Petula Clark

Petula Clark CBE
Clark in April 2012
Background information
Birth name	Sally Olwen Clark
Born	(1932-11-15) 15 November 1932 (age 84) Epsom, Surrey, England
Genres	Popular music, schlager, theatre, film
Occupation(s)	Actress, composer, vocalist
Years active	1939–present
Labels	Polygon Vogue Pye Imperial Decca EMI Warner Bros. MGM Columbia

Petula Clark, CBE (born Sally Olwen Clark, 15 November 1932) is an English singer, actress and composer whose career has spanned seven decades.

Clark's professional career began as an entertainer on BBC Radio during World War II. During the 1950s she started recording in French and having international success in both French and English, with such songs as "The Little Shoemaker", "Baby Lover", "With All My Heart" and "Prends Mon Cœur". During the 1960s she became known globally for her popular upbeat hits, including "Downtown", "I Know a Place", "My Love", "A Sign of the Times", "I Couldn't Live Without Your Love", "Colour My World", "This Is My Song" and "Don't Sleep in the Subway", and she was dubbed "the First Lady of the British Invasion". She has sold more than 68 million records.

Clark was born to Doris (née Phillips) and Leslie Norman Clark in Epsom, Surrey, England on 15 November 1932. Both of her parents were nurses there at Long Grove Hospital. Her mother was of Welsh ancestry and her father was English. Young Sally's stage name of Petula was invented by her father, Leslie Clark; he joked it was a combination of the names of two former girlfriends, Pet and Ulla.

During the war Clark lived with her sister at the home of their grandparents in South Wales, in a small stone house with no electricity, no running water and a toilet at the bottom of the garden. Her grandparents spoke little English and Clark learned to speak Welsh. Her grandfather was a coal miner. Her first ever live audience was at the Colliers' Arms in Abercanaid, near Merthyr Tydfil.