Petula Clark is a musician that's renowned as one of the most popular British singers
of all time.
The singer found success in America even before the Beatles and has gone on to effortlessly
maintain her iconic status in the decades since.
Today, at the age of 89, Petula has plenty of interesting stories to tell about her years
in the music industry.
One of the most intriguing these involves the time she and her close friend Karen Carpenter
were propositioned by Elvis Presley during the latter figure's physical prime!
Join Facts Verse as we explore how Petula Clark says she turned down a threesome with
Elvis.
Petula Clark Has Been an Icon for Decades!
Petula Clark is a legendary British singer that has had a decades-spanning career in
the music industry.
The singer has been signed to notable record label Desert Island Discs on three separate
occasions.
She was first signed to the record label many decades ago when she was only 18 years old.
Petula signed her first big record contract with them in 1951, though she had already
been working in the entertainment industry since her early childhood.
Petula Clark had been through several phases of her career by the time she found success
internationally thanks to her single “Downtown”.
Many credits this song as being the very first single of the British Invasion.
It became a number-one hit in America and proved more successful than the Beatles’
debut.
Though the Beatles would go on to define the movement of the British Invasion thanks to
their subsequent contributions to popular culture, history will always show that Petula
Clark did it first.
Petula got to work with numerous legends over the course of her early career, from Fred
Astaire to Dean Martin.
It has even been rumored that, on one occasion, film star Steve McQueen confronted the singer
at a restaurant and publicly confessed his love to her.
Though everyone wanted to get a piece of Petula Clark, it seems that there were many people
that weren’t able to.
The singer has always been picky about who she has let into her personal life, which
is arguably a big part of why she has remained so stable over the years.
While Petula has kept the majority of her peers in the entertainment industry at bay,
there have been a few people through the decades whom she has had a good deal of personal respect
for.
One figure that Petula has lots of respect is Harry Belafonte.
The two appeared together on a television special during the late 1960s that was sponsored
by Plymouth Motors, and the special became controversial as a result of a spontaneous
show of affection that Petula displayed for her duet partner.
Petula Stirred the Pot with Harry Belafonte in the 1960s
While performing her duet with Harry Belafonte on that late-1960 Plymouth Motors-sponsored
television special, Petula felt so comfortable with the Calypso singer that she ended up
embracing him in a way that executives felt seemed a bit too familiar.
Petula spontaneously took Harry’s arm during the performance, and the executives in charge
of the program were aghast at the idea of a white woman touching a black man on television.
The producers scrambled to find an angle that they could use where it didn’t look as if
Petula and Harry were touching, and the whole debacle caused a controversy that Petula Clark
herself found quite ridiculous.
For the most part, Petula Clark has stirred up little controversy over the course of her
career.
She has been married to the same man since 1961, and that man is her manager, Claude
Wolff.
Claude Wolff came under fire after the aforementioned incident involving Harry Belafonte due to
how he acted about it publicly.
Claude campaigned to have any footage showing his wife touching Harry Belafonte completely
destroyed.
However, the husband remains adamant that his insistence on having the footage destroyed
came from the fact that Petula hadn’t listened to his stage directions during the performance.
According to Claude, he didn’t understand the racial motivations of the controversy.
In the late 1960s, Petula Clark was performing in Montreal when she caught the ire of the
crowd as a result of a language-related faux pas.
The incident devastated the singer, who has always tried her best to be socially conscious.
Thankfully, John Lennon and Yoko One were just around the corner partaking in their
famous bed-in protest.
Petula went to go visit her fellow celebrities, and John Lennon had some advise for her that
made her feel secure in her skin again.
The incident also resulted in the recording of “Give Peace a Chance”!
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Karen Carpenter Was One of Petula’s Best Friends
Though Petula Clark has brushed shoulders with such counter-culture luminaries as John
Lennon, she has always been much more a part of the mainstream.
Still, the fact that Petula has commanded respect from such a wide range of artists
over the course of her career is truly something!
Though John Lennon helped her out of her Montreal jam, Petula wasn’t nearly as close with
the Beatles singer as she was with Karen Carpenter.
Before Karen’s tragic passing, the Carpenters singer was one of Petula’s best friends.
They spent plenty of time together, and there was one moment in particular that Petula has
reminisced about a great deal.
This moment involved Elvis Presley, and it has become one of the most infamous Elvis
Presley tales out there!
According to Petula Clark, she first met Karen Carpenter in the late 1960s.
Petula and Karen attended a film premiere together, and the film in question was 1969’s
Goodbye, Mr. Chips.
Petula starred in the film alongside screen legend Peter O’Toole, while Karen had been
hired on to sing the motion picture’s theme song.
At the time, Karen was a relative unknown and the Carpenters had not yet been signed
to a record label.
The Carpenters performed at the afterparty, and Petula pointed the band out to fellow
afterparty attendee Herb Alpert during the performance.
Herb went on to sign the group to his record label, A&M Records.
Because of this, Petula Clark can be credited with helping the Carpenters get their big
record contract.
Though it’s certainly notable that Petula Clark helped the Carpenters strike it big
thanks to their record contract with A&M Records, that story is nothing compared to the tale
of how Petula and Karen turned down a threesome with one of the most legendary musicians in
rock-and-roll history!
According to Petula, she and Karen attended a performance by Elvis’, after which they
were called to the singer’s dressing room.
At the time, Elvis Presley was in his physical prime.
At least, this is the way that Petula herself has put it.
Still, she ended up turning down the offer to take part with Elvis and Karen in a threesome.
Petula claims that Elvis wasted no time in communicating to her and Karen what he wanted,
and she also claims that Karen Carpenter wasn’t as quick to turn down the advances as she
was.
Petula says that she had to be the one to put her foot down and get Karen out of there.
Otherwise, Elvis might’ve gotten his way!
Petula Claims That Elvis Never Got With Her The way Petula Clark puts it, Elvis Presley
gave her a look as she was leaving the room that communicated to her that the singer was
going to get her one way or the other.
Before his death in 1977, Elvis liked to spread rumors that he had hooked up with Petula,
though the singer claims to this day that there is absolutely no truth to any of these
stories.
According to her, she simply wasn’t attracted to the man.
Petula feels that she saved Karen Carpenter during the whole debacle, as Karen was too
innocent to defend herself.
Given what would happen to Karen Carpenter over the course of the ensuing years, there’s
certainly a lot of merit to that idea.
Watching Karen’s life fall apart devastated Petula.
Karen Carpenter ended up dying from complications related to anorexia in 1983, and Petula dedicated
her subsequent performances to her longtime friend.
Petula has certainly seen plenty of tragedy befall those close to her over the course
of her career in the entertainment industry, but she has managed to live a fairly stable
life herself.
It seems that Petula has learned what not to do by brushing shoulders with so many stars
that experienced tragic downfalls.
The fact that Petula Clark has remained free from the legitimate controversy over the course
of her career is made all the more remarkable when you take into consideration that she
got into show business as a child.
Petula was first discovered via the BBC at the age of nine, and she subsequently became
a reliable performer in her home country of Britain.
For a time, Petula was considered the country’s answer to Shirley Temple.
Despite this early success in the British film industry, it continues to be Petula’s
work in the world of pop music that defines her.
Petula was pushed into acting as a result of her father, who was also an actor.
As an adult, Petula broke out from under his grasp and managed to find success her own
way as a singer.
Petula Clark is still around today at the age of 89, and the “Downtown” singer has
a staggering amount of interesting stories to tell about her time in the music industry!
Now it’s time to hear from you: did you know that Petula Clark and Karen Carpenter
turned down the chance to have a threesome with Elvis Presley and that Petula has been
married to the same man for over seven decades?
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