‘HELLO, PETULA! REMEMBER ME? JIMMY PAGE’

John Lennon and Yoko Ono were hardly the only legends to cross Petula Clark’s path. Here are a few of the others she has met or worked with in her eight-decade career.

ÉDITH PIAF

“I was very English when I first saw her in Paris. I didn’t know much about her. This funny little lady came onstage in a funny little black dress. She was already quite sick. She could hardly walk. She got to the microphone and I thought, ‘This isn’t going to be very enjoyable.’ Then she started singing — standing on one spot, gesturing, and exuding such power and emotion. I’d never seen anything like it.”

JACQUES BREL

The Belgian chansonnier and poet, a continental superstar and an influence on the young Leonard Cohen, once toured his native country with Clark. “It was a short tour,” Clark recalled. “Just the two of us. Apart from the fact that he gave me a song (Un Enfant, written for Clark’s first child, was a Quebec hit in a live version), what I remember was what a gentleman he was, and the opportunity to watch him every night onstage. I learned so much.”

JIMMY PAGE

Among the ace session musicians on most of Clark’s London-recorded hits, including Downtown, was the cherubic guitarist whose allconquering Led Zeppelin was still years off on the horizon. “I can’t say I foresaw what he would become, but we all knew he was a great guitar player,” Clark said. “I saw him recently. I didn’t recognize him at first — he’s very distinguished-looking now, a great mane of silver hair. He said: ‘Hello, Petula! Remember me? Jimmy Page. I used to play on your records.’”

MICK JAGGER

“I ran into the Stones quite often in those days, funnily enough,” Clark recalled of an era when the rock and pop realms were less demarcated than in later times. “I remember standing in the wings with Mick at the Olympia theatre (in Paris), just chatting about stuff — he’s a well-educated guy. Suddenly he looked at me, said ‘Watch this,’ walked out onstage, and turned into the public Mick Jagger. A total change. It was quite a thing to witness.”

PAUL McCARTNEY

“I still see Paul from time to time, in unusual places. Not long ago we met on Victoria Station in London. Thousands of people were milling around, catching trains. Paul was on his way to Brighton. We chatted for a minute or two until he said, ‘You realize, Pet, that nobody has recognized us? Maybe we should sing a song.’ I said, ‘I’ll sing one of yours if you sing one of mine.’ But wiser heads prevailed.”