Petula Clark: "I’m learning all the time, and it never stops"

The latest chapter in her enduring career come with her latest UK tour, which stops off at Bournemouth's Pavilion Theatre on Monday.

The live shows follow the release last month of her brand new studio album titled From Now On. Glossily electronic at times yet gloriously analogue at others, it’s an album that sounds utterly of our times, without trying to be.

The first single, Sacrifice My Heart, is described as an electronically-charged, shimmering gem of a song, where Clark’s voice is allowed to breathe freely: you can hear the joy in her performance.

You hear that same mood when Clark sings Miracle To Me, another of her own compositions, written in the French mountains and embellished later by her writing on her piano.

You hear it on her cover of The Beatles’ Blackbird, in which she gives the song a very different pair of wings. You even hear it on songs which flirt with other genres, like in the country swing of Endgame, and in the subtle dance music sensibilities of Sincerely.

“Once you say, ‘I know how to do this’, it’s time to move on to the next thing,” she says.

“I’m learning all the time, and it never stops. And to do new songs - it’s like having love affairs. They’re always my favourites because they’re sort of slightly unknown.

"I love singing the old songs, but I’ve done that. Newness is important to me. Moving on is important to me.”

There are other covers on the record too, all tackled in searching new ways. Clark was nervous about approaching Peggy Lee’s Fever – they met years ago, and even sang together – but here the song gains a sly, rocky edge. Steve Winwood’s 1980 hit While You See A Chance also gains a choir, created quite by accident by the people working in the studio.

Clark’s French connections are also explored in fascinating ways. Most notable is Pour Etre Aime De Toi, a new collaboration between her and Charles Aznavour: the latter demanding that the former fit his lyrics to her own music when they last met.

A prodigious child singer who made her BBC Radio debut in 1942, Petula Clark’s career has been both multi-faceted and truly international in its nature. After scoring her first hit in 1954 with The Little Shoemaker, a simple show in Paris in 1960 with no grand plans behind it sparked success in France that paralleled the reception that she had already received back home.

Her best-known flush of flame came with a run of famous Sixties classics, many of which were written by Tony Hatch. Her ability to sing in French, Italian, German and Spanish allowed her music to be discovered around the globe – as a result, Clark has scored a staggering total of 159 Top 40 hits all around the world.

Her long list of collaborators and admirers stretch across both eras and genres – John Lennon, Michael Jackson, Serge Gainsbourg, Jacques Brel, Tom Jones, Dean Martin and Paolo Nutini, to name just a few. She even introduced The Carpenters to A&M Records.

Despite such achievements, Petula Clark has also enjoyed a long and successful acting career. Highlights included starring alongside Fred Astaire in Francis Ford Coppola’s musical Finian’s Rainbow and with Peter O’Toole in Goodbye, Mr. Chips.

Her experience in music and movies made a move into musical theatre a natural progression. Her lead role in the 1980 London production of The Sound of Music resulted in the biggest advance ticket sales in British theatre history. She also starred in Blood Brothers in New York, and in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard on both sides of the Atlantic.

Throughout her journey, Petula Clark has continued to make music on a consistent basis. Her most recent album, 2013’s Lost In You, emerged to widespread critical acclaim, drawing comparisons with Lana Del Rey.

Audiences can decide for themselves when Clark appears at the Pavilion on Monday.

Tickets are priced from £20.50, available from bic.co.uk or 0844 576 3000.