You I Petula Clark

You and I will travel far together. We’ll pursue our little star together. Watch the evening growing old together. We may never get to heaven but it’s heaven at least to try.

Yes, you and I will travel far together with Petula Clark on the wings of yesteryear’s songs and rest assured that sit will feel like heaven as we try to get to heaven once again when we watch Petula at her concerts slated middle of September, on the 12th at the Manila Hotel and on the 13th at the Araneta Coliseum.

Petula Clark: You & I brings to the concert scene an international artist and performer acclaimed as the most successful British female solo recording artist who emerged as America’s No. 1 female vocalist during the musical British Invasion of the US in the 1960s.

Together with The Beatles, Petula conquered the American and the international music arena, topping the US charts with her anthemic and unforgettable hit, Downtown.

Other songs in her list of million-dollar-selling hits include Love This Is My Song, I Know A Place, Let It Be Me, I Couldn’t Live Without Your Love, Don’t Sleep In The Subway, You & I, A Sign Of The Times, Kiss Me Goodbye, and many more.

Petula’s multifaceted career as a singer, actress and composer stretches back to the time she was a child performer at the age of 11 in her native England, singing for members of the Allied forces in Europe during World War II (becoming the “Singing Sweetheart” of American troops overseas).

With the phenomenal chart performance of Downtown, Petula became a household name in the US after appearing on dozens of top-rating television programs, such as The Ed Sullivan Show, The Dean Martin Show, The Andy Williams Show, The Carol Burnett Show, American Bandstand, The Tonight Show, The Flip Wilson Show, The Hollywood Palace, Here’s Lucy, Bob Hope and Perry Como specials, Night Of 100 Stars, The Golden Globe, Academy Awards, and many more.

Her successful career has also been featured on The David Frost Show, Portrait Of A Legend, This Is Your Life, Bravo Profiles/The South Bank Show, and the recent PBS documentary, Petula Clark: This Is My Song, which first aired in December, 2001.

In recognition of her musical achievements, the American recording industry honored her with Grammy Awards for Best Rock & Roll Record for Downtown in 1964 and for Best Contemporary Female Vocal Performance for I Know A Place in 1965.

With the award, she became the first British female solo artist to win a Grammy Award and the first British pop singer to have a No. 1 hit single in the US.

In 2003, her recording of Downtown was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

In England, she has starred in numerous BBC series and specials that won for her the prestigious British Academy of Film & Television and TV Times’ Favorite Singer awards.

With starring roles in dozens of British films behind her, Petula’s movie career further blossomed in the US, where she was paired opposite Fred Astaire in Francis Ford Coppola’s Finian’s Rainbow and Peter O’Toole in MGM’s musical remake of Goodbye, Mr. Chips, with the latter earning her a Golden Globe nomination.

As a concert and theater artist, she performed in shows throughout the US and Canada and as headliner in theater acts in Las Vegas for more than 30 years.

She made her stage debut in 1981 at the London West End by opening the phenomenally successful revival of The Sound Of Music with what was then considered the largest advance ticket sale in British theater history.

Then And Now, a compilation of the greatest hits and several new Petula Clark compositions recorded at the Arthanor Productions Studio in Geneva, entered the UK album charts in June, 2008.

For her meritorious achievements in France, she was awarded the Grand Prix National Du Disque Francais for being the country’s most successful recording artist, in addition to the Bravos Du Music Hall, Golden Rose and the Grand Medal of the Council of Paris.

In her native England, she was designated Commander of the British Empire (CBE) by Queen Elizabeth in 1998.

In another exclusive, Conversations did a 30-minute interview by telephone with Petula who was in Geneva at the time.

Your fans are excited that you’re finally coming to the Philippines for a concert.

“You know, I’ve never been to the Philippines and I’m just as excited. It’s a first for me and I’m glad to hear that Filipinos are just as excited, too.”

What have you heard about the Philippines?

“Oh, I have Filipino acquaintances here in Switzerland, in the UK and in France. I heard that the Philippines is a beautiful country and that the Filipinos really love music.” 

You are the first successful female artist to have come from England and you are said to define the term “international superstar.” How do you feel about it?

“Oh, I don’t know...I don’t know how I’m supposed to feel about it.

You know, I started singing when I was a child, at the age of about eight. It’s not like I became a star when I was 18.”

Was it hard to start a career at that age and last this long?

“I suppose to. I enjoyed singing when I was a child and I enjoy it now...just as much now, actually. You know, I did have some problems during my adolescence but I guess that every adolescent has problems. My problems were perhaps more difficult because I was growing up in public. But apart from that, no problem. I love singing and it’s a great joy to be able to do something that you like so much.”

You started at eight years old. Don’t you think that you missed part of your childhood?

“Let’s put it this way. I had a different childhood. I didn’t have a normal childhood; I don’t know what a normal childhood is. Childhood is a magic time and it happens very fast. Other children might have been going through the different stages of childhood

and I must have been going through the same experience but only on a different level.”

Of course, your voice at age eight was different from your voice now. How do you adjust your vocal cords to the type of music you’re doing as you grew up?

“I really don’t know. But it seems that my voice hasn’t really changed since I was a child. It sounds the same to me and, I hope, to other people. I don’t think my voice has changed much at all. I still sing the same songs, like Downtown and Don’t Sleep in the Subway, in the same key as when I recorded them.”

Who influenced you to be a singer? Is anybody else in the family into singing?

“Not really. My mother was Welsh. I don’t know much about the Welsh people but I guess they are very, very musical. They love to sing, like the Italians. Tom Jones is Welsh, and so is Shirley Bassey. Among the actors, Anthony Hopkins is Welsh. You know, music is in our veins but I didn’t really come from a musical family at all.”

Would you remember the very first song that you ever learned how to sing?

“Yes, I do. It was a song called Mighty Like a Rose and, in fact, I first sang it when I was six years old. At age eight, I was already famous and I continued singing that song.”

In the ’60s, you became a superstar along with, among others, The Beatles.

“You know, I worked so hard on my career. I married a Frenchman and we moved to France, and I became France’s No. 1 singer. That was before 1964 when Downtown was recorded. The ’60s were a special time for me. The Beatles made it much easier for British singers to be played on the radio. Downtown became a hit in America and I did a lot of hits after that.”

Were your songs inspired by real life? You know, when you’re alone and life is making you lonely you can always go, downtown.

“You know, I have my downtimes as well like everybody else and in times like that, I take my mind away from it, and get out and see the rest of the world.”

Do you still go downtown?

(Laughs) “Oh yes, I do.”
When you look back at the ’60s and ’70s, what are your fondest memories?

“I have many, many fond memories. You know, they were wonderful years. They were also complicated years because, you know, I was married and I had two children then. We have now three children.

I was traveling all over the place and I was trying to be a good mother and a good performer. Luckily, I was working with amazing people.”

Do you listen to the new breed of singers? How different the singers today from those of your time?

“I think you know the answer to that. Hmmmm...You know, there are good and there are bad. There were good singers and bad singers then, and there are good singers and bad singers now. The world has changed a lot and so has the music industry and the people. People don’t seem to buy records as much as people back then did. That’s one thing I don’t like about it.”

You sang for the Allied Forces during World War II, earning you the title “Singing Sweetheart” for American soldiers abroad. Wasn’t it very risky singing near the frontline?

“Ahhh, I was never allowed to go on the frontline. There was another little girl who was also singing at that time. Her name is Julie Andrews.”

Oh, Julie Andrews! I interviewed her a few years ago in Hollywood for the movie Princess Diaries. She’s a very nice lady like you.

“Julie is a very, very, very nice lady. We used to perform for the troops but in different camps.”

Were you rivals?

“Hmmm...We were not exactly rivals. We both just like to sing.” (Adding with a laugh) “But I think our parents were rivals.” 

You also appeared in movies, one of them Finian’s Rainbow, with Peter O’Toole as co-star, for which you got an Oscar nomination. And you did Broadway (Sound of Music, etc.), too. Do you consider yourself more of a singer than as an actress?

“I enjoy acting as much as I enjoy singing. As a little girl, I also wanted to be an actress; I didn’t think of myself as being a singer. Singing and acting are very closely related. When I’m doing a show, it’s wonderful because I have to act and feel what I am singing. To me, that’s perfection. When I do a concert, as I am doing in Manila, every show is like a play in my mind. So I use acting when I sing and vice-versa.”

Petula, when you come to Manila, please sing your old songs. We’d love to hear them all over again. (Such as Love This is My Song, I Know a Place, I Couldn’t Live Without Your Love, A Sign of the Times, Kiss Me Goodbye and many others.)

I understand that you live in Geneva. How’s your life in Geneva?

“My family has been away in Turkey and I was left home with the dogs. To be honest with you, I don’t really live here; I go to many different places. Geneva is a nice place to come back to when you’re away for long. It’s a very relaxing place.”

What do you do to relax? Do you listen to music?

“I write music. I play the piano. By the way, can you tell me...does everybody speak very good English in the Philippines?”

Oh yes. English is our second language.

“Oh, that’s good because during a concert I also love to talk. It’s not just about singing, it’s about talking to the audience. I’m really looking forward to performing in the Philippines.”

What have you been busy with these days, aside from doing concerts?

“That’s about it. I did a UK tour at the beginning of summer. I’ve been writing, writing, writing. I also spend time in the French Alps where we have a house. After Manila, I’ll be in Vancouver, then New York and then Rome.”

Where are your children?

“Well, we are a very unusual family. We’re not always together. I have a daughter who lives in New York. She has two beautiful children. I have another daughter who lives in Paris; she’s not married. Last night, I had dinner with my son who got married three weeks ago; he lives in Geneva. We are living in different places, all right, but we try to see each other as often as we can. We are probably a much closer family than most people I know.”

Did you sing your children to sleep when they were kids?

“Yes, I did. I wish I could do the same thing to my grandchildren. They think I’m a pretty cool grandmother because I usually ride around in limousines and they see me singing in fine hotels. I’m not the usual grandmother.”

Petula, what song do you want to be remembered for?

“Ahhh...that’s difficult. Let me think...Tony Bennett is best remembered for I Left My Heart in San Francisco. Yes, I want to be remembered for Downtown.”

(Note: The Philippine STAR is also one of the sponsors of the Petula Clark: You and I concerts, produced by Renen de Guia’s Ovation Productions. Tickets to the Sept. 13 Big Dome concert are priced at P4,200, P3,700, P2,700, P1,700, P1,000 and P580, and are available at Ticketnet outlets at SM Department Stores and at the Araneta Coliseum ticket office. Tickets to the Sept. 12 Manila Hotel Tent City dinner-show — also featuring MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando, Energy Sec. Angelo Reyes and former DILG Sec. Joey Lina, a.k.a The Three Tenors — cost P10,000, P6,000 and P3,000. For reservations, call 438-7200 or 911-5615.).