Petula Clark is a world star, perhaps the only one to have embraced both the English and French-speaking worlds. Not surprisingly, the British singer, who began her career during World War II singing songs for Her Majesty's soldiers on the BBC, then made her home in French-speaking territories, first in France and then in Switzerland, where she lives with her family in Geneva.

In March 2020, the United Music Foundation located in Geneva released the album « A Valentine's Day at the Royal Albert Hall », a collector's edition including the complete recording of her legendary concert at the Royal Albert Hall on 14 February 1974. The concert was completely restored by sound engineer, musician and record producer David Hadzis. To this day, Petula thinks that the work done by the Swiss sound specialist is one of her best albums of her entire discography.

Petula is attached to Geneva, as she and her husband Claude Wolff have always expressed in their various interviews. For the launch of geneveMonde.ch and on the occasion of the World Day of Audiovisual Heritage, Petula offers us a unique one-hour conversion from the studio of the United Music Foundation where she often works. In this interview, she talks about her relationship with international Geneva, and the work she did with her compatriot Peter Ustinov, whom she adored. She also talks about her encounters with Serge Gainsbourg, Frank Sinatra, Lucien Morisse or her live performance with Ed Sullivan at the time of the colossal American success of "Downtown".

In the playlist

We start the segment with a short extract from the RTS archives, an interview with Petula conducted by Jacques Bofford in April 1969 on the First radio programme of the Radio Télévision Suisse.

Songs

1) « Cut Copy Me », 2012

2) « I Know a Place » live at the Royal Albert Hall in London, February 14th, 1974

3) « Flash-Back », 1972

4) « London Medley », London is London, London Pride, Portobello Road, A Nightingale Sang in Beverley Square, London is London – reprise) live at the Royal Albert Hall in London, February 14th, 1974

5) « Downtown », live at the Royal Albert Hall in London, February 14th, 1974

On the occasion of the World Day for Audiovisual Heritage 2016 celebrated by UNESCO, the United Music Foundation has completed the preservation of the original master tapes of Petula Clark's legendary concerts at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Miraculously found after extensive research in the UK and the USA, the original master tapes of Petula Clark's legendary concerts at the Royal Albert Hall have been preserved in Geneva in high resolution (24bits/96kHz) by the United Music Foundation.

Regarded as major events and broadcast on radio and TV, these concerts recorded in 1969, 1974 and 1983, which have never been published in their entirety, contain live versions of her international hits as well as many unreleased songs, notably with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

This preservation project was completed with the collaboration of Petula Clark and her husband and manager Claude Wolff, who have opened their archives to the United Music Foundation. The live album “A Valentine’s Day Concert” at the Royal Albert Hall was restored and finalized thanks to the support of the city of Geneva, the municipality of Anières, the cities of Chêne-Bougeries and Vernier, the municipalities of Bellevue, Cologny, Confignon, Plan-les-Ouates, Presinge, Troinex and Vandoeuvres, Pozzoli SpA and private donors who prefer to remain anonymous.

A heartfelt thank you to David Hadzis, Yves de Matteis, Claude Wolff and Petula Clark.

Photo : Petula Clark at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC Library)