In the 1960s, Petula Clark became a global star. More than half a century later, the Brit is still active and hardly seems to have aged.
She danced with Fred Astaire, shared the singing booth with Harry Belafonte and put an obtrusively flirty Elvis Presley in his place: Petula Clark was already on stage at the age of eleven and later reached the top of the charts in many countries with her evergreen “Downtown”. . Today the singer, who was appointed Commander of the British Empire by Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II in 1998, is celebrating her 90th birthday.
Born in Epson, UK, Petula Clark was just 18 when she landed her first record deal and debut single Where Did My Snowman Go. Not a day should go by without the singer feeling crowned with success. Long before her world hit “Downtown”, Petula Clark had numerous international successes.
“It’s a very important song for me”
The multilingual all-rounder from the south of England not only gathered crowds of fans in England, France and Germany, but also in distant America, where their hit “Downtown” was played all the time in 1965. “It’s a very important song for me. People often ask me if I get tired of singing it over and over sometimes. No, not at all, it’s a damn good song. If I had to sing some stupid song night after night , that would be something different,” revealed Petula Clark to “Deutschlandfunk”.
Petula Clark has not only provided her fans with music from all genres over the decades (the Brits placed a proud 159 songs in the charts and received two “Grammy” awards), but also with brilliant acting performances. For example, Petula Clark filmed and acted alongside Fred Astaire in “The Golden Rainbow” and Peter O’Toole in “Goodbye, Mister Chips!”.
The industrious Brit also left her mark on musicals in the 1990s. She made her Broadway debut in New York in 1993 with Blood Brothers. Two years later she was in London for the musical “Sunset Boulevard” on stage.
“She feared a huge scandal”
Petula Clark really knew them all – all the legends whose names have been written in history books. She was a guest on the video shoot for the song “Give Peace A Chance” alongside Yoko Ono and John Lennon. Clark was the first celebrity to touch a black person on a television show during the American civil rights era (Harry Belafonte): “I couldn’t find anything wrong with touching his arm. But sure, it was the civil rights era. The sponsor of the The show went through the roof and feared a huge scandal if it was broadcast,” the singer recalls.
At the latest when you realize that a certain – then still unknown – Jimmy Page recorded the guitars for the “Downtown” sessions, it becomes clear what a treasure trove of experiences, adventures and memories the singer has been bringing to the table for more than half a century travel takes. The tireless entertainer is still involved in various show projects. In July 2017 her last studio album – “Living Fot Today” – was released.
