Petula Clark - Personal Life

Personal Life

In 1955, Clark became linked romantically with Joe "Mr Piano" Henderson. Speculation that the couple planned to marry became rife. However, with the increasing glare of being in the public spotlight, and Clark's growing fame — her career in France was just beginning — Henderson, reportedly not wanting to end up as "Mr. Petula Clark", decided to end the relationship. Their professional relationship continued for a couple of years, culminating in the BBC Radio series Pet and Mr. Piano, the last time they worked together, although they remained on friendly terms. In 1962, he penned a ballad about their break-up, called "There's Nothing More To Say", for Clark's LP In Other Words.

In 1958, Clark was invited to appear at the Paris Olympia. The following day she was invited to the office of Vogue Records to discuss a contract. It was there that she met the publicist Claude Wolff, to whom she was attracted immediately, and when she was told that he would work with her if she signed up with the label, she agreed. In June 1961, Clark married Wolff, first in a civil ceremony in Paris, then a religious one in her native England. Wanting to escape the restrictions of child stardom imposed upon her by the British public, and eager to escape the influence of her father, she moved to France, where she and Wolff had two daughters, Barbara Michelle and Katherine Natalie, in quick succession. Then their son Patrick was born in 1972.

In 2012, Clark and her husband were living in Switzerland. In January a Facebook campaign was launched to petition for a Damehood for Clark, to celebrate the year of both her 80th birthday and the Diamond Jubilee.