WITH a stage and screen career spanning six decades Petula Clark's status as a showbusiness legend is hard to dispute.

The singer, who got her first break as a child star on a Forces radio show during the Second World War, is bringing her latest show to Malvern.

Despite recording more than a thousand songs and clocking up 70 million record sales, the talented Ms Clark still has new material to showcase.

She said: "I still get nervous - not being nervous is a bit boring. In this show I'll be doing most of the hit songs and I'd be crazy not too because they happen to be very good songs.

There will also be new material, including brand new songs never played anywhere before.

I try to do as many new things as I can and it's important to me to do that.

"I never really think about being 'a legend' and it only comes up when someone says it - I like to live for today. I just do what I enjoy and if you look through my career I'm always doing different things, from musical theatre to studio recording. There is no master plan and no one telling me what I should do next - if something comes along, so be it."

Despite Petula's refusal to plan too far ahead, she has already got most of her work commitments for the coming year mapped out.

After finishing her six-date British tour, the singer will spend the majority of the year in America performing a series of shows with fellow star Andy Williams in Missouri.

Petula, who is also planning performances in Las Vegas and Atlantic City, added: "This is all about having fun and the shows I'll be doing are just about going on stage and letting things happen. It's great now they are bringing back one-man shows because for a long time it was all about big productions like Cirque du Soleil.

"The world has changed and that includes showbusiness, which is a fairly small part of what's going on.

Now it's far more public - even bad publicity is good these days. It's interesting to see how long those sort of careers last. It seems that when one disappears off the scene, another one will be there the next day. Everyone is always irreplaceable.

"Things happen now that would have been the end of your career in the Fifties or Sixties. It's like anything goes now and that's the way the world has gone - it's not the way I work, but there you go."

An Evening with Petula Clark is due to be held at Malvern Theatre on Tuesday, March 9.

For more information or to book tickets contact the box office on 01684 892277.