"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.
"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.