The most commercially successful female British artist of the 1960s, Petula Clark's bright, romantic style on her swinging London-era hit "Downtown" continues to solidify her status as a pop icon. A child performer during WWII, she initially rose to fame in the U.K. on radio, film, and early pop hits like “The Little Shoemaker” and “Sailor.” After moving to France in the early '60s, she reinvented her sound and gained international acclaim with the Grammy-winning title track to Downtown, becoming the first British woman to top the U.S. charts. Throughout the '60s, she enjoyed a string of transatlantic hits, including "I Know a Place, "My Love," "A Sign of the Times," "The Other Man's Grass Is Always Greener," and "Kiss Me Goodbye." She also starred in the film musical Finian's Rainbow, for which she earned a Golden Globe nomination. Beginning in the '70s, she started taking time away from her career to focus on her family. She eventually returned to the stage, starring in stage musical productions of The Sound of Music, Sunset Boulevard, and Mary Poppins. She also released more albums, including 2013's Lost in You, 2016's From Now On, and 2018's Vu D'ici, further underscoring her stature as a beloved figure in both English- and French-speaking music scenes.
Petula Clark was born November 15, 1932, in Ewell, Surrey, England. Trained to sing by her soprano mother, Clark embarked on a stage career at the age of seven and was soon a fixture on British radio programs, and began hosting her own regular show, Pet's Parlour -- a series spotlighting patriotic songs designed to boost the morale of wartime audiences -- at the tender age of 11.
After entertaining British troops alongside fellow child stars Julie Andrews and Anthony Newley, Clark made her film debut with A Medal for the General in 1944. By the dawn of the '50s she was a superstar throughout the U.K. with a résumé of close to two-dozen films; 1954's "The Little Shoemaker" was her first Top 20 single, while 1960's "Sailor" was her first chart-topper. Still, Clark struggled with her inability to shed her adolescent image. After selling over a million copies of 1961's "Romeo," she married and relocated to France, establishing a strong fan base there on the strength of hits including "Ya-Ya Twist," "Chariot," and "Monsieur," which spotlighted a new, more sophisticated pop sound anchored by her crystalline vocals.
Riding the wave of the British Invasion, Clark was finally able to penetrate the U.S. market in 1964 with the Grammy-winning "Downtown," the first single by a British woman ever to reach number one on the American pop charts. Included on the album Downtown, it was also the first in a series of American Top Ten hits (most written and arranged by Tony Hatch) that also included 1965's "I Know a Place" and 1966's "I Couldn't Live Without Your Love," and the number one smash "My Love." At the same time, she remained a huge star throughout Europe, topping the British charts in 1967 with "This Is My Song," taken from the film A Countess from Hong Kong. In addition to hosting her own BBC series, she also starred in the 1968 NBC television special Petula, which triggered controversy when sponsors requested that a segment with guest Harry Belafonte be cut in deference to Southern affiliates; ultimately, the show aired in its intended form.
As the '60s drew to a close, Clark's focus shifted away from recording and more toward live performances and TV appearances. Still, she enjoyed a string of singles that charted on both sides of the Atlantic, including "Don't Sleep on the Subway," "The Other Man's Grass Is Always Greener," and "Kiss Me Goodbye." In 1968, she revived her film career by starring in Finian's Rainbow, followed a year later by Goodbye, Mr. Chips. From 1972 to 1974, she also hosted her own TV show, The Sound of Petula, and made a guest appearance on The Muppet Show in 1977. However, her desire to spend more time with her family took precedent over her career for much of the decade.
More acting roles followed into the early '80s and she starred in the British drama Never Never Land and the French mini-series Sans Famille. Additionally, in 1988, an acid house remix of "Downtown" reached the U.K. Top Ten, another honor for the female singer awarded the most gold records in British pop history. Yet, it was on the stage that she made her biggest return, headlining the 1981 London revival of Rodgers & Hammerstein's The Sound of Music. After starring in the 1990 musical Someone Like You, which she also co-wrote, she made her Broadway debut in Blood Brothers in 1993. She also starred as Norma Desmond in both West End and touring versions of Sunset Boulevard.
Throughout the 2000s, Clark toured fairly steadily across the globe. Her 2002 shows in France at the Olympia were recorded and released on CD and DVD, but no new studio recordings were forthcoming until she teamed up with poet and singer Rod McKuen for 2007's Solitude & Sunshine. In 2011, she also collaborated with Irish band the Saw Doctors for a new version of "Downtown." Soon after, she began working with producer John Williams on an album. Made up of newly written songs and covers, as well as a new take on "Downtown," Lost in You was issued in early 2013.
Just three years later, Clark returned with another studio album, From Now On, which featured several newly penned compositions as well as covers of classic numbers by the Beatles, Steve Winwood, and Peggy Lee. In October 2016, Clark set out on a U.K. tour in support of the album. That same year also saw the release of Natural Love: The Scotti Brothers Recordings, a collection of country- and pop-oriented material Clark cut in the '80s. A French-language album, Vu D'ici, arrived in 2018 and found Clark interpreting songs by Quebecois composers like Nelson Minville, France D’Amour, Luc De Larochellière, and others. In 2023, she appeared as part of a BBC tribute special to composer Stephen Sondheim, singing the song "I'm Still Here" from the musical Follies, which was included on the soundtrack Sondheim's Old Friends: A Celebration. ~ Matt Collar & Jason Ankeny
