Petula Clark

Bird Woman

Petula became a star in the UK at nine years old, singing for the troops stationed in England during the Second World War. Many years later she moved to France and soon became a European star recording in English, French, Italian, German and Spanish. While still living in Paris, English songwriter Tony Hatch presented her with his new composition, ‘Downtown’, which became a worldwide hit and led to a string of top-10 records, winning her two Grammy Awards and making her an international star. She later met with Charlie Chaplin who penned one of her further major hits This Is My Song. She has performed in her own TV shows in the UK, the US and France and has starred in the iconic films Finian’s Rainbow with Fred Astaire and Goodbye Mr Chips with Peter O’Toole. She has been seen on stage in the West End and on Broadway, and has recently finished a triumphant US tour. During her extensive career, spanning eight decades, she sold more than 70 million records. Clark was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1998 and was installed as a Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France in 2012.