Petula Clark says she hopes human singers survive AI music

British singer Petula Clark said she hopes artificial intelligence will not replace the warmth, emotion and audience connection of human performers.

Clark, 93, told AFP in an interview that the rise of AI in music was worrying and puzzling. Asked whether the human feeling in a song was irreplaceable, she said people like to think so, but added that she found the issue scary. She said computers and electronic tools had been used in studios for years, but questioned how long human performers would remain unaffected.

Clark said her voice has become lower, but that its essential quality remains. She described her singing as personal and said it comes from the heart.

She said plans are being made for a concert in a London theatre, possibly later this year. Clark said it would be important and emotional for her, and that it may be her last concert, though she did not state that as certain. She said she was looking forward to returning to an audience and described that connection as unlike anything else.

Clark also spoke about her long career. She met French publicist Claude Wolff in 1957, married him in 1961, and became a major star in France after embracing French songs, an unusual step for a British or US artist at the time.

She said melody is what first attracts her to a song because it is international. Her 1964 hit "Downtown" sold millions and won her a Grammy award. Clark said the song had no lyrics when she first heard composer Tony Hatch play it on the piano, and that she and others knew it was good but did not know how large it would become.

Clark said she still listens to music every day, mostly classical music and jazz. She also praised Adele as a singer and songwriter.

Clark began as a child star on BBC wartime radio in 1942. She later appeared in films with Alec Guinness, Fred Astaire and Peter O'Toole, and in musicals in New York and London. Her 1969 concert programme "An Evening with Petula" was the first colour transmission on BBC One television.

She has written an autobiography titled "Is That You, Petula?" The title refers to words John Lennon used when she visited his Montreal bed-in for peace in 1969, where she ended up on the single "Give Peace A Chance".

Clark has lived in Geneva since the mid-1960s. She spoke to AFP at the Collonge Book Festival in the Genevan countryside, where people waiting to meet her included a 21-year-old fan holding a 1980s vinyl album. Clark said she hoped she had brought happiness to people over the decades, and said they had also made her happy.