arista Records. Released in 1985, Romance was the only studio album Cassidy released during the 1980s. Since growing out of his teen idol fame from The Partridge Family, Cassidy continued to try to re-invent his music career; however, in the United States, his latter albums from the 1970s did not chart. Therefore, for the album Romance, Arista excluded a U.S. release and released the album only in Europe, Israel, Japan, South Africa and Australia. Romance hit #20 on the British charts in May 1985. George Michael sang on the song, "The Last Kiss" (originally recorded with different lyrics by Cliff Richard in 1981 as Young Love), which peaked at #6 in the UK Top 40 and charted all over Europe and in Australia.

Cliff Richard has utilized a lot of guises and personae as a performer '50s rock 'n' roller, '60s pop/rock vocalist, Christian musician, '70s rock vocalist, and, since the 1980s, a general U.K. entertainment institution, with a knighthood. But how many listeners ever thought of him as a singer/songwriter? The 31st of February was only ever issued in England, and is built on the work of Cliff Richard as a singer/songwriter. He was never known for his composing during the 1960s, and he proves amazingly good at it here; perhaps he was in the same boat as George Harrison, having stockpiled a brace of excellent original songs that just weren't appropriate for use in his earlier situation, but whatever their chronological origins, the original songs, mixed with some well-chosen outside compositions, make The 31st of February a bit stronger than his solo albums of the late 1960s and early 1970s.