INTERVIEW: Portia Clark on her Zambian life, singing as a lifeline, and her new single ‘Look What You’ve Done’: “Without music, I don’t think I’d be here”

Words: Emma Driver
Interview: Jett Tattersall

Published 5 January 2024

Most successful singers have trodden a long and often difficult path to find their voice, but for Zambian-born Portia Clark, the road has been especially tough. The Perth-based pop/country/soul singer writes heart-filled songs drawn from the lessons of her life, and delivers them with a stunning voice – the kind of voice that can sail over the songs of iconic pop divas with ease. But even with her talent and defiant spirit, it took years of twists and turns for her to build the musical life she wanted.

Born and raised in the Zambian capital Lusaka, Clark grew up poor, living with her family in a concrete shanty and walking miles every day to school. At seventeen she was pregnant, then gave birth to a daughter; her partner was abusive, and she finally escaped when he was arrested for domestic violence. Through it all, her love of music held her together. A job at a supermarket in Lusaka gave her the chance to enter a singing contest sponsored by the company; when she made the finals and was flown to South Africa to compete, she knew she had found her calling.

Shunned by her church for having a child outside marriage, Clark found new joy singing in clubs and pubs after work, but when her religious mother found out, she forced Clark and her young daughter out of their home. Eventually Clark saved enough money to rent a basic shelter; then, in a jazz club in 2013, she met her future husband Brendan Clark, the Australian founder of charity Health Hope Zambia. With his encouragement she performed at a charity event, then at bigger events where she sang for celebrities and dignitaries, and began working with the charity herself. Their experiences working in a local children’s hospital inspired her first recording, ‘Hope’, in 2014. Clark made the leap and moved to Perth the same year. It was a huge turning point.

In 2021, while visiting the US, Clark met Darius Rucker, lead singer of ’90s rockers Hootie and the Blowfish, and they recorded the country-tinged ‘Ready to Fall’ in Nashville. Clark’s voice tells the song’s story with emotive power; as a long-time country fan, she sounds triumphantly at home amid the big Nashville sound. The following year, she toured Western Australia with a show called Women of Our Time, in which she paid tribute to the great female vocalists of recent decades: Whitney Houston, Tina Turner, Stevie Nicks and more. Only a spectacular singer can take on that catalogue, and Clark did it with ease.

Her latest single is the uplifting ‘Look What You’ve Done’, which showcases those soaring high notes and sets a gospel-esque tone. Co-written and produced with the ARIA-winning Audius Mtawarira (Jess Mauboy, Delta Goodrem, Dami Im), the song urges us to examine our lives so we can do better, asking us to “think of all the times you spent doing what you’re told / Working night and every day / But you don’t know where it goes.” A wash of backing vocals gives it all a cathedral-like depth, while the guitars and rhythm tracks rise and fall to frame Clark’s formidable voice. It’s a sign of greatness to come – Clark currently has a debut album in the works.

We chatted with Portia about her new single, her passion for singing, and how her tough and unusual life has fuelled the music she writes.

Hello, Portia! How are things with you? Is life good?
Things are OK with me! I’m in Paris, where it’s hot. I have enjoyed myself, it’s really good here. Quiet. Better than London! [laughs] Of course, I love London, but I like the quietness as well. So life is really good. I can’t complain!

Let’s talk about ‘Look What You’ve Done’. It’s a builder, but I feel like that’s what your music does – you just lean into this anthemic climb and build. Can you talk a little bit about the creation, and where the song came from?
Well, I’ve been with Audius, my producer, for a long time. And we’d been trying to figure out when we would work together, with COVID and all that stuff, and obviously that delayed us. But we got together and we just decided to write a good song like this one. It was the right time.

Sometimes it has to really be the right time. As all great songs do, this one takes quite a personal view, doesn’t it?
Yeah. Obviously, when I write songs, most of the time I’ll write about myself, my own experiences. But I also write about people I meet because every person that I meet in my life is [a] character. They’re being nice, or they’ve been hurtful, or they’ve been inspirational. So it just depends. I can sit there and just write about what I’m seeing right now. So ‘Look What You’ve Done’ is about my story, my life, and also about other people.

The song is trying to take responsibility for what we contribute to humanity day to day for everybody – not just me, but “look what we’ve done”. What have we done to make this world a better place? What have we done to impact [our lives]? What have we done to help people?

We, as humans, we always move. We follow each other in what we’re doing. So we always need to remember that there are people that are watching you, there are people that want to learn from you, and it just depends on how you do things.

That’s definitely a good reminder: to lead by example, because someone else is always on your heels. Obviously, no one is perfect. But it’s always good to do good, so that at least the person that’s watching you, that’s getting inspired by you, can actually follow your footsteps without going astray.

I read that for you, singing was always so important to you that you would sneak out after work to go and sing. Can you tell me a little bit of your backstory about singing and performing?
So … long story! When I was working at [Zambian supermarket] Shoprite Checkers, I never used to really work. I used to swipe in – I was allowed to do it – but I was in a [singing] competition to go to South Africa, and I was allowed to sing the whole day, preparing for the competition. But my mum never knew what I was doing. Especially when I started in the evening after [work], I would go to the bars singing, and my mum never knew what I was doing. She just thought I was just doing other things but never asked me. But I was singing in clubs and pubs.

Has that been always with you? Have you always sung, and needed to sing?
Yes. Music has always brought healing to me. You know, with everything that I was going through, the only thing that really made me strong was music. Without music, I don’t think I’d be here. So I would just sing. And it didn’t matter where I was. It didn’t have to be a fancy place; it could be in a dingy pub. As long as I got the microphone and the band could play my song – ‘I Will Always Love You’ – that’s my song because I love Whitney Houston. As long as I can sing ‘I Will Always Love You’, I will just be fine. It would make me forget all the struggles that I was going through because that music was like medicine, was medicating for me, all the time.

Oh, congratulations on hitting that song, because many of us have tried it at karaoke and failed, epically, myself included.
[laughs] I love it, I love it. One of my favourite songs to sing. It’s very easy to me!

Then you’re in a very small minority! I saw these beautiful clips of you performing your show Women of Our Time. And you sang Whitney, you sang Tina, you sang Adele, you sang Stevie Nicks. It just seemed to be an absolute passion project.
Yeah, so I had a little tour around Western Australia, in small cities, and the concert was called  Women of Our Time. I was taking people all these classic songs by all these beautiful divas and everything that I get inspired by. So I was singing songs from Stevie Nicks, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, even Beyoncé at some point. It was a proper show, where I’d change outfits, so it was really good. And what was really nice was my two daughters were even helping me change! … So it was quite a very good concert and it was sponsored by the state government. So I was really thrilled that they did that.

Apart from Whitney Houston, who were your musical inspirations when you were first singing?
I grew up in church. So when I was in church, I used to listen to a lot of Hillsong. There’s a lady called Darlene Zschech, and she always used to be my inspiration. Her music was so soothing, and the words were healing to me. So, you know, [sings] “Worthy is the Lamb seated on the throne” – every time she’d sing that, I used just to get very inspired.

And then as I grew up, getting into the country music and the pop music: Carrie Underwood, Reba McEntire, Martina McBride, and then the male artists like Blake Shelton, Darius Rucker, Keith Urban – all those people really inspired me to be the artist that I am becoming and that I am today.

You mention Darius Rucker. What a brilliant combination it was when you got to sing with him, back in 2021. How did that come about?
So I was at a gala for the Starkey Hearing Foundation in the US, with the who’s who –  presidents were there. And Darius was singing. I didn’t even know him at that time. So he sang after me, and then we were taking photos backstage. I was in the same green room as Caitlyn Jenner, and Darius was opposite us. So then, as I was passing by, I said hi to him … and he invited my husband and myself to his green room, where his band [Hootie and the Blowfish] was. I had no idea who they were because obviously, you know, growing up in Africa, I never grew up in a place with all these TVs and phones.

He gave me a Corona. And we said “Cheers!” and took a photo. And I don’t know what prompted me [but] then I’m like, “Don’t you think we could do a song together?” I asked him casually and he was like, “Yeah, let’s do it!” Just like that. He did say that that he was going to be in Nashville. I had no idea about Nashville! My husband and I travelled there. A piano player and a really good producer, Lee Turner, produced that song. Darius rocked up at the studio with it, recording, and he was just facilitating everything. And everything was just casual. And do you know you know how much he charges for a feature? I had no idea! But for me it was just the Corona. Just “Hi … cheers!”

It just goes to show that you’ve just got to say hi, right?
He had no idea who I was either! And seriously, it was just a very casual thing. I’m very bubbly when I’m with people; I fit into any place. I would go into the Pope’s house and I’ll just fit in.

And the Pope would probably want to do a song with you too.
Oh yeah!

In the inspirations you mentioned, there’s a lot of country artists, which is interesting. You do these beautiful anthemic ballads, but at the same time, there’s a storytelling element to it.
This is why I love country music, because then I can tell the story the way it’s supposed to be told … I can say the message to somebody so they can understand through country music, because then I can narrate it better. I’m not saying that in other genres you can’t, but for me personally, I can tell the story through country music. And yeah, there’s another inspirational artist I forgot to say: Tanya Tucker. You know, she’s powerful – her powerful storytelling is just amazing.

And all these people, when they’re singing, I get it. And that’s what I want my audience and people to always get from me. I want them to get the story, and what I’m trying to say and what I’m trying to achieve – to make sure that they’re uplifted. If they’re down, they’re uplifted. If they’re sad, they’re happy. You know, not that it’s magic. But obviously music is just medicine, like I said before.

It’s absolutely magic. And it’s absolutely medicine. I like the way you broke down country music. There used to be a definite wall between country and what you were allowed to bring into pop or into hip-hop. And now you have this fusion of country and other genres going on. Do you think people are opening up more to that?
Yeah, I love the fact that country music is going diverse. ‘Look What We’ve Done’ is probably my poppiest [song], but if you go into my other songs that are going to come out soon, they’re very contemporary country. I still want that “real country” [sound] to come out. Because obviously we don’t want to take away that organic country sound. The honky tonk – you don’t want to take away that … Exploring is great, but that should also be in it.

Stay true to it, yes. Now, speaking of your love of country, I know you can’t probably give much away, but is there an album heading our way – and will country be one of the musical themes?
It’s all going to be a surprise! But you know, the songs are touching various topics of our day-to-day lives, of women, and of men, and domestic violence. I went through domestic violence. So obviously, I feel prompted to sing about it, as well.

Do you feel like that’s something still quite hushed-up in pop music – something that can’t be spoken about?
It needs to be addressed. It has to be addressed. And the only way, you know, we can address it is to talk about it, to sing about it. It shouldn’t be seen as a normal thing. It has to be addressed. It’s hard for some people to come out of it. But sometimes when they love an artist, and the artist is speaking about it, they can get one or two things on how to get out of it.

In Women of Our Time, you also sang Tina Turner. And of course, she’s someone who had to address domestic violence. But because she did speak out about it, she became this huge beacon for survivors for her whole life. Have you also experienced people reaching out to you who are also going through it?
Yes, through DMs a lot, to be honest. A lot. Where I originally come from, there’s lots that I [have seen] … You know, women can get very manipulated, so that we can we think that we can’t get out of it. But we can. It’s just having that hand that will pull you up and come up with you. Because sometimes you need that help – someone to hold your hand. And not everybody has that. I just want to try my best, you know. Even if I can just help one person, that’s a lot.

How has that been for you, carrying a lot of other people’s situations? Has that been difficult, or a burden?
I wouldn’t call it a burden as such. Because I know how I felt when I needed the help. So I will do what I can to extend that, [without it getting] too much for me. But obviously I’ll push myself as much as I can.

I think it’s really great what you’re doing, because I know that that’s a big beast to tackle. So thank you. And lastly, apart from the album, what else is coming up for you? Country sounds?
Lots of country sounds! Lots of good music. In 2024, I am not settling. I’m just going crazy getting this music out and going on stage and just singing my head, my lungs out. So I’m really looking forward to the album as well.

And possibly even a collaboration with the Pope.
[laughs] If the Pope is in my music video, I’m happy!

Great, I’m there for it. Thanks for your time today, Portia, it’s really lovely to meet you.
It was great! Thank you so much for everything.

‘Look What You’ve Done’ is out now. You can download and stream here.

Follow Portia Clark on Instagram and Facebook, and via her website www.portiaclarkmusic.com