Petula Clark

Petula Clark, CBE ( Ewell ( Surrey ), 15 November 1932 ) is an English singer, actress and composer, best known for its popular international hits from the 60s with about 70 million records sold worldwide, she is the most successful British singer in history. She also has the longest career in the hit parade, with 51 years of "The Little Shoemaker" which came out in 1954 in the top 20 of the United Kingdom to her album L'essentiel - 20 Bestseller inoubliables, in 2005 in Belgium in the album charts came.

Contents

 * 1 Biography
 * 1.1 Young Life
 * 1.2 International fame
 * 1.3 The Downtown era
 * 2 Post- Downtown era
 * 3 Filmography
 * 4 Discography
 * 4.1 albums in the charts of UK and US
 * 4.2 Singles
 * 4.3 Singles charts in the UK and US
 * 4.4 French singles
 * 4.5 Other noteworthy songs
 * 5 Radio 2 Top 2000

Young life
She was born in Ewell, Surrey, her father was English and her mother came from Wales . She made ​​her radio debut in October 1942 when she and her father in a broadcast by the BBC was to send a message to an uncle who was stationed overseas. The producer asked someone to sing something and Petula gave up, the studio audience was enthusiastic and Petula then made some 500 appearances in programs that were created to entertain the troops of war. Clark toured the country with another child star Julie Andrews and became known as the British Shirley Temple and became a mascot for both the British and the US Army.

Then in 1944 she performed in the Royal Albert Hall, she was discovered by film director Maurice Elvey who asked her to play orphan in his war drama Medal for the General. There were still several films. Although they mostly B movies played them yet had the chance to work with Anthony Newley in Vice Versa (directed by Peter Ustinov ) and Alec Guinness in The Card, which is considered by many to be a classic.

In 1946 her television career began on the BBC show Cabaret Cartoons. Then she got her own afternoon series called simply Petula Clark. In 1949 followed Pet's Parlour. In later years, when she was already a celebrated singer, she was also given the series This is Petula Clark (1966) and The Sound of Petula (1972-74).

In the 50s she began to record songs and to report in 1954 and scored her first hit in the UK. In the United States, she released her first song in 1951 (Tell Me Truly), but it took thirteen years for the American record-buying public would discover her.

International fame [ edit ]
Petula was in 1958 invited to sing at the famed Olympia in Paris . There she met Claude Wolff, to whom she felt immediately attracted. When he asked her if she wanted to record Vogue Records signs she readily agreed. Her first French recordings were very successful and in 1960 she went on tour in France and Belgium with the French star Sacha Distel, who remained a close friend of her until his death in 2004 . Petula conquered the continent with songs in German, French, Italian and Spanish singing.

In June 1961, she married Claude, first for the law in Paris and then to the church in England. She decided to move to France where she soon had two daughters, Barbara and Michelle Katherine Natalie, and later another son Patrick who was born in 1972.

As they focused on a new career in France continued, they also hit in her homeland. The Sailor song became her first number one hit in 1961, the same year she had hit it with "Romeo" and "My Friend the Sea."The following year she was in France with big hits "Ya Ya Twist" (a cover of a song by Lee Dorsey ) and "Chariot" (original version of " I will follow him '). The German and Italian versions of her hits as well engrafted.She also recorded a cover of some songs of Serge Gainsbourg and these songs were selling like hot cakes.

In 1963 and 1964 collapsed in her career. Composer Tony Hatch Pye Records flew to Paris with new material but Petula found no song well. Desperate, he played a few chords of a still unfinished song that was inspired by his recent trip to New York City and that he wanted to submit to The Drifters . After she heard the music, Clark said that if he could write a text that was as good as the melody, she wanted to record the song as her next single. Thus Downtown born.

The Downtown era
Neither Clark, who was performing in French Canada when the song was first released, nor Hatch realized the impact that the song would have on their respective careers. Downtown was released late 1964 in four different languages ​​and was a huge success in the United Kingdom, France (both English and French versions), Netherlands , Germany , Australia , Italy and even Rhodesia , Japan and India . During a visit to the Vogue offices in Paris heard Joe Smith from Warner Brothers song and immediately took the entitlements themselves for distribution in the United States. The song reached the number one position in January 1965and eventually went three million copies sold in America. It was the first of fifteen consecutive Top 40 hits Clark scored in the US including: I know a place, My Love, This is my song, and Do not sleep in the subway.She has won two Grammy Awards , "best rock 'n' roll song" Downtown and for "best vocal performance" for I know a place. In 2003 Downtown was voted the Grammy Hall of Fame.

With the success she came regularly on television in shows with Ed Sullivan and Dean Martin .

In 1968 asked broadcaster NBC her as a hostess in a special about her. Petula wrote television history. While she herself wrote anti-war song On the path of glory sang with Harry Belafonte she touched him innocent on his arm, to the dismay of a representative of Chrysler . That company was the sponsor of the show and the man feared that touch viewers from the South would offend - in those days, racial conflicts still a hot topic in the US When he insisted that a new recording was made ​​in which Clark and Belafonte ceded far enough apart, they refused and her husband, who was producer, and as the show was in touch with it broadcast on 8 April 1968 . The 'incident' received national and international media attention. [1]

She took two specials on, one of which was to serve as a pilot episode for a weekly series that would air the ABC but the offer they eventually hit because her children do not like in Los Angeles attended.

In the late sixties, she played again in movies, two musicals: Finians Rainbow from 1968 in which she with Fred Astaire played and for which she was nominated at the Golden Globes and Goodbye Mr. Chips 1969 along with Peter O'Toole . After this her career went downhill in America, although they still recorded songs and appeared on television.

Post- Downtown era
In 1954, Clark played already in the theater production The Constant Nymph but it took until 1981 before she returned to the theater when she played the role of Maria von Trapp took on in the musical The Sound of Music . The musical was a huge success, and Clark was the real Maria von Trapp named best Maria ever, the initial six months was extended to thirteen months in order to meet the high demand.

Her career is not over. In 1998 and 2002 she made an extensive tour of the UK. In 2000 she presented in Montreal a one woman show she had written and which was well received. She made ​​tours and also released a DVD of a concert in the Olympia in Paris in 2003 .

In 1998 Clark was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in the Order of the British Empire .

Filmography

 * Medal for the General (1944)
 * Strawberry Roan (1945)
 * Murder in Reverse (1945)
 * I Know Where I'm Going! (1945)
 * Trouble at Townsend (1946)
 * London Town (1946)
 * Vice Versa (1948)
 * Easy Money (1948)
 * Here Come the Huggetts (1948)
 * Vote for Huggett (1949)
 * The Huggetts Abroad (1949)
 * Do not Ever Leave Me (1949)
 * The Romantic Age (1949)
 * Dance Hall (1950)
 * White Corridors (1951)
 * Madame Louise (1951)
 * The Card (1952)
 * Made in Heaven (1952)
 * The Runaway Bus (1954)
 * The Gay Dog (1954)
 * The Happiness of Three Women (1954)
 * Track the Man Down (1955)
 * That Woman Opposite (1957)
 * 6.5 Special (1958)
 * À Couteaux Tires (1964)
 * Finian's Rainbow (1968)
 * Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969)
 * Drôles the Zèbres (1977)
 * Never, Never Land (1980)
 * Sans Famille (1981 French miniseries)

Albums in the charts of UK and US
She released her debut album in 1956, but none came LPs in the charts for 1965.
 * Downtown (1965) US # 21
 * I Know A Place (1965) US # 42
 * Petula Clark Sings The World's Greatest Hits International (1965) US # 129
 * A Sign of the Times / My Love (1966) US # 68
 * I Couldn't Live Without Your Love (1966) UK # 11 / # 43 US
 * Petula Clark's Hit Parade (1967) UK # 18
 * Colour My World / Who Am I (1967) US # 49
 * These Are My Songs (1967) UK # 38 / # 27 US
 * The Other Man's Grass Is Always Greener (1968) UK # 37 / # 93 US
 * Petula (1968) US # 51
 * Finian's Rainbow (1968) US # 90
 * Petula Clark's Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 (1969) US # 57
 * Portrait Of Petula (1969) US # 37
 * Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969) US # 164
 * Just Hats (1969) US # 176
 * Memphis (1970) US # 198
 * Warm And Tender (1971) US # 178
 * 20 All Time Greatest (1977) UK # 18
 * The Ultimate Collection (2002) UK # 18

Singles charts in the UK and US
Although she made her first single in 1949, she scored her first hit until 1954. US Top 15 Adult comtemporary hits: "You'd Better Come Home" (# 4), "My Love" (# 4), "A Sign Of The Times" (# 2), "I Couldn't Live Without Your Love "(# 1)" Colour My World "(# 10)," This is my song "(# 2)," Don't Sleep In The Subway "(# 1)," The Cat In The Window "(# 9) "The Other Man's Grass" (# 3), "Kiss Me Goodbye" (# 2), "Don't Give Up" (# 5), "Happy Heart" (# 12), "Look At Mine" (# 14), "My Guy" (# 12), "The Wedding Song" (# 9), " Loving Arms "(# 12, 1974)
 * 1954: "The Little Shoemaker" UK # 7
 * 1955: "Majorca" UK # 12
 * 1955: "Suddenly There's A Valley" UK # 7
 * 1957: "With All My Heart" UK # 4
 * 1957: "Alone (Why Must I Be Alone)" UK # 8
 * 1958: "Baby Lover" UK # 12
 * 1961: "Sailor" UK # 1
 * 1961: "Something Missing" UK # 44
 * 1961 "Romeo" UK # 3
 * 1961: "My Friend The Sea" UK # 7
 * 1962: "I'm Counting On You" UK # 41
 * 1962: "Ya Ya Twist" UK # 14
 * 1963 "Casanova / Chariot" UK # 39
 * 1964: " Downtown "UK # 2 / US # 1 (Gold)
 * 1965: "I Know A Place" UK # 17 / US # 3
 * 1965: "You'd Better Come Home" UK # 44 / # 22 US
 * 1965: "Round Every Corner" UK # 43 / # 21 US
 * 1965: "You're The One" UK #
 * 1965: "My Love" UK # 4 / # 1 US
 * 1966: "A Sign Of The Times" UK # 49 / # 11 US
 * 1966: "I Couldn't Live Without Your Love" UK # 6 / US #
 * 1966: "Who Am I" US # 21
 * 1967: "Colour My World" UK # 16 / # 16 US
 * 1967: " This is my song "# 1 UK / US # 3
 * 1967: "Don't Sleep In The Subway" UK # 12 / US # 5
 * 1967: "The Cat In The Window (The Bird In The Sky)" US # 26
 * 1968: "The Other Man's Grass (Is Always Greener)" UK # 20 / # 31 US
 * 1968: "Kiss Me Goodbye" UK # 50 / # 15 US
 * 1968: "Don't Give Up" US # 37
 * 1968: "American Boys" # 59 US
 * 1969: "Happy Heart" US # 62
 * 1969: "Look At Mine" US # 89
 * 1969: "No One Better Than You" US # 93
 * 1971: 'The Song Of My Life "UK # 32
 * 1972: "I Don't Know How To Love Him" ​​UK # 47
 * 1972: " My Guy "US # 70
 * 1972: "The Wedding Song (There Is Love)" US # 61
 * 1982: "Natural Love" US # 66
 * 1988: "Downtown '88" UK # 10

French singles
All of the following songs reached the number one position
 * "Romeo" (1961)
 * "Ya Ya Twist" (1962)
 * "Chariot" ("I Will Follow Him") (1962)
 * "Coeur Blesse" (1963)
 * "C'est Ma Chanson" (" This is my song ") (1967)

Other noteworthy songs

 * "Put Your Shoes On Lucy" (1949)
 * "House in the Sky" (1949)
 * "I'll Always Love You" (1949)
 * "Clancy Lowered the Boom" (1949)
 * "You Go To My Head" (1950)
 * "Music! Music! Music!" (1950)
 * "You Are My True Love" (1950)
 * "Mariandl" (with Jimmy Young ) (1951)
 * "Where Did My Snowman Go?" (1952)
 * "The Card" (1952)
 * "Christopher Robin At Buckingham Palace" (1953)
 * "Meet Me in Battersea Park" (1954)
 * "Suddenly There's A Valley" (1955)
 * "Another Opens With" (1956)
 * "With All My Heart" (1957)
 * "Fibbin" "(1958)
 * "Devotion" (1958)
 * "Dear Daddy" (1959)
 * "Mama's Talkin 'Soft" (1959), a song that was deleted from musical Gypsy: A Musical Fable
 * "Cinderella Jones" (1960)
 * "Marin" ("Sailor") (1961)
 * "Cœur blessé" (1963)
 * "Ceux qui ont un cœur" ("Anyone Who Had a Heart") (1964)
 * "Invece no" (1965)
 * "Dans le temps" ("Downtown") (1965)
 * "Sauve-moi" (1977)
 * "Mr. Orwell" (1984)
 * Blood Brothers (International Recording) (1995)
 * Songs from Sunset Boulevard (1996)
 * Here for You (1998)
 * The Ultimate Collection (2002)
 * Kaleidoscope (2003)
 * "Starting All Over Again" (2003)
 * Live at the Paris Olympia (2004)
 * "Driven by Emotion" (2005)
 * "Memphis" (2005)
 * "Together" (2006), a duet with Andy Williams
 * "Thank You for Christmas" (2006)
 * "Simple Gifts" (2006)
 * Duets (2007)