2015 marks the golden anniversary of Petula Clark’s greatest and most enduring hit record, Downtown. In the five decades since it was a global smash hit single, the song has been played over and over again, and it is regarded as perhaps the most perfect example of pop music ever written.

Written by Tony Hatch, who would be responsible for several of Clark’s best known songs, Downtown made her a star, catapulting her into the public consciousness, and leading her on a career that would include fifteen top 40 hits and 70 million records sold worldwide.

But as she recently told Newstalk’s Tom Dunne, she’s just recovered from some serious vocal issues.

“I don’t know what happened,” Clark said. “I went to see some doctors about it, they put a thing down my throat and looked at my cords, and they said, ‘Oh, your cords are perfect, but there’s something irritating them. Anyway, it’s a long story, but I think my voice is almost, almost back to normal now.”

A voice that defined a generation, Clark’s remains in remarkable condition for a woman who’s been exercising it on stage and in concert for three quarters of a century. Now 82, 2013 saw the release of her most recent album, a blend of contemporary pop songs and original works entitle Lost in You. That album includes a kind of soulful sound that wouldn’t seem out of place by any singer sixty years her junior, but marks Clark’s unflappable grasp of what her sound is and how it continues to evolve.

“I’m very lucky, because I don’t do anything to take care of my voice,” she told Tom. “Usually when I’m doing a concert, my warm up is the first two songs. I’m just lucky.”

Petula Clark arriving at the Empire Theatre, Leicester Square, London, for the Royal Film Performance of Muldark in 1950 [PA/PA Archive/PA Image]

Clark starts recording her next album in London on September first, but acknowledges that the sessions these days are a far more intimate affair than back when she laid down the vocals on Downtown.

“The days of going into a huge studio with 40 musicians, which is the way we recorded Downtown and all the rest of them, those days are pretty well over. You could make a record in your kitchen, if you’ve got the right microphone and the right material.”

The new album will continue to show Clark as a contemporary artist, following on from Cut Copy Me, the technology-inspired song from her last collection.

For 75 years, Clark’s voice has been her form of artistic expression, and being a performer is the only career she’s ever known.

“I’ve never done anything else! I’ve had three children... which is quite good!” she told Tom, laughing. 

You can listen back to the full interview with Petula Clark on The Tom Dunne Show below: