Petula Sally Olwen Clark was born in West Ewell, Surrey. She was a musical child and by the time she was seven had already been singing at school concerts and in chapel (she and her sister Barbara are half Welsh). At the age of 10 she became a household name by singing for the troops on BBC Radio and performing in over 500 concerts for the British forces, as well as American, Canadian, Polish and French based in the UK.
She was signed up by J. Arthur Rank and appeared in over a dozen films, mostly non-musicals, working with Tony Newly, Peter Ustinov, Michael Powel and even gave Sir Alec Guiness his (and hers) first screen kiss.
Petula's recording success began with "The little Shoemaker" - but "With All of My Heart" became her first 'grown up' hit. This was the song that took her to France, though it was Claude Wolff (PR man for the French recording company) who made her want to stay in Paris. Under Claude's guidance she quickly became an enormous star in France and French speaking countries.
Claude and Petula married and have three children, Bara, Kate and Patrick. Petula has had hits all over Europe and received awards for her artistry from Italy, Germany and of course France. 1964 though, saw the star of her U.S. career with "Down Town penned by Tony Hatch. Concerts - Las Vegas - TV Specials followed along with a string of hit records. Francis Ford Coppola directed her and Fred Astair in the Hollywood version of "Finians Rainbow". Peter O'Toole was her leading man in "Goodbye Mr Chips", and as they say 'The Rest is History' Elaine Paige, Michael Crawlford, Marti Webb, Jason Donovan, Philip Schofield, Tom Jones, Engelbert Humperdink, The Drifters, Erol Brown, The Three Degrees, Buddy Greco, Percy Sledge, Oscar Peterson, Andrea Bocelli, Sarah Brightman and many more... |
