Petula Clark

Petula Sally Olwen Clark (born November 15 1932), CBE, is a British 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 female recording artist to date. She also holds the distinction of having the longest span on the international pop charts of any artist, an astonishing fifty-one 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.

International fame

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 the now-deceased French star Sasha Distel, who remained a close friend until his death in 2004. Gradually she moved further into the continent, recording in German, French, and Spanish, and firmly establishing herself as a multi-lingual performer.

Related Topics:
Olympia - Paris - Vogue Records - Claude Woolf - France - Belgium - Sasha Distel - 2004

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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 "Chariot" (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.

Related Topics:
Svengali - 1972 - 1961 - Lee Dorsey - 1962 - Serge Gainsbourg

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 1963 and '64, Clark's British career floundered. 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.

Related Topics:
Tony Hatch - Pye Records - UK - New York City - The Drifters - Downtown

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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", "Color My World", "This Is My Song" (from the Charles Chaplin film A Countess in 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.

Related Topics:
1964 - Netherlands - Germany - Australia - Italy - Rhodesia - India - Warner Brothers - 1965 - This Is My Song - Charles Chaplin - A Countess in Hong Kong - Grammy Award - 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.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~