The one lesson I’ve learned from life

Make your own mistakes — not other people’s

When I started singing in public, aged seven, I took everything in my stride. I was faced with what should have been nerve-racking situations, such as meeting Winston Churchill and George VI, but not really understanding who they were, I didn’t think much of it. I was just happy that I was singing.

But as I reached my teens, my attitude changed. I’d signed to the Rank Film Organisation when I was 11 and they wanted to keep me young for as long as

possible. I was made to bind my breasts so I looked flat-chested. I wasn’t happy. Suddenly it wasn’t just about singing.

In 1957, when I was 25, I went to sing in Paris where I met Claude Wolff, a publicist who worked for my record label. It was love at first sight and we married four years later. When I moved to France, I came in for a lot of criticism: I was turning my back, apparently, on my english fans. But I was in love and followed my heart.

At the end of the Sixties, I gave a series of concerts in Montreal. The english booed when I sang in French; the French booed when I sang in english. I was terribly hurt.

John Lennon happened to be in town, so, though I didn’t know him, I went to ask his advice. he told me to forget all of them — their opinion didn’t matter.

As he spoke, I realised I should be able to sing in both languages, as they were a part of me.

In 1990, I wrote the music for Someone Like You, a musical set around the American Civil War. It was one of the most painful experiences of my life because slowly my concept was eaten away by other people’s opinions until it bore little or no relation to the original.

I should have followed my own instincts. As it was, the critics slammed it and it closed in a matter of weeks. But it reinforced a lesson learned years before: do what you really love and make your own mistakes — no one else’s.

While making my new album, I had to ask myself if this was what I wanted to achieve. And my heart and my head said yes. And if I’ve made a mistake, well, at least it will have been my mistake.

For Petula’s new album and tour dates, visit petulafromnowon.com.