I did have one boyfriend, from Norway, who knew nothing of my stardom. It was all hand-holding stuff, and we did share my first grown-up kiss, upon which I slapped his face.
I really didn't want to be a singer; of course, for a six year old in England during the war, there wasn't an awful lot around.
In some ways, I've always approached singing as acting, and the voice is just like a way of carrying the song.
There are definitely people who are stuck in the '60s and there are definitely people who think I am and it's just not true. I was performing for a long time before the '60s and I'll be doing exciting interesting things for along time to come.
Designated a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 1998.
While in France, Petula Clark worked for a short time as a secretary at the Firestone offices.
Ranked #85 on VH1's 100 Greatest Women of Rock N Roll
She turned down leading roles in the films Paradise, Hawaiian Style (1966), Valley of the Dolls (1967), Airport (1970) and The Poseidon Adventure (1972).
First British solo artist to win a Grammy (for the Tony Hatch-penned "Downtown" in 1964). When the song topped the American charts, she became the first British female pop singer to have a number one hit single in the United States. Her collaboration with Hatch produced another Grammy winner titled, "I Know a Place" (1965) and the chart-topper "My Love" (1966), further making her the first British female vocalist to have two number one hits on the US charts. Other memorable songs have included, "Sailor" (1961), "My Friend the Sea" (1961), "Round Every Corner" (1965), "I Couldn't Live Without Your Love" (1966), "This is My Song" (from A Countess from Hong Kong (1967)), "Don't Sleep in the Subway" (1967), "The Other Man's Grass (is Always Greener)" (1968), "Don't Give Up" (1968), "My Guy" (1972), "Natural Love" (1982), etc.
At nearly 73 she continues to perform regularly. Her 2005 schedule includes two lengthy stints in Branson, Missouri (performing with Andy Williams in his Moon River Theater), a mini-Canadian tour and scattered dates throughout the UK and US.
She has written dozens of songs, under both her own name and the pseudonym "Al Grant." The best known is "You're the One," which was a major hit for fellow Warner Brothers recording artists The Vogues.
She has recorded well in excess of 1000 songs.
She composed the score for and starred in a musical drama entitled "Someone Like You" in London's West End in the early 1990s. The show was set in post Civil War West Virginia during the days of Reconstruction, and centered on a woman's search for her ne'er-do-well traveling preacher husband.
She has sold more than 70 million records worldwide, making her the best-selling British female vocalist in history.
In August 1981, she opened in "The Sound of Music" in London's West End with what was then the largest advance sale in British theatre history. What was originally intended to be a six-month run was extended to thirteen in order to accommodate public demand. During the week she took a break and her understudy played the role, the box office dropped a whopping 75%.
In 1967 Clark and singer Harry Belafonte were singing a duet on her show when she touched Belafonte's arm. A representative for the show's sponsor, Chrysler Corp., saw it and ordered the director to have them retape the duet and not to have Clark touch his arm, the rationale being that viewers in the South would be outraged to see a white woman touching a black man, and the South was a big market for Chrysler's cars. Clark redid the scene, but when she found out the reason why, she and her husband - the show's producer - stormed into the control booth, ordered the director to destroy the second take and keep the original one. As expected, when the show was aired a few weeks later, many stations in the South wouldn't show it, and Chrysler received many letters from outraged Southerners saying they would never buy a Chrysler product again because of the company's sponsorship of the show.
In 1969 she was in the Queen Elizabeth Hotel, room 1742 in Montreal, Canada, and was part of the chorus when John Lennon recorded the song "Give Peace a Chance".
First first choice for the part of singer Nonnie Parry in the disaster epic The Poseidon Adventure. She turned the role down, and it was given to Carol Lynley.
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