Fairfield Halls, Croydon, UK

In June 1987, April 2007, and May 2014, my husband and I marked milestone birthdays with celebrations centered around Petula Clark concerts. Two were carefully planned and one unfolded spontaneously. Yet each time, as a special birthday approached, we instinctively knew that the most meaningful gift we could give each other was the joy of experiencing Petula Clark live.

In June of 1987 I was about to turn 40 and  very much in the  busy years of my life , raising kids, working, juggling a myriad of things at once. I do not  recall even  being aware that Petula was performing for a week in Toronto,. That is, until by chance ,I noticed an advertisement outside  the Royal York Hotel  as I was entering  Union Station in Toronto situated just across the street from the hotel. .As  I boarded my train to Montreal, I recall thinking how wonderful it would be to see Petula perform again.  The Royal York’s Imperial Room , where Petula was to appear, was considered one of the top supper club venues, rivaling venues in New York and Las Vegas.

The purpose of my trip to Montreal was  to attend my younger brother’s graduation from university. Afterwards, my parents , my brother and I  returned  home by car . As we approached Toronto, the 401 Highway was as usual very congested and busy, especially since it was mid afternoon on a Friday. My brother who was driving suggested we veer off the highway and go through the city –not a very good solution in my opinion.  It seemed ridiculous to be choosing a route through Toronto via busy Yonge Street to avoid traffic!

It only became clear to me that the route through the downtown area was a ruse when we veered onto Front Street and pulled up in front of the Royal York Hotel and standing there to greet me was my husband, smiling broadly , so pleased to have surprised me “”Happy 40tieth”!  We had tickets for Petula’s dinner show that evening !!

The Imperial Room exuded an old-world charm, complete with crystal chandeliers and velvet drapes. It was  a plush, intimate venue. The performance was really quite spectacular –Petula was on a small stage very close to all the patrons.  The  Toronto Sun in an article on June 9, 1987 suggested:

‘She  { Petula} interprets melodies with fewer vocal filters than anyone I’ve heard here since Brenda Lee…her wordplay is distinctively,articulately, British…And so is her repertoire this time , what she calls, “our Brit-hit show,our bouquet from the UK” reprises a half dozen Elton John hits, plus some Paul Mc Cartney selections… Last night Petula Clark earned a wide array of enthusiastic responses – a standing ovation, a fulsome singalong (on “Edelweiss”). 

We would witness such enthusiastic responses to Petula many more times , but would  not see her again in a supper club format until twenty -five years later at Feinstein’s in New York in January 2012.

The second birthday concert was twenty years later during the year I turned 60. Although we had seen Petula in several places in North America, at this point we had never travelled further to see her. After having seen her at the Suncoast Casino in Las Vegas in  February we were curious to know if Petula had any more dates scheduled that year.  At some point in early April  we discovered that Petula was doing a tour of the UK in the spring  and  my husband suggested we fly to London to see her two weeks later–it would be an early birthday trip . 

Our sense of excitement and adventure was very palpable when we checked into our hotel  in Croydon for Petula’s concert on April 26 at  the Fairfield Halls. We toured around Croydon the day of the concert and joined an animated group of concert goers to the evening event.. It appeared that many of the patrons knew each other and, for certain, like us, it was not their first time seeing Petula perform.

Tony Flood from This Is Local London described the concert :

“Petula Clark, Britain’s most successful solo performer of the 20th century, may be 75 but she is still able to ‘wow’ an audience – as she did at the Fairfield Halls, Croydon last week.Her fantastic performance earned her a long standing ovation and afterwards the Ewell-born singer, who lived several years in Kingston, told me it was like coming home. But she added: “The wonderful reception I got was not unusual – that has been typical of everywhere I’ve been on my tour.”

Petula told me before the show that her voice is stronger than ever and she wasn’t exaggerating. She belted out her big worldwide hit Downtown, and gave a beautiful rendition of This Is My Song, with which she topped the British charts for 14 weeks in 1967.Yet she confided to her audience that she had only intended to record This Is My Song in French, German and Italian – she actually objected when asked at the end of the session to do an additional track in English because she did not think it would be suitable for the UK market!She told her adoring audience that one of her career highlights was dancing with the legendary Fred Astaire in Finian’s Rainbow …I was enthralled by It Had To Be You and With One Look – and she ended with a real tear jerker which she had written herself in I’ll Be Here For You.”

What made this concert even more memorable for us is that it was the first time we ever got to meet Petula. As we were heading to exit the theatre we struck up a conversation with another fan who had come from France to see Petula– she was aware that Petula was coming to greet fans after the show. She graciously pointed us to where this meet and greet was happening.  

When we met Petula, she immediately noticed from our accents that we weren’t English. Upon learning we were Canadian, she warmly recalled an appearance in Niagara Falls and fondly mentioned past performances at the O’Keefe Centre—both venues not far from where we lived. We were struck not only by her remarkable memory, but even more by the warmth and sincerity with which she connected to everyone she met. Over the years, we’ve had the privilege of meeting her many more times, and each encounter left us deeply moved by the grace and genuine affection she shows her fans.

The third birthday concert was not for me but for my husband. On the day that he was to turn 70 in May, 2014, Petula was going to be  on tour in Australia. Months before, I  decided to plan a tour of our lifetime for this occasion – we would follow Petula around the country seeing her perform in six venues over a three week period. 

We arrived in Australia on May 1 and during the week took in concerts at the  Mackay Convention Center, Twinstown in  Coolanga/ Tweed  and the Glass House, Port Macquarie . My husband’s  birthday was on May 8 and on the date we were not at a concert; we were actually instead on  an air plane enroute to Melbourne to see Petula  perform on May 9. 

As  we sat in the waiting area of the tiny Port Macquarie airport before the flight , we watched as  Petula and her entourage came in and sat not far from us . Petula was  wearing a baseball cap and sun glasses –we assumed  that indicated a preference  not to be noticed , and since no one seemed to recognize her  we chose not to be, “those  fans” and instead respected  her privacy. In retrospect ,we often wondered if maybe we should have been ”those fans” and approached her. Instead, my husband enjoyed telling the story of how he had flown with Petula Clark on his 70th birthday! 

The next evening’s performance at the gorgeous Hamer Hall in Melbourne was spectacular. We continued on our journey through Australia ending in Adelaide, enjoying every concert and having an absolutely wonderful time. We truly fell in love with the country.. More about our Australia concerts in other blogs.