HOME > MUSIC > THE NEW YORK SESSIONS (1994)

The Lost Demo Album • The Broadway Years • The Great "What-If" Project

Petula captured on Broadway in a feature for OK! Magazine (March 1994)

In the spring and summer of 1994, while Broadway audiences were rising to their feet for her nightly performances in Blood Brothers, Petula quietly entered a small New York studio to record a set of demos intended to form the basis of her next studio album.

These recordings, now known among collectors as THE NEW YORK SESSIONS, capture Petula in full command of her voice, her instincts, and her storytelling. These recordings were never intended for release. They were working demos, created to present to record labels.

That album never materialised.
The demos remained unheard.
The project slipped into the shadows known only to those close to the project.

What survives is a fully sequenced, hour-long, 13-track album, intimate, theatrical, emotionally rich, and unmistakably shaped by the New York cabaret scene of the early 1990s.

Petula in New York, 1994
While delivering eight shows a week on Broadway, Petula began quietly assembling this new album, not for release, but as a demo showcase to present to record labels. The plan was simple:

record the songs as demos
secure a label
re-record the material as a full studio album

That final step never happened, but the demos themselves are beautifully realised, emotionally direct, musically intimate, and unmistakably shaped by the New York cabaret writers Petula gravitated toward at the time.

The sessions were produced by Joseph Baker, musical director of Blood Brothers, at his New York studio. Baker would later collaborate with Petula on several other unreleased or little-known recordings, making this project the beginning of a long creative thread.

WHY THESE SESSIONS MATTER
For collectors, The New York Sessions represent:

Petula's last major attempt at a contemporary original album in the 1990s
A beautifully curated set of songs where theatrical writing meets polished pop craftsmanship
A complete, fully sequenced 13-track demo album
A project abandoned not for artistic reasons, but because her career exploded again 
(U.S. tour of Blood Brothers and a West End triumph in Sunset Boulevard) 

This is the closest Petula came to a full studio album of new material between Destiny (1978) and Here for You (1998).

THE SESSIONS
Recorded: 1994
Location: Joseph Baker Studio, New York
Producer: Joseph Baker and Grant Sturiale (track 8)
Purpose: Demo recordings for a proposed studio album
Status: Unreleased (except Track 7)

These sessions also mark the beginning of a long creative partnership between Petula and Joseph Baker, who would later produce Refugee, The Rainbow, Another Christmas Without You, Come Along With Me, Living for Today, and several still-unreleased titles.

THE TRACKS (Collector Notes & Cross-References)
Below is the definitive track list with collector-relevant annotations, performance history, known re-recordings and other notable online performances.

01. HERE WE ARE
(Grant Sturiale / Barry Harman)
Re-recorded for the album Here For You (1998)
Performed live: BBC Radio 2 Concert (1996) and on Australian TV (1998)
A signature piece of the era; lyrical, reflective, and one of the few songs Petula chose to revisit.

02. I'LL BE HERE WITH YOU
(David Friedman) 
Recorded by numerous cabaret and theatre artists. Petula's version is warm, understated, and very much in the New York cabaret tradition.
Notable online performances: Barry Manilow, Nancy LaMott, Kathie Lee Gifford, David Hasselhoff, Sam Harris, Linzi Hatley, Laurie Beechman and Bjorn Rosier

03. MY BOUNDLESS FAITH
(Gerry Dieffenbach) 
Mid-tempo and a standout for collectors.
Notable online performance: Gerry Dieffenbach

04. IN THIS LIFE
(Shelly Peiken / Glen Burtnik)
Performed live: Derngate Theatre, Northampton (1996)
A contemporary pop ballad that reflects the melodic character of the 90s era.

05. STRANGERS ONCE AGAIN
(Lindy Robbins / John Bucchino)
Performed live: BBC Radio 2 Concert (1996)
Petula once commented that this song carries a distinctly Sondheim-like sensibility.
Notable online performances: Julie Johnson, Joan Ryan and Andrea Marcovicci

06. MORE TODAY THAN YESTERDAY
(Pat Upton) 
Petula's take on a well-known pop standard; bright, melodic, and unexpected in this context.
Notable online performances: Spiral Starecase, Diana Ross, Andy Williams, Ray Quinn and Catherine Porter

07. TELL ME IT'S NOT TRUE
(Willy Russell)
From Blood Brothers
Officially released on Downtown to Sunset Boulevard (2000) and The Ultimate Collection (2002). The only track from the sessions to have been made available.

08. PRELUDE TO LOVE with Domenick Allen
(Grant Sturiale / Petula Clark) 
The only co-write of the project; an essential inclusion for collectors tracking Petula's songwriting.

09. ONE DAY AT A TIME
(David Friedman) 
A warm, affirming mid-tempo song typical of Friedman's writing, closing with a graceful segue into the melody and harmonies of I Couldn't Live Without Your Love.
Notable online performance: Joani O'Keefe 

10. LOVE IS ON THE WAY
(Albert Hammond / Shelly Peiken) 
A polished recording from two major commercial songwriters of the era.

11. LOVE IS FOREVER
(Allan Rich) 
Rich's material often leans toward big emotional arcs; Petula's demo is no exception.

12. PART OF YOUR SONG
(Margaret Dorn / Lynn Flaherty) 
A tender, understated piece; very much in the "New York songwriter" mould.

13. FLIGHT
(Craig Carnelia)
Performed live: BBC Radio 2 Concert (1996)
Cut from the broadcast
A major theatre song; dramatic and a thrilling inclusion for collectors.
Notable online performances: Ben Platt, Sutton Foster and Megan McGinnis, Nic Rouleau and the Cincinnati Youth Choir

LEGACY & COLLECTOR STATUS
Although The New York Sessions were never commercially released, they have taken on a life of their own within the collector community. Over the years, the full 60-minute demo album has quietly circulated among fans, sourced from early-generation copies, private trades, and occasional low-generation studio transfers.

This unofficial circulation has only deepened the project's mystique. For many collectors, these recordings represent:

Petula's most substantial unreleased body of work from the 1990s
A complete, fully sequenced album that was never allowed to reach its final form
A rare glimpse into her creative process during the landmark period of her Broadway musical theatre debut
A missing link between Destiny (1978) and Here For You (1998)

Because the demos were never mastered or prepared for release, the versions that circulate vary from crisp, near-studio clarity to more distant, generation-worn copies. Yet even in imperfect form, the emotional immediacy of the performances shines through.

For fans and archivists, The New York Sessions remain one of the great "lost albums" of Petula's career; a complete hour-long project, fully realised in spirit, preserved only through the dedication of the fan community.

For fans, The New York Sessions are a "lost album" in the truest sense; fully formed, artistically rich, and frozen in time at a pivotal moment in her career.

THE PROJECT THAT GOT AWAY
Shortly after completing the demos, Petula embarked on the U.S. road tour of Blood Brothers, followed almost immediately by her triumphant return to London as Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard. The demo album was set aside and never revisited. By the time she returned from the U.S. tour, her schedule had shifted entirely, and the demo album was no longer under active consideration.

For collectors, this is what makes The New York Sessions so compelling: a complete album, fully sequenced, beautifully performed… yet frozen in time.

CREDITS
Produced by: Joseph Baker
Recorded at: Joseph Baker Studio, New York
Vocals: Petula Clark
Arrangements: Joseph Baker & Grant Sturiale (track 8)
Songwriters: As listed per track
Original concept: Petula Clark

FOOTNOTE
Several of the compositions featured in The New York Sessions have been performed or recorded by other artists within the New York cabaret, Broadway, and contemporary theatre communities. As Petula's demo recordings remain unreleased, listeners wishing to explore the broader performance history of these works may refer to publicly available interpretations by the respective composers and noted interpreters across these genres. We've noted other interpretations available online within the track listing.

It should be noted that the demo recordings referenced herein were created solely for internal industry consideration. No commercial masters were prepared, no release was scheduled, and any circulating copies originate from private, non-authorised sources of varying fidelity.

This page constitutes a fan-curated, non-commercial historical reconstruction. It is provided for informational and educational purposes only and does not endorse, encourage, or facilitate the duplication, exchange, or distribution of unreleased Petula Clark recordings.

Questions? Drop us an email: info@petula-archives.co.uk