Biographie

Petula Clark

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Présentation

Date de naissance
15 novembre 1932 · Ewell, Surrey, Angleterre, Royaume-Uni
Nom de naissance
Petula Sally Olwen Clark
Surnoms
- Pet
- Our Pet
- Al Grant
Taille
1,57 m

Biographie

Famille

Conjoint
Parents

Marque commerciale

Her mole, which she began sporting in 1966 (originally on the bottom-left corner of her chin; since 1967, on the bottom-right corner)

Anecdotes

Has sold more than 70 million records worldwide, and was the best-selling British female vocalist of the 1960's.
Her favorite songs are "Black Coffee" by Peggy Lee, "I've Got You Under My Skin" by Frank Sinatra, "Hallelujah" by Michael McDonald, "This Masquerade" by The Carpenters, "Life In The Fast Lane" by Eagles, "Something" by The Beatles, "Wouldn't It Be Nice" by The Beach Boys and "Love For Sale" by Clare Teal. Of all the songs she has recorded, her favorites are "To Memphis" and her duet with Dusty Springfield, "Corner Of The Sky". (Source: BBC Radio 2 "Tracks of My Years").
In 1968 she and Harry Belafonte were singing a duet on her show when she touched his arm. A representative for the show's sponsor, Chrysler Corp., saw it and ordered the director to have them re-tape the duet and not to have Clark touch his arm, the rationale being that viewers in the American 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.
She has recorded well in excess of 1000 songs.
She was awarded the CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 1998 Queen's New Year Honours List for her services to music.

Citations

[8/29/99, interview in The Arizona Republic] I've thought about stopping working, just briefly. Sometimes I stop and think, "Wait a minute. When I finish this, what do I do?" But I don't have what normal people call a home. There's no place where I can go and grow my radishes. That's pretty weird when you think about it.
I love singing. There's nothing quite like that something that happens between an audience and performer. It's like communion.
I'm not one of those people who all the time rummage around in their past and find stories. Not very long ago I went back to Wales, where I spent a lot of my childhood, and it's almost not there anymore. It's a strange thing looking back. Of course, our past is what makes us who we are, but I don't dwell on it, frankly.
[on her life as a child star in the 1940s] Because of the circles I mixed in, professionally, I knew about things that children in those days were shielded from. Yet, at the same time, I was still very young in my own experiences of life. It was all rather peculiar and confusing.