Petula Clark

Petula Sally Olwen Clark (born November 15 1932), CBE, is a British singer, actress and composer, best known for her upbeat popular international hits of the 1960s. With nearly 70 million recordings sold worldwide, she is the most successf

Petula Sally Olwen Clark (born November 15 1932), CBE, is a British singer, actress and composer, best known for her upbeat popular international hits of the 1960s. With nearly 70 million recordings sold worldwide, she is the most successful British female recording artist to date. She also holds the distinction of having the longest span on the international pop charts of any artist, an astonishing fifty-one years - from 1954, when "The Little Shoemaker" made the UK Top Twenty, through 2005, when her CD "L'essentiel - 20 Succès Inoubliables" charted in Belgium.

Petula Clark was born in Epsom, Surrey. Her father, Leslie Clark, coined her first name, jokingly alleging it was a combination of the names of two former girlfriends, Pet and Ulla. Clark became a star of radio and film before reaching her early teens. As a child, she sang in the church choir; her first public performances were in a department store in suburban London, where she sang with an orchestra in the entrance hall for sweets and a gold wristwatch. In October 1942, she made her radio debut while attending a BBC broadcast with her father, hoping to send a message to an uncle stationed overseas. During an air raid, the producer requested that someone perform to settle the jittery audience, and Clark volunteered a rendition of "Mighty Lak a Rose" to an enthusiastic response in the theater. She then repeated her performance for the broadcast audience, launching a series of some 500 appearances in programs designed to entertain the troops. In addition to her radio work, Clark frequently toured the UK with fellow child performer Julie Andrews. She became known as "Britain's Shirley Temple" and was considered a mascot by both the RAF and the United States Army, whose troops plastered her photos on their tanks for good luck as they battled at El Alamein.