Tony Hatch - Collaboration With Petula Clark

Collaboration With Petula Clark

After "Valentino", the first of Hatch's compositions to be recorded by Petula Clark, he became her regular producer. They collaborated on a series of French language recordings for Vogue Records. (Clark, whose husband was French and who spoke the language fluently, had a successful career throughout Europe.) Hatch became one of her regular songwriting partners, in addition to supplying English lyrics for songs she had composed with French lyricists.

In 1964, Hatch made his first trip to New York City in search of new material for Clark. The visit inspired him to write "Downtown", originally with The Drifters in mind. When Clark heard the still unfinished tune, she told him that if he could write lyrics to match the quality of the music, she would record the song as her next single. Its release transformed her into a huge international star, topping charts globally early in 1965, and introducing her to the US market. The year also yielded the remarkable series of hits "I Know a Place", "You'd Better Come Home", and "Round Every Corner" for Clark. She and Hatch wrote "You're The One", which became a major hit for The Vogues. Tony Hatch and Petula Clark became established as the British equivalent of Burt Bacharach and Dionne Warwick. In 1965 Hatch's first album under his own name was released. The Downtown Sound of Tony Hatch, features instrumental versions of some of his best known songs, along with new compositions.

The song "Call Me", written for and recorded by Petula Clark in 1965, was recorded by Chris Montez later in the year. Released in November 1965, Montez's version entered the US Easy Listening Top 40 in Billboard that December, and the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1966, peaking that March on the Easy Listening chart at #2 and on the Hot 100 at #22.

Petula Clark's run of hits continued with "My Love", "A Sign of the Times", "Who Am I?", "Colour My World", and "I Couldn't Live Without Your Love". Hatch also wrote Clark's 1967 hits "Don't Sleep In The Subway" and "The Other Man's Grass Is Always Greener" all written with his wife and co-writter Jackie Trent.