Petula Clark proves she’s still got it at 85 with new album release

Petula Clark became a household name when her major hit ‘Downtown’ took the world by storm.

It is hard to believe that the hit was released more than 50 years ago, but the now-85-year-old certainly isn’t looking back! The iconic singer has just released a new album called Live For Today, a philosophy she says she’s embraced for many years now.

“I think I’ve been living for the day for a long, long time!” Clark told People magazine in an interview about her album.

“This is really all we have, the moment right now. When I’m talking to you, I’m not doing anything else—I’m concentrating on talking to you. When I put the phone down I’ll be concentrating on something else. It’s a whole way of living that I’ve been doing for many years.”

But while the singer may have a positive outlook on the passing of time, she doesn’t necessarily like to be reminded of her age.

When the interviewer for People congratulated her on her birthday (it’s on November 15), he wrote that he was met with a faux groan.

“No, no no—don’t go there. I haven’t [celebrated my birthday] for a long, long time,” Clark protested.

Not that her age means anything; Clark is in the middle of a solo tour of the US. The tour will end in Times Square in New York later this year.

Clark revealed that Tony Hatch, the songwriter and composer who created ‘Downtown’, had worked with her on the new album, which features covers of many classics, most notably a cover of ‘Blackbird’ by The Beatles

“I’m asked to do Beatles songs all the time and I do sing them—I love them,” she explained to People. “I always hesitated doing this one because it’s a rather fragile little song. So we played Paul’s version, which is absolutely gorgeous.”

Clark was also very excited to record her own rendition Peggy Lee’s sultry hit ‘Fever’, saying she’d grown up listening to her and later met Lee.

“We sang together, she guested on my show, and we became friends,” the singer explained.

You can check out one of Clark’s new songs by playing the link below.

Would you buy Petula Clark’s new album? Are you a fan of her music?