From child star to superstar

A nation’s ‘pet’ returns to the stage at 89

Child star Petula

Petula Sally Clark was born in Epson, Surry, England on 15th November 1932. Almost immediately she acquired the nickname ‘Pet’. Today at the age of 89 she is still performing on stage. and Germany, but also worldwide. She studied languages and became multi lingual which greatly helped her to break into music charts around the continent. She moved to France in early 1960 where she married the music publicist Claude Wolff. He has continued to manage her career to this day. In 1964 she was presented with 3 gold discs for record sales of three different songs in Germany, France and England. She was now firmly established as a superstar.

Back on stage at 89 in Mary Poppins The Musical

George Keegan goes ‘Downtown’ to trace the career of superstar Petula Clarke

The early years

In fact they were very early years because Petula first came to prominence as a child star during WW2 and recorded over 200 shows for the British forces before she even reached her 9th birthday. During the late 1940’s and 1950’s she was a regular guest on a large number of radio shows for the BBC before moving into television. It was in 1949 that her first hit record The Little Shoemaker reached number seven in the UK charts and No 1 in Australia. This was the first of forty six number one hits achieved worldwide.

Chart success

Tony Hatch and Jackie Trent were a massive influence in Pet’s record career. They combined to write the music and lyrics for well over 70 of her songs including massive hits such as Colour My World, Don’t Sleep in the Subway, I Couldn’t Live Without Your Love, My Love and of course Downtown.

In one of her celebrated film roles in Mr Chipps with Peter O’Toole

The song Downtown is without doubt her signature song, however covers of the song have been recorded many times by a host of singers. One such recording was by Irish band the Saw Doctors in 2011. In a master stroke they arranged to include Pet’s own voice and she also agreed to appear on the promotional video. Two years later she herself included a brand new version of Downtown on her album Lost In You, this time a ballad version. With this song she was the first female artist to receive a US Grammy Award and in 2003 it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. To date Petula has sold an estimated 75 million records worldwide.

Television and film career

Her growing popularity resulted in appearances on numerous television shows either as a guest or hosting her own series. In the USA over a three year period a major television network broadcast three variety specials which she hosted. The first in 1968 caused quite an uproar when she held the arm of Harry Belafonte during a duet and the sponsor refused to allow it to be included ,because of the prejudice against black people at that time. However Petula stood firm and refused to cut the song from the show. In the end the song was aired in its entirety. When the BBC changed to colour transmission in 1969 the first broadcast was a sell out concert given by Pet at the Royal Albert Hall in London where it was recorded the previous week.

Her film career has also been an outstanding success, acting in over 30 films. She is probably best remembered for two films in particular. Goodbye Mr. Chips (1969 ) in which she starred with Peter O’Toole. Scenes were shot inside the Sherbourne School in Dorset before cast and crew set off to film other scenes in Pompeii, Southern Italy. I liked this movie very much and it has since become something of a cult classic. The second is the very ‘Oirish’ Finians Rainbow released a year earlier in which she danced and sang with the great Fred Astaire. It’s the story of an Irishman and his daughter who steal a leprechaun’s pot of gold and emigrate to America. It also features Tommy Steele. Not my cup of Lyons !

Concerts, musicals and cabaret

Since 1980 Petula she has taken on several major tours around the UK and Ireland. Her Irish concerts (1982 and 2002) were in the National Concert Hall. When on tour her repertoire usually featured songs from a recent album and excerpts from musicals she had appeared in. Always included however was a medley of her many big hits from the sixties, to the delight of her audience. She is a very accomplished pianist so several songs were featured playing the piano. Another highlight of her shows were the many anecdotes she related between songs about other artists she has met or worked alongside.

In a stunning career musicals have played an important part as well. Over the past 30 years the list includes playing Maria in the Sound Of Music (1981) and the show Someone Like You in 1990 for which she wrote the music. It was during the 90s she made her Broadway stage debut with Blood Brothers .The show later toured around the States co-starring pop idol David Cassidy. However recognised by many as probably her most successful role was the part of Norma Desmond in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s record breaking musical Sunset Boulevard, which ran for almost two years in London with rave reviews for her performance.

Petula’s cabaret shows and nightclub act always received great acclaim with appearances at many of the top venues in America such as Caesar’s Palace Las Vegas, Coconut Grove in Los Angeles and Copacabana and the Waldorf Astoria, New York City. In April of last year she was presented with the Bob Harrington Lifetime Achievement Award (for eight decades of artistic accomplishments) at the 36th annual Bistro Awards, held as a virtual event due to Covid-19.

Chatting with a superstar

I have had the pleasure of speaking to Petula on three separate occasions, the first being in the mid 1960’s.Many readers will recall that in those days if you wrote to a personality you could expect to receive either a personal reply or a signed photo sent by a secretary. Petula had her own weekly series at the time for BBC television and it was broadcast live. I rang the Television Centre and asked to speak to her. I was informed she was in rehearsal and to please ring back later. Of course I did and we had a very enjoyable chat. In 1982 I spoke to her following the concert in the National Concert Hall and the most recent encounter was prior to her performance in St.David’s Hall, Cardiff in 2013, the final night of her An Evening With Petula Clark UK tour.

The story of Petula Clark, singer, songwriter and actress is still not complete because this superstar is currently appearing as Bird Woman in the West End production of Mary PoppinsThe Musical. On the 15th November she celebrated her 89th birthday. The full cast came on stage to sing Happy Birthday and gave a fine rendering of - you guessed it, Downtown.