Petula Clark

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Petula Clark CBE
Clark in 2010
Background information
Birth name	Sally Clark
Born	(1932-11-15) 15 November 1932 (age 92) Ewell, Surrey, England
Genres	Pop, schlager, theatre, film
Occupations	Actress songwriter vocalist
Years active	1939–present[1]
Labels	Polygon Vogue Pye Imperial Decca EMI Warner Bros. MGM Columbia
Website	petulaclark.net

Petula Clark CBE (born Sally Clark; 15 November 1932) is a British singer, actress, and songwriter. She started her professional career as a child performer and has had the longest career of any British entertainer, spanning more than 85 years.

Clark's professional career began during the Second World War as a child entertainer on BBC Radio.^[1] In 1954, she charted with "The Little Shoemaker", the first of her big UK hits, and within two years she began recording in French. Her international successes have included "Prends mon cœur", "Sailor" (a UK number one), "Romeo", and "Chariot". Hits in German, Italian and Spanish followed. In late 1964, Clark's success extended to the United States with a five-year run of career-defining, often upbeat singles, many written or co-written by Tony Hatch and Jackie Trent. These include her signature song "Downtown" (US number one), "I Know a Place", "My Love" (US number one), "A Sign of the Times", "I Couldn't Live Without Your Love", "Who Am I", "Colour My World", "This Is My Song" (by Charlie Chaplin; a UK number one), "Don't Sleep in the Subway", "The Other Man's Grass Is Always Greener" and "Kiss Me Goodbye". Between January 1965 and April 1968, Clark charted with nine US top 20 hits in the US, where she was called "the First Lady of the British Invasion". Her international chart success was unequalled in recording history. In 1967 she was the recipient of the MIDEM international award for the highest worldwide sales by a female artist. This followed on from her 1966 MIDEM award for most sales in Europe by a European artist.

Clark has sold more than 70 million records.^[2] She has also enjoyed success in the musical film Finian's Rainbow, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination for best actress in a musical, and in the stage musicals The Sound of Music, Blood Brothers, Sunset Boulevard and Mary Poppins for which she received BAFTA nominations.