"When you're alone and life is making you lonely you can always go - downtown."
For baby boomers and beyond, there are certain songs that, from their very first line, conjure up memories of people, times and places. The 1964 hit, "Downtown" by Petula Clark is one of those songs.
While Clark was already a well-established actress, singer and recording artist in Europe, "Downtown" was the song that introduced her to American audiences. And what an introduction it was. Shortly after Warner Bros. released "Downtown" in the US., it leapt to the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100, making Clark the first British female artist to have a number one hit in the U.S. during the rock 'n' roll era and earn a gold record for sales of one million units. Grabbing the attention of America's pop and rock listeners, "Downtown" would prove to be the catalyst that would see Clark become a dominating force in American music, charting with 14 more US. Top 40 hits throughout the remainder of the 1960s.
While the 196os saw the U.S. go though the growing pains of political upheaval, youth rebellion and dramatic social change, there were a few artists who crossed the era's cultural and generational divide. During a time when young people and their parents could hardly agree on anything, teens, their parents, and the twenty-and-thirtysomethings in-between the two generations, listened to, and enjoyed, the music of Petula Clark.
Beginning with "Downtown," the song that first bridged that gap, Clark continued to chalk up hits including "I Know a Place," "Don't Sleep in the Subway," "This is My Song," "I Couldn't Live Without Your Love," "My Love," and "Sign of the Times." Along with her selection of compelling songs, there was something almost ethereal about her voice which saw her continue to transcend the generations, throughout the '6os and on to today.
THE EARLY YEARS
Clark, the daughter of a Welsh mother and an English father, credits her Welsh ancestry for her musical prowess. "The Welsh are very musical people, like the Italians," she explains.
During the blitz of World War II, young Petula was sent to Wales to stay with her grandparents. It was during those days that her musical roots took form and she sang lust for fun," she says, in local chapels and pubs. In an odd twist, while the war brought such devastation and hardships to so many British families, it also served as a springboard for Clark's career. In the 194os, there was a popular radio program on the BBC, "Foreign Wars," geared for the children of those who were serving in the armed forces. "Foreign Wars" was a platform by which children could send messages to their fathers, brothers or uncles.
For baby boomers and beyond, there are certain songs that, from their very first line, conjure up memories of people, times and places. The 1964 hit, "Downtown" by Petula Clark is one of those songs.
While Clark was already a well-established actress, singer and recording artist in Europe, "Downtown" was the song that introduced her to American audiences. And what an introduction it was. Shortly after Warner Bros. released "Downtown" in the US., it leapt to the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100, making Clark the first British female artist to have a number one hit in the U.S. during the rock 'n' roll era and earn a gold record for sales of one million units. Grabbing the attention of America's pop and rock listeners, "Downtown" would prove to be the catalyst that would see Clark become a dominating force in American music, charting with 14 more US. Top 40 hits throughout the remainder of the 1960s.
While the 196os saw the U.S. go though the growing pains of political upheaval, youth rebellion and dramatic social change, there were a few artists who crossed the era's cultural and generational divide. During a time when young people and their parents could hardly agree on anything, teens, their parents, and the twenty-and-thirtysomethings in-between the two generations, listened to, and enjoyed, the music of Petula Clark.
Beginning with "Downtown," the song that first bridged that gap, Clark continued to chalk up hits including "I Know a Place," "Don't Sleep in the Subway," "This is My Song," "I Couldn't Live Without Your Love," "My Love," and "Sign of the Times." Along with her selection of compelling songs, there was something almost ethereal about her voice which saw her continue to transcend the generations, throughout the '6os and on to today.
THE EARLY YEARS
Clark, the daughter of a Welsh mother and an English father, credits her Welsh ancestry for her musical prowess. "The Welsh are very musical people, like the Italians," she explains.
During the blitz of World War II, young Petula was sent to Wales to stay with her grandparents. It was during those days that her musical roots took form and she sang lust for fun," she says, in local chapels and pubs. In an odd twist, while the war brought such devastation and hardships to so many British families, it also served as a springboard for Clark's career. In the 194os, there was a popular radio program on the BBC, "Foreign Wars," geared for the children of those who were serving in the armed forces. "Foreign Wars" was a platform by which children could send messages to their fathers, brothers or uncles.
"The BBC used to use this theater, which still exists in London - the Criterion Theater - (which) is
underground, right in the middle of Piccadilly," Clark recalls. "It was ideal, because it was really like a big air
raid shelter and the BBC used it for a lot of their broadcasts. The show, 'Foreign Wars,' was done there and I
recall going to send a message to my uncle who was serving in the war. While I was there, right in the middle
of rehearsals, there was the most enormous air raid. A lot of the kids were very nervous and I remember the
producer asked if anyone would like to come up and recite a piece of poetry or sing a song, just to sort of
settle things down a bit. Well, nobody volunteered, so I got up and sang. They put me on a box so I could
reach the microphone and when they heard me in the control room, someone said: 'You have a great radio
voice, would you like to sing as well as send your message?' I said that I would, and that was the first time I
was heard on the air. While I was just a little girl, that was sort of the beginning of my professional career."
While the war raged on, word of Clark's precocious talent saw her tapped to entertain the troops throughout England and, by the time she was eight, she had become a star with her own radio program. While she stresses they were always friends and never rivals, Clark says that during that time there was another little English girl, a few years younger than she, who was also making waves as a singer - a little girl by the name of Julie Andrews. "Julie and I used to go out singing to troops in different camps all over the place," Clark recalls. "We would travel in troop trains and sleep in luggage racks. I heard that many of the troops even plastered my photo on their tanks for good luck."
As Clark's fame soared, the Rank Organization put her under contract, not as a singer, but as an actress. Churning out what she refers to as a string of "forgettable films," she became known as "Britain's Shirley Temple." Those films also provided the then-teenaged Clark with a great memory - her first kiss. "Alec Guinness was my first screen kiss," she recalls. "In fact, it was my first kiss, too. I was very chaste," she adds with a laugh.
POST WAR STARDOM
After the war, in 1946, Clark jumped into the new medium of television with a guest appearance on a variety show that led to her own afternoon television series. By this time, her singing and recording career had overshadowed her acting career and, while she was an established star churning out hit after hit during the 195os, her fame in America would still be over a decade away. In the late 195os, while performing at the Paris Olympia, in France, Clark was contacted by Vogue Records in hopes of working out a contractual deal. During this time, she also had a chance meeting with publicist Claude Wolff, whom she would marry in 1961.
While the war raged on, word of Clark's precocious talent saw her tapped to entertain the troops throughout England and, by the time she was eight, she had become a star with her own radio program. While she stresses they were always friends and never rivals, Clark says that during that time there was another little English girl, a few years younger than she, who was also making waves as a singer - a little girl by the name of Julie Andrews. "Julie and I used to go out singing to troops in different camps all over the place," Clark recalls. "We would travel in troop trains and sleep in luggage racks. I heard that many of the troops even plastered my photo on their tanks for good luck."
As Clark's fame soared, the Rank Organization put her under contract, not as a singer, but as an actress. Churning out what she refers to as a string of "forgettable films," she became known as "Britain's Shirley Temple." Those films also provided the then-teenaged Clark with a great memory - her first kiss. "Alec Guinness was my first screen kiss," she recalls. "In fact, it was my first kiss, too. I was very chaste," she adds with a laugh.
POST WAR STARDOM
After the war, in 1946, Clark jumped into the new medium of television with a guest appearance on a variety show that led to her own afternoon television series. By this time, her singing and recording career had overshadowed her acting career and, while she was an established star churning out hit after hit during the 195os, her fame in America would still be over a decade away. In the late 195os, while performing at the Paris Olympia, in France, Clark was contacted by Vogue Records in hopes of working out a contractual deal. During this time, she also had a chance meeting with publicist Claude Wolff, whom she would marry in 1961.
After her marriage to Wolff, the couple resided in Paris for seven years and Clark's career continued to
skyrocket. "When you become a star in France, you also become a star in French-speaking Canada,
Belgium, Switzerland, and Morocco," she explains. "So I had this huge career going for me."
It was during that time in Paris that Clark began working with Hatch. "He had come to Paris to talk about the next French recording session I had scheduled and said: 'You know, you really should be recording again in English.' I said: 'Well, if I could find the right song I would.' He told me about this song he had just started writing. 'I've got the title and I've got the tune,' he told me. So I asked him to play it for me while I made some tea. That was the first time I heard the melody of 'Downtown.' I was standing in the kitchen making tea and when I came back, I said: 'That's a great tune. If you can write a lyric up to the standards of that tune, I'll do it.' Two weeks later, we recorded it in London, although neither of us had any idea we were recording a monster hit."
AMERICAN STARDOM AND CONTROVERSY
With the release of "Downtown" in 1964, Clark became an even bigger star, one of the best-selling British female artists in recording history and the first British solo artist to win a Grammy (for "Downtown"). With her star high in the sky, the mid-196os saw Clark try her hand at songwriting and, in 1965, she wrote the lyrics for the hit, "You're the One," that was recorded by the Vogues. "Sometimes I write music, sometimes lyrics, sometimes I write both," she explains.
Proving to be much more than one of the most popular recording artists of the era, by the latter part of the 196os, Clark had become an advocate for peace and passionate about civil rights. One civil rights-related incident, which occurred in 1968, tied Clark into historic headlines. While hosting her own NBC television special, Clark took hold of guest Harry Belafonte's arm while the two were singing a duet. This innocent gesture panicked the sponsors during a preview screening of the show. The sponsors insisted she and Belafonte do an alternate take for fear it would upset Southern viewers. Clark and her husband, who was the show's executive producer, adamantly refused. The show aired as originally shot and the ratings were huge. Ironically, the song the pair was singing was an anti-war tune that Clark herself composed.
Along with that incident, 1966 would prove to be a banner year for Clark professionally, as she also returned to acting. Not only did she star in Francis Ford Coppola's film adaptation of the Broadway hit "Finian's Rainbow" opposite Fred Astaire, she was also nominated for a Golden Globe for her role in "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" in which she starred with Peter O'Toole.
JOINING JOHN TO GIVE PEACE A CHANCE
With her place in music history clearly secured, the following year would see Clark
It was during that time in Paris that Clark began working with Hatch. "He had come to Paris to talk about the next French recording session I had scheduled and said: 'You know, you really should be recording again in English.' I said: 'Well, if I could find the right song I would.' He told me about this song he had just started writing. 'I've got the title and I've got the tune,' he told me. So I asked him to play it for me while I made some tea. That was the first time I heard the melody of 'Downtown.' I was standing in the kitchen making tea and when I came back, I said: 'That's a great tune. If you can write a lyric up to the standards of that tune, I'll do it.' Two weeks later, we recorded it in London, although neither of us had any idea we were recording a monster hit."
AMERICAN STARDOM AND CONTROVERSY
With the release of "Downtown" in 1964, Clark became an even bigger star, one of the best-selling British female artists in recording history and the first British solo artist to win a Grammy (for "Downtown"). With her star high in the sky, the mid-196os saw Clark try her hand at songwriting and, in 1965, she wrote the lyrics for the hit, "You're the One," that was recorded by the Vogues. "Sometimes I write music, sometimes lyrics, sometimes I write both," she explains.
Proving to be much more than one of the most popular recording artists of the era, by the latter part of the 196os, Clark had become an advocate for peace and passionate about civil rights. One civil rights-related incident, which occurred in 1968, tied Clark into historic headlines. While hosting her own NBC television special, Clark took hold of guest Harry Belafonte's arm while the two were singing a duet. This innocent gesture panicked the sponsors during a preview screening of the show. The sponsors insisted she and Belafonte do an alternate take for fear it would upset Southern viewers. Clark and her husband, who was the show's executive producer, adamantly refused. The show aired as originally shot and the ratings were huge. Ironically, the song the pair was singing was an anti-war tune that Clark herself composed.
Along with that incident, 1966 would prove to be a banner year for Clark professionally, as she also returned to acting. Not only did she star in Francis Ford Coppola's film adaptation of the Broadway hit "Finian's Rainbow" opposite Fred Astaire, she was also nominated for a Golden Globe for her role in "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" in which she starred with Peter O'Toole.
JOINING JOHN TO GIVE PEACE A CHANCE
With her place in music history clearly secured, the following year would see Clark
become a part of yet
another historical event in the annals of rock 'n' roll when she was invited by John Lennon and Yoko Uno to
participate in their legendary recording of "Give Peace a Chance."
Joining one of the oddest gatherings of voices to ever perform on a record, including psychologist Timothy
Leary, comedian Dick Gregory, poet Allen Ginsberg, radio personally Murray the K, journalist Derek
Taylor and Tommy Smothers of the Smothers Brothers, Clark's inclusion on the recording was pure
serendipity. She did not personally know either Lennon or Uno and just happened to be in Montreal when
the ex-Beatle and his new wife were staging one of their extended honeymoon bed-ins for peace at the
Queen Elizabeth Hotel.
Caught up in a business deal that had her conflicted, Clark decided to seek Lennon's opinion on what she should do. "I knew John Lennon was in town doing a bed-in - the thing he and Yoko used to do to promote peace. So I went over to the hotel and there was no security. That tells you how long ago it was. I went up to their room and there they were - in bed. I told my story to John and asked him what he thought I should do. He gave me some very good advice and he was just adorable. He said: 'What you need is a glass of wine. Why don't you go into the sitting room?' I did, and there were several people in there, some of whom I knew. There was some music going on and somebody gave us a lyric sheet and we just all started singing. It was all very confusing and I wasn't really aware that everything was being recorded and filmed. And so, that's how I ended up on 'Give Peace a Chance,' which is really quite nice. It was just one of those crazy things that happens and it is why I decided to record John's 'Imagine,' which is on my new CD, 'Lost in You.' I think 'Imagine' is such a wonderful and slightly naive song, but that's the way John was, and, in a way, that's the way I am."
LIFE TODAY
The mother of three adult children, Clark says that she went through a period in which she struggled with tremendous guilt about how to juggle her family and career. "I wanted to be the perfect mother and the perfect wife and, hopefully, a fairly good performer," she says. "That's a very difficult thing to do. Something has to give, and I think both sides suffered. If I had a performance scheduled in Vegas, I would leave my home in Geneva, Switzerland at the very last minute, so I could be with the children as long as possible. That meant I would get to Nevada or California with only a short time to recuperate from the flight and get my act together for the show, which was not the way to go. It was pretty frantic getting everything right in a day or two while fighting jet lag. Then, I would finish the shows, and instead of staying on and relaxing a bit and making friends and contacts, I would get right back on a flight to Geneva. So it was very exhausting and I think both my performances and my family suffered."
Caught up in a business deal that had her conflicted, Clark decided to seek Lennon's opinion on what she should do. "I knew John Lennon was in town doing a bed-in - the thing he and Yoko used to do to promote peace. So I went over to the hotel and there was no security. That tells you how long ago it was. I went up to their room and there they were - in bed. I told my story to John and asked him what he thought I should do. He gave me some very good advice and he was just adorable. He said: 'What you need is a glass of wine. Why don't you go into the sitting room?' I did, and there were several people in there, some of whom I knew. There was some music going on and somebody gave us a lyric sheet and we just all started singing. It was all very confusing and I wasn't really aware that everything was being recorded and filmed. And so, that's how I ended up on 'Give Peace a Chance,' which is really quite nice. It was just one of those crazy things that happens and it is why I decided to record John's 'Imagine,' which is on my new CD, 'Lost in You.' I think 'Imagine' is such a wonderful and slightly naive song, but that's the way John was, and, in a way, that's the way I am."
LIFE TODAY
The mother of three adult children, Clark says that she went through a period in which she struggled with tremendous guilt about how to juggle her family and career. "I wanted to be the perfect mother and the perfect wife and, hopefully, a fairly good performer," she says. "That's a very difficult thing to do. Something has to give, and I think both sides suffered. If I had a performance scheduled in Vegas, I would leave my home in Geneva, Switzerland at the very last minute, so I could be with the children as long as possible. That meant I would get to Nevada or California with only a short time to recuperate from the flight and get my act together for the show, which was not the way to go. It was pretty frantic getting everything right in a day or two while fighting jet lag. Then, I would finish the shows, and instead of staying on and relaxing a bit and making friends and contacts, I would get right back on a flight to Geneva. So it was very exhausting and I think both my performances and my family suffered."
Today, relishing a close relationship with her children and two grandchildren, Clark says she still harbors
pangs of guilt when she thinks back to the time she spent away from her kids. "I do still feel guilty about
having not been the perfect mother, and probably always will. The children and I have had long
conversations about it and they're always trying to comfort me about it. So we're fine," she laughs. They are
especially fine each Christmas when the entire family gathers to spend the holidays together in the French
Alps, a tradition they repeat during the summer months.
Just a few months away from celebrating her 81st birthday, Clark says she is quite happy. "I don't stress over little things and I take care of myself," she says. "I eat healthy, walk, and have an occasional glass of wine."
Asked what she thinks of her career accomplishments. Clark shrugs. "It's a funny thing, but I don't feel as if I've done very much in my life," she opines. "I suppose other people think I have. But 1 don't think so."
That statement couldn't be further from the truth. She has not only sustained a successful career as an entertainer, mastering all media including stage, screen, television and recording, but also successfully raised three children and is today a doting grandmother as well as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, an honor bestowed upon her by Queen Elizabeth for her services to music.
Just a few months away from celebrating her 81st birthday, Clark says she is quite happy. "I don't stress over little things and I take care of myself," she says. "I eat healthy, walk, and have an occasional glass of wine."
Asked what she thinks of her career accomplishments. Clark shrugs. "It's a funny thing, but I don't feel as if I've done very much in my life," she opines. "I suppose other people think I have. But 1 don't think so."
That statement couldn't be further from the truth. She has not only sustained a successful career as an entertainer, mastering all media including stage, screen, television and recording, but also successfully raised three children and is today a doting grandmother as well as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, an honor bestowed upon her by Queen Elizabeth for her services to music.
While many 80-year-old living legends would be happy to rest on their laurels, Clark is not one of them.
Sony Music released her latest CD, "Lost in You," this year. The album is an eclectic collection of new songs,
covers, and even a rerecording of her signature "Downtown." She is also gearing up for a U.K. tour in
October, and even hopes to come to the U.S. as well. "My new show is going to be a mixture of the old stuff
that people would expect me to sing, plus the new songs," she says with a smile. "That's really exciting for
me."
'When you're alone and life is making you lonely you can always go - downtown."
Somehow the lyrics of that, and so many of Petula Clark's other signature songs, have left an indelible mark in the memories of aso many baby boomers and beyond. And hey, perhaps with a little luck, we may all get the chance to relive those memories and even make new ones if that U.S. tour becomes a reality.
Sandi Berg is a freelance writer and a regular contributor to "Life After 50."
'When you're alone and life is making you lonely you can always go - downtown."
Somehow the lyrics of that, and so many of Petula Clark's other signature songs, have left an indelible mark in the memories of aso many baby boomers and beyond. And hey, perhaps with a little luck, we may all get the chance to relive those memories and even make new ones if that U.S. tour becomes a reality.
Sandi Berg is a freelance writer and a regular contributor to "Life After 50."