Petula Clark
Petula Sally Olwen Clark,
CBE (born
November 15 1932), is an
English singer,
actress and
composer, best known for her upbeat popular international hits of the 1960s. With nearly 70 million recordings sold worldwide, she is the most successful British solo recording artist to date. She also holds the distinction of having the longest span on the international pop charts of any artist—51 years—from
1954, when "The Little Shoemaker" made the UK Top Twenty, through
2005, when her CD "L'essentiel - 20 Succès Inoubliables" charted in
Belgium.
Petula Clark was born in
Epsom,
Surrey. Her father, Leslie Clark, coined her first name, jokingly alleging it was a combination of the names of two former girlfriends, Pet and Ulla. Clark became a star of radio and film before reaching her early teens. As a child, she sang in the church choir; her first public performances were in a department store in suburban
London, where she sang with an orchestra in the entrance hall for sweets and a gold wristwatch. In October
1942, she made her radio debut while attending a
BBC broadcast with her father, hoping to send a message to an uncle stationed overseas. During an air raid, the producer requested that someone perform to settle the jittery audience, and Clark volunteered a rendition of "Mighty Lak a Rose" to an enthusiastic response in the theater. She then repeated her performance for the broadcast audience, launching a series of some 500 appearances in programs designed to entertain the troops. In addition to her radio work, Clark frequently toured the UK with fellow child performer
Julie Andrews. She became known as "Britain's
Shirley Temple" and was considered a mascot by both the
RAF and the
United States Army, whose troops plastered her photos on their tanks for good luck as they advanced into battle.
 |
With Sid Field in the film London Town, 1946 |
In 1944 at the age of 11 while performing at London's
Royal Albert Hall, Clark was discovered by film director
Maurice Elvey, who cast her as an orphaned waif in his weepy war drama
Medal for the General. In quick succession, she starred in
Strawberry Roan, I Know Where I'm Going, London Town, and
Here Come the Huggetts, the first in a series of Huggett Family films similar to the
Andy Hardy movies popular in the States. Although most of the films she made in the UK during the 1940s and '50s were grade-B, she did have the opportunity to work with
Anthony Newley in
Vice Versa (directed by
Peter Ustinov) and
Alec Guinness in
The Card, considered by many to be a minor classic of British cinema.
In the late 1940s, Clark branched into recording with her first release, a cover of
Teresa Brewer's "
Music! Music! Music!," in
Australia. Her father, whose own theatrical ambitions had been thwarted by his parents, teamed with
Alan A. Freeman to form their own label,
Polygon Records, in order to better control her singing career. She scored a number of major hits in the U.K. during the 1950s, including "
The Little Shoemaker" (
1954), "
Majorca" (
1955), "
Suddenly There's a Valley" (
1955) and "
With All My Heart" (
1956). In 1956 she performed the song
Wibbly Wobbly Moon in the Festival of Popular British Songs, a competition that had been intended to select the UK entry for the 1956 Eurovision Song Contest. However, the BBC withdrew. Petula did not win!
In 1958, Clark was invited to appear at the famed
Olympia in
Paris where, despite her misgivings, she was received with great acclaim. The following day she was summoned to the offices of
Vogue Records to discuss a contract. It was there that she first met publicist
Claude Woolf, to whom she was immediately attracted, and when told he would work with her if she signed with the label, she immediately agreed. Her initial French recordings were huge successes, and in 1960, she embarked on a concert tour of
France and
Belgium with French star
Sacha Distel, who remained a close friend until his death in
2004. Gradually she moved further into the continent, recording in German, French, Italian and Spanish, and firmly establishing herself as a multi-lingual performer.
In June 1961, Clark married Woolf, first in a civil ceremony in Paris, then a religious one in her native England. Desiring to escape the strictures of child stardom imposed upon her by the British public, and anxious to escape the influence of her
Svengali-like father, she relocated to France, where she and Woolf had two daughters in quick succession, Barbara Michelle and Katherine Natalie, and later a son, Patrick, who was born in
1972. While she focused on her new career in France, she continued to achieve hit records in the U.K. into the early 1960s, thus developing a parallel career on both sides of the Channel. Her recording of "Sailor" became her first #1 hit in the U.K. in
1961, while such follow-up recordings as "Romeo" and "My Friend the Sea" landed her in the British Top Ten later that year. In addition to 1961's "Romeo", an international hit, such French recordings as "Ya Ya Twist" (a cover of the
Lee Dorsey rhythm and blues song, "Ya Ya") and "Chariet" (the original version of "I Will Follow Him") became smash hits in France in
1962, while German and Italian versions of her English and French recordings charted, as well. Her recordings of several
Serge Gainsbourg songs were also big sellers.
In 1963 and '64, Clark's British career foundered. Composer/arranger
Tony Hatch, who had been assisting her with her work for both Vogue in France and
Pye Records in the
UK, flew to Paris with new material he hoped would interest her, but she found none of it appealing. Desperate, he played for her a few chords of an incomplete song that had been inspired by a recent first trip to
New York City, which he intended to present to
The Drifters. Upon hearing the music, Clark told him that if he could write lyrics as good as the melody, she wanted to record the tune as her next single. Thus "
Downtown" came into being.
|
Clark's 1968 album Portrait of Petula |
Neither Clark nor Hatch realized the impact the song would have on their respective careers. Released in four different languages in late
1964, "Downtown" was a huge success in the UK, France (in both English and French versions),
Netherlands,
Germany,
Australia,
Italy, and even
Rhodesia and
India. During a visit to the Vogue offices in Paris,
Warner Brothers executive Joe Smith heard it and immediately acquired the rights for distribution in the States. "Downtown" went to #1 on the US charts in January
1965 and ultimately sold three million copies in America alone. It was the first of fifteen consecutive Top 40 hits Clark scored in the US, including "
I Know a Place", "
My Love", "
A Sign of the Times", "
I Couldn't Live Without Your Love", "
Colour My World", "
This Is My Song" (from the
Charles Chaplin film
A Countess from Hong Kong), and "
Don't Sleep in the Subway." The American recording industry honored her with
Grammy Awards for "Best Rock & Roll Record" for "Downtown" in 1964 and for "Best Contemporary Female Vocal Performance" for "I Know a Place" in 1965. In 2003, her recording of "Downtown" was inducted into the
Grammy Hall of Fame.
In 1964, Clark wrote the musical score for the French crime caper
A Couteaux Tirés (aka
Daggers Drawn) and played a cameo as herself in the movie. Although it was only a mild success, it added a new dimension - that of film composer - to Clark's already impressive career.
|
Ad for the NBC-TV special that sparked controversy even before it aired |
Clark's recording successes lead to frequent appearances on variety programs hosted by
Ed Sullivan and
Dean Martin, guest shots on
Hullabaloo, Shindig, and
The Hollywood Palace, and inclusion in musical specials such as
The Best on Record and
Rodgers and Hart Today.In
1968,
NBC invited her to host her own special, and in doing so she inadvertently made television history. During a duet of an anti-war song she had composed, "On the Path of Glory," with guest
Harry Belafonte, Clark innocently touched his arm, much to the dismay of a representative from
Chrysler, the show's sponsor, who feared the brief moment would offend Southern viewers at a time when racial conflict was still a major issue in the US. When he insisted they substitute a different take, with Clark and Belafonte standing well away from each other, she and husband Woolf, producer of the show, refused and delivered the finished program to
NBC with the touch intact. It aired to high ratings and much critical acclaim, and marked the first time a man and woman of different races touched on American television.
Clark subsequently hosted two more specials, another for NBC and one for
ABC, which served as a pilot for a projected weekly series. She eventually declined the offer in order to appease her children, who disliked living in
Los Angeles.
|
Clark's 1970 album Memphis |
Throughout the 1960s and '70s, Clark toured in concert extensively throughout the States, and often appeared in supper clubs such as the famed
Copacabana in New York City, the Ambassador Grove in Los Angeles, and the Empire Room at the
Waldorf-Astoria hotel, where she consistently broke house attendance records. During this period, she also appeared in print and radio ads for
Coca Cola, television commercials for
Plymouth, print and TV spots for
Burlington Industries in the US, television and print ads for Chrysler Sunbeam, and print ads for Sanderson Wallpaper in the U.K.
Clark revived her film career in the late 1960s, starring in two big musical films:
Finian's Rainbow (
1968) opposite
Fred Astaire (for which she was nominated for a Best Actress
Golden Globe Award), and
Goodbye, Mr. Chips (
1969) with
Peter O'Toole. (Her last film to date was the British production
Never Never Land, released in
1980.) After this, her output of hits in the States diminished markedly, although she continued to record and make television appearances into the 1970s. By the mid-1970s, she scaled back her career in order to devote more time to her family.
Herb Alpert and his
A&M record label benefitted from Clark's interest in encouraging new talent. In 1968, she brought French composer/arranger
Michel Colombier to the States to work as her musical director and introduced him to Alpert. (He went on to co-write
Purple Rain with
Prince, composed the acclaimed pop symphony
Wings, and a number of soundtracks for American films.) Richard Carpenter publicly has credited her with bringing him and his sister to Alpert's attention when they performed at a premiere party for her film "Goodbye, Mr. Chips."
In 1954, Clark had starred in a stage production of
The Constant Nymph, but it wasn't until 1981, at the urging of her children, that she returned to legitimate theater, starring as
Maria von Trapp in
The Sound of Music in London's
West End. Opening to rave reviews and what was then the largest advance sale in British theater history, Clark extended her initial six-month run to thirteen to accommodate the huge demand for tickets. In
1983, she took on the title role in
George Bernard Shaw's
Candida. Later stage work includes
Someone Like You in
1989 and
1990, for which she composed the score;
Blood Brothers, in which she made her Broadway debut in
1993, followed by the US tour; and Andrew,
Lord Lloyd Webber's
Sunset Boulevard, appearing in both the West End and U.S. touring productions from
1995 through
2000. In
2004, she repeated her performance of
Norma Desmond in a production at the
Cork Opera House in the
Republic of Ireland, which was later broadcast by the
BBC. With more than 2500 performances, she has played the role more often than any other actress.
In both
1998 and
2002, Clark toured extensively throughout the U.K. In 2004, she toured Australia and
New Zealand, appeared in sell-out performances at the Hilton in
Atlantic City, the Hummingbird Centre in
Toronto, Humphrey's in
San Diego, and the Mohegan Sun in
Connecticut, and participated in a multi-performer tribute to the late
Peggy Lee at the
Hollywood Bowl. A
2003 concert appearance at the Olympia in Paris has been issued in both
DVD and
CD formats. Following another U.K. concert tour in early spring 2005, she appeared with
Andy Williams in his Moon River Theater in
Branson, Missouri for several months, and will be returning for another engagement in the fall of 2006, following scattered concert dates throughout the US and Canada. A studio recording of all new material by composer
Rod McKuen is in the works as of this writing.
In 1998, Clark was honored by
Queen Elizabeth II by being made a
CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire).
Medal for the General (1944)
I Know Where I'm Going (1945)
Vice Versa (1948)
Here Come the Huggetts (1948)
The Romantic Age (1949)
Dance Hall (1950)
White Corridors (1951)
The Card (1952)
Made in Heaven (1952)
The Runaway Bus (1954)
Track the Man Down (1955)
À couteaux tirés (1964) (also composed score)
Finian's Rainbow (1968)
Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969)
Never, Never Land (1980)
*Put Your Shoes On Lucy (1949)
*
Music! Music! Music! (1949)
*You Are My True Love (1950)
*Mariandl (with
Jimmy Young) (1951)
*Where Did My Snowman Go? (1952)
*The Card (1952)
*Christopher Robin At Buckingham Palace (1953)
*
The Little Shoemaker (1954)
*Meet Me In Battersea Park (1954)
*Majorca (1955)
*
Suddenly There's a Valley (1955)
*Another Door Opens (1956)
*
With All My Heart (1957)
*Baby Lover (1958)
*Dear Daddy (1959)
*Cinderella Jones (1960)
*Sailor (1961)
*Romeo (1961)
*Marin (Sailor) (1961)
*Ya Ya Twist (1962)
*Chariot (I Will Follow Him) (1962)
*CÅ"ur blessé (1963)
*Ceux qui ont un cÅ"ur (Anyone Who Had a Heart) (1964)
*
Downtown (1964)
*Invece no (1965)
*
I Know a Place (1965)
*Dans le temps (Downtown) (1965)
*
My Love (1965)
*
I Couldn't Live Without Your Love (1966)
*
This Is My Song (1967)
*
Don't Sleep In The Subway (1967)
Finian's Rainbow (Soundtrack) (1968)
Goodbye, Mr. Chips (Soundtrack) (1969)
*Sauve-moi (1977)
Blood Brothers (International Recording) (1995)
Songs from Sunset Boulevard (1996)
Here for You (1998)
The Ultimate Collection (2002)
Kaleidoscope (2003)
*Starting All Over Again (2003)
Live at the Paris Olympia (2004)
*Driven by Emotion (2005)
*Memphis (2005)
* "Downtown" 1964 (Pop #1/2 wks.)
* "I Know A Place" 1965 (Pop #3, AC #16)
* "You'd Better Come Home" 1965 (Pop #22, AC #4)
* "Round Every Corner" 1965 (Pop #21)
* "My Love" 1965 (Pop #1/2 wks., AC #4)
* "A Sign Of The Times" 1966 (Pop #11, AC #2)
* "I Couldn't Live Without Your Love" 1966 (Pop #9, AC #1/1 wk.)
* "Who Am I" 1966 (Pop #21, AC #31)
* "Color My World" 1966 (Pop #16, AC #10)
* "This Is My Song" 1967 (Pop #3, AC #2)
* "Don't Sleep In The Subway" 1967 (Pop #5, AC #1/3 wks.)
* "The Cat In The Window (The Bird In The Sky)" 1967 (Pop #26, AC #9)
* "The Other Man's Grass Is Always Greener" 1967 (Pop #31, AC #3)
* "Kiss Me Goodbye" 1968 (Pop #15, AC #2)
* "Don't Give Up" 1968 (Pop #37, AC #5)
* "American Boys" 1968 (Pop #59, AC #18)
* "Happy Heart" 1969 (Pop #62, AC #12) - bigger hit version by Andy Williams
* "Look At Mine" 1969 (Pop #89, AC #14)
* "No One Better Than You" 1969 (Pop #93, AC #18)
* "The Song Is Love" 1970 (AC #19)
* "My Guy" 1972 (Pop #70, AC #12) - the Mary Wells Motown classic
* "The Wedding Song (There Is Love)" 1972 (Pop #61, AC #9)
* "The Old Fashioned Way (Les Plaisirs Demondes)" 1974 (AC #40)
* "Loving Arms" 1974 (AC #12)
* "Natural Love" 1982 (Pop #66, AC #24)*List of best-selling music artists*Official Website
*}}}
