Veteran British entertainer Cilla Black blames the music venue she worked in as a teenager for wrecking her hearing.

Black worked as a coat check girl at the infamous Cavern Club in Liverpool, England in the 1960s, where The Beatles made their name.

The singer/Tv presenter has now revealed she uses a hearing aid because she struggles to make out a conversation, and she believes the sound levels at the nightclub are to blame.

She tells Britain's Mail on Sunday newspaper, "I blame the Cavern. All those years in a place with no proper acoustics, I think it may have done some damage. It's no fun getting older. I might be wearing beautiful diamond earrings but they can't take away the pain of losing my hearing.

"I think it's been a gradual thing... I didn't actually realise how bad it had got until I was with a friend in Barbados and I said to her, 'Why are you whispering?' She said to me, 'Cilla, I am not whispering, it is you who has a hearing problem'."

She adds, "It's rock 'n' roll that has done my hearing in. I went to the Cool Britannia party at 10 Downing Street (in June, 2014) and a well-known rocker came up to me and said something and I said, 'I can't hear you.' He replied, 'I can't hear either.' He pointed out his hearing aid and told me to get one."