The night I said No to Elvis, by singer Petula, 84
SINGING legend Petula Clark yesterday revealed how she once turned down the chance of a date with Elvis.
The 84-year-old, best known for her “easy listening” ballads such as Downtown, said she caught the King of rock and roll’s eye in the 1960s.
Speaking on Good Morning Britain yesterday she told how Presley tried to chat up her when she and fellow singer Karen Carpenter met him in Las Vegas.
Asked whether it was true she snubbed the Hound Dog singer, she added: “Yes I did. There’s no more to say on that.”
Petula once said of the encounter: “The first time I met him he was gorgeous. Then Karen and I went to see him in Vegas.
“We went backstage and after 20 minutes I said, ‘Maybe we should go’.
“He was making a play for both of us so we left. It was flattering but I shuffled out dragging Karen behind me, saying we had other things to do. He was very amused by that. It was probably the first time anyone had ever turned him down.” The Surrey-based British singer, who has sold more than 68 million records in a career spanning seven decades, was also asked to star in an Elvis film. Again, she refused, this time because her husband, Claude Wolfe, did not want her to be one of the King’s leading ladies. Petula said: “I was asked to star in Paradise Hawaiian Style. My husband turned it down. Maybe he didn’t want me on a beach blanket with Elvis. At the time I didn’t even know about it.” In yesterday’s TV appearance, to promote her 45th studio album, she also revealed that her best-known hit Downtown was written by songwriter Tony Hatch while he was using the loo.