Is That You, Petula?: An Autobiography

'At the start of the war, I had been an anonymous six-year-old girl who loved playing in the mountain streams of Wales. By the end of it, I had become famous. And that fame never really stopped.'

Petula Clark has had a life, and career, like nobody else. She sang to wartime troops as a child star, became a leading British singer in the 1950s, evolved into a European musical icon and then conquered America with a string of hit records, beginning with 'Downtown'. This international superstar of music, stage and screen has illuminated both major Hollywood movies and stage musicals. Along the way, Petula has sung to US presidents, dined with Frank Sinatra and watched him pull out a gun, danced through fields with Fred Astaire, politely rebuffed Elvis Presley's advances in Vegas and was one of thirteen maids of honour at Liza Minnelli and David Gest's wedding... all dressed in black. Yet, beyond the spotlight, Petula's life has had its shadows. In this candid memoir, she speaks with moving honesty about a complicated childhood, a sometimes turbulent adolescence and a family life that wasn't always as perfect as it appeared. She reveals how she mastered the art of pretending thin

Author: Petula Clark
Publisher: Ebury Spotlight
Published: 03/03/2026
Pages: 320
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.25lbs
Size: 9.30h x 5.92w x 1.27d
ISBN: 9781529955095

About the Author

Petula Clark is a singer, songwriter, actress and performer whose remarkable career spans more than eight decades - the longest of any British entertainer. She first stepped into the limelight as a child during WWII, singing to the troops on wartime radio and in concert, before appearing in a string of films. After a series of UK hit records in the 1950s, Petula followed her heart, and her future husband Claude Wolff, to France, where she became that country's most popular female vocalist. She then became an international superstar when she topped the charts for the first time in the US with Downtown in 1965. She has won two Grammy awards and has sold an estimated 100 million records worldwide.

Petula has starred in Hollywood classic movies such as Finian's Rainbow alongside Fred Astaire and Goodbye, Mr. Chips, with Peter O'Toole. Her stage work - on both sides of the Atlantic - includes long-running, critically acclaimed performances in The Sound of Music, Blood Brothers and Sunset Boulevard. She has also captivated audiences in concert halls and theatres around the world, performing for generations of devoted fans. She has received countless honours including a CBE in the UK for her services to music and drama, and in France, the rank of Commandeur des Arts et Lettres.

She continues to perform and lives between Geneva and London. This is her first, and only, book.