Clark's professional career began as an entertainer on BBC Radio during World War II. During the 1950s she started recording in French
and having international success in both French and English, with such
songs as "The Little Shoemaker", "Baby Lover", "With All My Heart", and "Prends Mon Cœur". During the 1960s she became known globally for her popular upbeat hits, including "Downtown", "I Know a Place", "My Love", "Colour My World", "A Sign of the Times", and "Don't Sleep in the Subway". She has sold more than 68 million records throughout her career.
Clark was born to an English father,
Leslie Norman Clark, and a Welsh mother, Doris (Phillips) Clark. Both
were nurses at Long Grove Hospital, in Epsom, Surrey, England. Her
father invented her first name and joked it was a combination of the
names of two former girlfriends, Pet and Ulla.
As a child, Clark sang in the chapel choir and showed a talent for mimicry, impersonating Vera Lynn, Carmen Miranda and Sophie Tucker for her family and friends. Her father introduced her to theatre when he took her to see Flora Robson in a 1938 production of Mary Tudor; she later recalled that after the performance "I made up my mind then and there I was going to be an actress ... I wanted to be Ingrid Bergman more than anything else in the world." However, her first public performances were as a singer, performing with an orchestra in the entrance hall of Bentall's Department Store in Kingston upon Thames for a tin of toffee and a gold wristwatch, in 1939.
Career start
From a chance beginning as a nine-year-old, Clark would appear on radio, film, print, television and recordings by the time she turned seventeen.
In
October 1942, nine-year-old Clark made her radio debut while attending a
BBC broadcast with her father. Attending in the hope of sending a
message to an uncle stationed overseas, the broadcast was delayed by an
air raid. During the bombing, the producer requested that someone
perform to settle the jittery theatre audience, and she volunteered a
rendering of "Mighty Lak' a Rose" to an enthusiastic response. She then
repeated her performance for the broadcast audience, launching a series
of some 500 appearances in programmes designed to entertain the
troops.[5] In addition to radio work, Clark frequently toured the United
Kingdom with fellow child performer Julie Andrews. Nicknamed the
"Singing Sweetheart", she performed for George VI, Winston Churchill and
Bernard Montgomery. Clark also became known as "Britain's Shirley
Temple," and was considered a mascot by the British Army, whose troops
plastered her photos on their tanks for good luck as they advanced into
battle.
In 1944, while performing at London's Royal Albert
Hall, Clark was discovered by film director Maurice Elvey, who cast her
as precocious orphaned waif Irma in his weepy war drama Medal for the
General. In quick succession, she starred in Strawberry Roan, I Know
Where I'm Going!, London Town, and Here Come the Huggetts, the first in a
series of Huggett Family films based on a British radio series.
Although some of the films she made in the UK during the 1940s and 1950s
were B-films,[citation needed] she worked with Anthony Newley in Vice
Versa (directed by Peter Ustinov) and Alec Guinness in The Card as well
as the aforementioned I Know Where I'm Going! which is a Powell and
Pressburger feature film now generally regarded as a masterpiece
(Clark's part was small).
In 1945, Clark was featured in the comic strip Radio Fun, in which she was billed as "Radio's Merry Mimic".
In 1946, Clark launched her television career with an appearance on a BBC variety show, Cabaret Cartoons, which led to her being signed to host her own afternoon series, titled simply Petula Clark. A second, Pet's Parlour, followed in 1949.
In 1947, Clark met Joe "Mr Piano"
Henderson at the Maurice Publishing Company. The two collaborated
musically, and were linked romantically over the coming decade. In 1949,
Henderson introduced Clark to Alan A. Freeman, who, together with her
father Leslie, formed Polygon Records, for which she recorded her
earliest hits. Clark had recorded her first release that year, "Put Your
Shoes On, Lucy," for EMI. Because neither EMI nor Decca, for whom she
also had recorded, were keen to sign her to a long-term contract, her
father, whose own theatrical ambitions had been thwarted by his parents,
teamed with Freeman to form the Polygon record label in order to better
control and facilitate her singing career.[citation needed] This
project was financed with Clark's earnings. She scored a number of major
hits in the UK during the 1950s, including "The Little Shoemaker"
(1954), "Majorca" (1955), "Suddenly There's a Valley" (1955) and "With
All My Heart" (1956).'The Little Shoemaker' was an international hit
reaching the coveted No 1 position in Australia, giving her the first of
many No 1 records in her career. Although Clark released singles in the
United States as early as 1951 (the first was "Tell Me Truly" b/w "Song
Of The Mermaid" on the Coral label),[citation needed] it would take
thirteen years before the American record-buying public would discover
her.[citation needed]
Near the end of 1955, Polygon Records was sold to Nixa Records, then part of Pye Records, which led to the establishment of Pye Nixa Records (subsequently simply Pye). This turn of events effectively signed Clark to the Pye label in the UK, for whom she would record for the remainder of the 1950s, throughout the 1960s, and early into the 1970s.[citation needed]
During this period, Clark showed a keen interest for encouraging new talent. She suggested Henderson be allowed to record his own music, and he enjoyed five chart hits on Polygon/Pye between 1955 and 1960.
As a child, Clark sang in the chapel choir and showed a talent for mimicry, impersonating Vera Lynn, Carmen Miranda and Sophie Tucker for her family and friends. Her father introduced her to theatre when he took her to see Flora Robson in a 1938 production of Mary Tudor; she later recalled that after the performance "I made up my mind then and there I was going to be an actress ... I wanted to be Ingrid Bergman more than anything else in the world." However, her first public performances were as a singer, performing with an orchestra in the entrance hall of Bentall's Department Store in Kingston upon Thames for a tin of toffee and a gold wristwatch, in 1939.
Career start
From a chance beginning as a nine-year-old, Clark would appear on radio, film, print, television and recordings by the time she turned seventeen.
In
October 1942, nine-year-old Clark made her radio debut while attending a
BBC broadcast with her father. Attending in the hope of sending a
message to an uncle stationed overseas, the broadcast was delayed by an
air raid. During the bombing, the producer requested that someone
perform to settle the jittery theatre audience, and she volunteered a
rendering of "Mighty Lak' a Rose" to an enthusiastic response. She then
repeated her performance for the broadcast audience, launching a series
of some 500 appearances in programmes designed to entertain the
troops.[5] In addition to radio work, Clark frequently toured the United
Kingdom with fellow child performer Julie Andrews. Nicknamed the
"Singing Sweetheart", she performed for George VI, Winston Churchill and
Bernard Montgomery. Clark also became known as "Britain's Shirley
Temple," and was considered a mascot by the British Army, whose troops
plastered her photos on their tanks for good luck as they advanced into
battle.In 1944, while performing at London's Royal Albert
Hall, Clark was discovered by film director Maurice Elvey, who cast her
as precocious orphaned waif Irma in his weepy war drama Medal for the
General. In quick succession, she starred in Strawberry Roan, I Know
Where I'm Going!, London Town, and Here Come the Huggetts, the first in a
series of Huggett Family films based on a British radio series.
Although some of the films she made in the UK during the 1940s and 1950s
were B-films,[citation needed] she worked with Anthony Newley in Vice
Versa (directed by Peter Ustinov) and Alec Guinness in The Card as well
as the aforementioned I Know Where I'm Going! which is a Powell and
Pressburger feature film now generally regarded as a masterpiece
(Clark's part was small).In 1945, Clark was featured in the comic strip Radio Fun, in which she was billed as "Radio's Merry Mimic".
In 1946, Clark launched her television career with an appearance on a BBC variety show, Cabaret Cartoons, which led to her being signed to host her own afternoon series, titled simply Petula Clark. A second, Pet's Parlour, followed in 1949.
In 1947, Clark met Joe "Mr Piano"
Henderson at the Maurice Publishing Company. The two collaborated
musically, and were linked romantically over the coming decade. In 1949,
Henderson introduced Clark to Alan A. Freeman, who, together with her
father Leslie, formed Polygon Records, for which she recorded her
earliest hits. Clark had recorded her first release that year, "Put Your
Shoes On, Lucy," for EMI. Because neither EMI nor Decca, for whom she
also had recorded, were keen to sign her to a long-term contract, her
father, whose own theatrical ambitions had been thwarted by his parents,
teamed with Freeman to form the Polygon record label in order to better
control and facilitate her singing career.[citation needed] This
project was financed with Clark's earnings. She scored a number of major
hits in the UK during the 1950s, including "The Little Shoemaker"
(1954), "Majorca" (1955), "Suddenly There's a Valley" (1955) and "With
All My Heart" (1956).'The Little Shoemaker' was an international hit
reaching the coveted No 1 position in Australia, giving her the first of
many No 1 records in her career. Although Clark released singles in the
United States as early as 1951 (the first was "Tell Me Truly" b/w "Song
Of The Mermaid" on the Coral label),[citation needed] it would take
thirteen years before the American record-buying public would discover
her.[citation needed]Near the end of 1955, Polygon Records was sold to Nixa Records, then part of Pye Records, which led to the establishment of Pye Nixa Records (subsequently simply Pye). This turn of events effectively signed Clark to the Pye label in the UK, for whom she would record for the remainder of the 1950s, throughout the 1960s, and early into the 1970s.[citation needed]
During this period, Clark showed a keen interest for encouraging new talent. She suggested Henderson be allowed to record his own music, and he enjoyed five chart hits on Polygon/Pye between 1955 and 1960.
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