Petula Clark

Petula Clark made her first public performances as a singer aged seven, performing with an orchestra in the entrance hall of Bentall's Department Store in Kingston upon Thames for a tin of toffee. She recalled to The Guardian: "I'd never seen an orchestra before and I didn't know an orchestra was made of people – I'd only heard it on the wireless. I was mesmerized by this. My dad went up to the conductor and said, "My daughter would like to sing with the band", and so I did. Yes, I was paid with a tin of toffees, which I thought was pretty good. I was happy with the sweets."

In October 1942, the nine-year-old Clark made her radio debut while attending a BBC broadcast of It's All Yours with her father. The show, which played on the BBC Forces Network, was for children with dads, uncles, and brothers abroad fighting in the war. Petula wanted to send a message to an uncle stationed overseas, but an air raid delayed the broadcast. The kids in the audience got nervous during the bombing and the producer asked for a volunteer to sing a song to settle the jittery children. Petula volunteered and performed "Mighty Lak' a Rose" to a huge response. She then repeated her performance for the broadcast audience, launching a series of around 500 appearances in programs designed to entertain the troops. Dubbed "Britain's Shirley Temple," the British Army considered Petula a good-luck charm.

Clark's first record release was "Put Your Shoes On, Lucy" for EMI in 1949. She had her first chart hit five years later with a children's song called "The Little Shoemaker," which topped the charts in Australia and peaked at #7 in the UK.