Post "Downtown" Era
During the early 1970s, Clark had chart singles on both sides of the Atlantic with: "Melody Man" (1970); "The Song Of My Life" (1971); "I Don't Know How To Love Him" (1972), "The Wedding Song (There Is Love)" (1972) and "Loving Arms" (1974). In Canada 'Je voudrais Qu'il Soit Malheureux' was a major hit.
Clark continued touring during the 1970s, performing in clubs in the US and Europe.
During this period, Clark also appeared in print and radio ads for the Coca Cola Corp., television commercials for Plymouth automobiles, print and TV spots for Burlington Industries, television and print ads for Chrysler Sunbeam, and print ads for Sanderson Wallpaper in the UK.
By the mid-1970s, Clark scaled back her career in order to devote more time to her family. On 31 December 1976, she performed her hit song Downtown on BBC1's A Jubilee Of Music, celebrating British pop music for Queen Elizabeth II's impending Silver Jubilee. She also hosted the television series The Sound of Petula (1973–74), and through the 70s made numerous guest appearances on variety, comedy and game show television.
In 1980 Clark made her last film appearance, in the British production Never Never Land. Her last television appearance was acting in the 1981 French mini-series Sans Famille (An Orphan's Tale).
As Clark moved away from film and television, she moved back to the stage. In 1954, Clark had starred in a stage production of The Constant Nymph, but it wasn't until 1981, at the urging of her children, that she returned to legitimate theatre, starring as Maria von Trapp in The Sound of Music in London's West End. Opening to rave reviews and what was then the largest advance sale in British theatre history, Clark - proclaimed by Maria Von Trapp herself as "the best Maria ever" — extended her initial six-month run to thirteen to accommodate the huge demand for tickets. In 1983, she took on the title role in George Bernard Shaw's Candida. Later stage work includes Someone Like You in 1989 and 1990, for which she composed the score; Blood Brothers, in which she made her Broadway debut in 1993 at the Music Box Theatre, followed by the American tour; and Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard, appearing in both the West End and American touring productions from 1995 through 2000. In 2004, she repeated her performance of Norma Desmond in a production at the Opera House in Cork, Ireland, which was later broadcast by the BBC. With more than 2,500 performances, she has played the role more often than any other actress.
A new disco re-mix of Downtown called "Downtown '88" was released in 1988 registering Clark's first UK Singles Chart success since 1972, making the Top Ten in the UK in December 1988. A live vocal performance of this version was performed on the BBC show, Top of the Pops. Clark recorded new material regularly throughout the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, and in 1992 released "Oxygen", a single produced by Andy Richards and written by Nik Kershaw.
In 1998, Clark was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II.
Read more about this topic: Petula Clark
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