Singer-songwriter Portia Clark on her life in Zambia ahead of her show at Geraldton’s Queens Park Theatre

When your music career stems from a mixture of poverty, gospel, alcohol abuse and early pregnancy, you can imagine Portia Clark’s singing comes straight from her soul. In the middle of producing her own original music and with her country-soul album under way, Clark will bring the soulful music of iconic women such as Whitney Houston, Adele, Mariah Carey, Stevie Nicks and Toni Braxton to the Queens Park Theatre on Friday, August 19 as part of her Women of Our Time tour. The singer-songwriter has performed in front of well-known leaders including former WA premier Colin Barnett, ex-PM John Howard, as well as former US presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton. She has also performed in countries around the globe including the US and Mexico. Clark is now based in Perth but there’s no doubt she had some big hurdles to overcome in her life. Born and raised in Zambia with her mother, her father left when she was a year old to become a freedom fighter and never returned home. “I lived with my single mother who was not educated, my future was uncertain which left me to be homeless for a long time,” she said. Describing her life as “a turmoil”, Clark said she was eight when she joined a church and discovered her passion for music, but years later she was kicked out and taunted when she was introduced to alcohol and fell pregnant. “I got kicked out of the church because it is trouble to be pregnant in the church, so I started singing in bars,” she said. Clark said in Africa when you get pregnant, you were stood down. She said a lady from the church looked at her and said “If you think you are going to make it outside this church then you are joking”. “Those words are the ones that made me push and push.” But before her success, Clark struggled to make ends meet. “I would push people’s shopping trolleys to the car and if they gave me a little tip that’s what I would have for food for me or my child,” she said. Nevertheless she didn’t stop chasing her dreams, travelling alongside a Zambian boy band after she was given a chance to sing with them. “My friend knew I could sing so she went and talked to the band manager begging for them to allow her to sing one song,” she said. “I used to follow them every time they would go somewhere because music is my life. I wasn’t feeling fulfilled without music.” Knowing life without hope, Clark said she had adopted a child, along with having two of her own. Her children are 14, 12 and seven. Clark explained to the Geraldton Guardian the reasons why she was so strong-willed today. “My life — how I grew up — I didn’t have anyone to stand up for me. When you’re homeless you’re by yourself, when something happens you can’t run off crying you have to stand strong and look after yourself,” she said. Naming her career highlights, Clark said performing in front of ex-presidents Bush and Clinton was surreal. “They treated me the same as Katy Perry,” she said. “We were seated on the same table and ate dinner together.” Clark said Katy Perry could smell someone wearing Mugler Alien perfume — her favourite — and embraced Clark by resting her head on her shoulder when she discovered she was wearing it. “I had no idea she was a brand ambassador for it,” she said. Eager to perform, Clark said she would show the audience who she was through her music and offer her heart and soul in her voice. “If you’re feeling broken, I want you to feel encouraged. I want the crowd to feel like they are wanted and needed, and aren’t on their own,” she said. “Expect a good night, expect to be encouraged if you are going through anything and expect to enjoy yourself. It’s a soul-to-soul heart-to-heart kind of thing. Clark’s newest album will be called Chapters of My Soul and will share how she was raised and what she overcame. “I am blessed to be in this beautiful country,” she said. For tickets to Clark’s performance, which will include local act Good Strife, go to www.qpt.cgg.wa.gov.au or portiaclarkmusic.com