Petula Clark
At 86, ‘Downtown’ singer won’t be defined by nostalgia
Saying Petula Clark has lived an international life is truly an understatement.
The two-time Grammy winner was born in England in 1932. When she was 29, she married Frenchman Claude Wolff and moved to Paris. And while her career has kept her constantly on the go, the couple has called Geneva, Switzerland, home for five decades.
One byproduct of all this jet-setting? Their three adult children all sound nothing like one another.
“I suppose it’s true,” the singer says with a giggle, on the phone at her Swiss apartment. “Patrick’s been living in America, and he’s picked up the accent. When I call him, he says, ‘Hi, Mom’ — ‘ Mom!?’“she says, drawing out the word with mock horror. “What is that? ’ Mahhmm?’”
Then there are her daughters.
“Barra, our first daughter, has been living in America but she sounds a little bit more English,” she says. “And Kate, I don’t know what her accent is, but it’s the cutest thing: It’s a little bit French, a little bit Swedish.”
Clark’s accent, by the way, still sounds as cheerfully British as it did back in the ‘60s, when she first captivated American audiences. She was the most popular female artist to emerge during the British musical invasion, creating a long string of now-classic hit records that have a style all their own.
Beyond ‘Downtown’
“Downtown,” of course, was the first and the most famous. With its hummable melody and Clark’s reassuring vocals, you really do believe the lights are much brighter there, for three minutes at least.
That 1964 recording set the pattern for a series of hits that followed. Clark usually worked with writerproducer Tony Hatch; in terms of creating great radio hits, their partnership rivaled Dionne Warwick’s pairing with Burt Bacharach. “I Know a Place,” “I Couldn’t Live Without Your Love,” “A Sign of the Times,” “Don’t Sleep in the Subway” — Clark’s records have an instantly identifiable sound that blends the energy and exuberance of rock and roll with a brassy, Broadwaystyle sophistication. Still, Clark emphasizes, don’t go to her concert expecting her to skip out on stage like a ‘60s dolly bird who has just flown in from Carnaby Street. Her live show is about much more than that.
“It’s where I am now,” she says. “I have these fantastic songs, and I still enjoy singing them, just as much or even more than I did then. Perhaps I don’t sing them the way I did, but you wouldn’t expect that. I’m not stuck in an era. The idea of going onstage and having it be about nostalgia? I just couldn’t do it.”
She usually includes most of her American hits, plus other songs from her wide-ranging career. Sometimes audiences can underestimate the sheer vastness of Clark’s work, which is pretty imposing. At the height of her U.S. fame, for instance, she starred opposite Fred Astaire in the 1968 film version of “Finian’s Rainbow;” a year later, she appeared in “Goodbye, Mr. Chips” with Peter O’Toole.
In the ‘90s, she earned rave reviews starring on Broadway in the musical “Blood Brothers.” Once that show ended, she played Norma Desmond in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Sunset Boulevard” in London’s West End and on the U.S. tour. She ultimately played the role on stage longer than any other actress.
Additionally, she has carved out a whole other career singing in French, with concerts and recordings targeted specifically toward that audience. And she’s still got sentimental fans in England who remember her as a child star whose optimistic nature helped the country get through World War II. In 1970, Petula Clark filmed her third U.S. TV special. Dean Martin was a guest.
It’s one of the most beguiling aspects of her career: A U.S. audience views her entirely differently than a British one, while French fans are another thing.
“I find it all rather agreeable,” she says, giggling again. “They’re all different aspects. It’s all part of me. Instead of just concentrating on one part, I can be all these things. The French side is very different to the