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On March 5th 1963, nr. Camden, Tennessee, a plane carrying Hawkshaw Hawkins, Cowboy Copas, Randy Hughes and Patsy Cline, arguably one of country's greatest country music stars, crashed, killing all on board, yet Patsy Cline still outsells her her country music contemporaries, some of whom are still going strong, more than 30 years after her death. Her music crossed the barriers between pure country and pop, and her estate earns more in royalties than she ever made in her lifetime. She also set the standards for all female artists of her time, and for those to follow.
She was born Virginia Patterson Hensley on 8th September 1932, in the Winchester Memorial Hospital, in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. Her family lived in Gore, located 15 miles west of Winchester, on US Route 50 West, and the young Patsy soon demonstrated the need to perform, winning an amateur dancing contest at the age of four!
Patsy had a difficult childhood, her father deserting the family when she was 15yrs.old. She left school and went to work in a drugstore to help support the family, having a brother and sister too, but her dogged determination to pursue a singing career paid off, especially as she was blessed with an ice cool, yet powerful voice, and the rest is history!! and yet, it was not just the voice of this girl who held us all enthralled, it was the heart and the very feeling she put into every song she sang, which enshrined her in our hearts forever, and continually gains her fans with each new generation.
From 1948 until the mid 50's she was singing on shows such as "Old Dominion Barn Dance" "Louisiana Hayride", "The Jimmy Dean Show" and others. She signed her first recording contract with Bill McCall of Four Star Records, which in hindsight was a bad move. But, despite the limitations of this contract, the label was responsible for teaming her with Owen Bradley, who played a great part in presenting her remarkable vocal talents to the world. In 1955, Owen Bradley produced her first recording sessions in Nashville, and she made her first appearance on the Grand Ole Opry on July 1st 1955 with Ernest Tubb on the Ralston-Purina section of the show.
In January 1957, with her mother Hilda Hensley acting as her "talent scout" she appeared on the Arthur Godfrey's "Talent Scouts"Show singing Walking After Midnight. This became a #2 hit in the country charts, and a #12 in the pop charts. Patsy became a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 1960, and moved to Nashville with her husband Charlie.
Under her first recording session under her new contract with Decca Records, she recorded I Fall To Pieces which went to #1 in the country charts.
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In 1961 Patsy was involved in a serious car accident, leaving her with horrific injuries. She recovered in six weeks and was back onstage, albeit on crutches and needing a stool to sing. This performance, at the Cimarron Ballroom, was recorded, the tape being given to Patsy, which was then stored and forgotten, but is now available on CD. She then released a string of hits, including Crazy and She's Got You.
In 1973, she was elected to the Country Music Hall Of Fame, becoming the first female solo act to receive that honour.
1985 saw the release of a movie "biography" "Sweet Dreams" starring Jessica Lange and Ed Harris. Miss Lange lipsynced to Patsy's records. A video released in 1989 "The Real Patsy Cline" traced her rise to stardom, and featured rare archive footage of classic performances, hit songs and commentary by the people closest to her. A further video released in 1993 "Remembering Patsy Cline" charts her private and professional life through the eyes of her friends and those who worked with her. For Charlie Dick, her husband, this is more than a tribute to his wife, it lets him put the record straight after the movie "Sweet Dreams"
"It was half trash and half Hollywood" he says in an interview with Lester Middlehurst, of the UK Daily Mail, April 23rd 1993.
"The Patsy in this video is the real Patsy. The movie made out we partied and fought all the time. We argued quite a bit, because she was a feisty lady, but we never knocked each other around. She wasn't ruthless, but she always had to fight her own corner. Sure she liked a drink but she wasn't a hard drinker. I can remember only two times when she drank too much, and she ended up crying. She never got violent."
Charlie is not surprised his late wife's popularity has endured, "until Patsy came along, country music had been very rural. She sang real torch songs, real standards, that weren't pure country and appealed to an audience who liked popular music as well. And when she sang a song, for that three minutes she became a part of that song" |
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Ron Grevatt says "It is often said that tragedy, in itself, tends to mould the great talent, that the true artistic genius ripens only when sorrow and grief have etched their own lines on a singers outpourings. If that is so, then the axiom fits Patsy, whose life for years was a series of misfortunes, of singing in churches and honky tonks alike, of a broken marriage and of a virtually broken body from a serious auto accident, when her first really top grade hit was taking eight months to climb the best seller charts. But, thereafter, all the rewards, all the accolades from a grateful public, warmed by her songs, were Patsy's."
The Patsy Cline we so loved was determined to reach out and take her talents to the widest possible audience, and she did so, having amongst her admirers, people who wouldn't normally have a bar of country music. She was always much more than a great country singer, she was a great singer in any genre, and will go on gathering new admirers with each new generation, and when they hear that magical voice and unique impeccable phrasing, they will know why her name became an entire chapter in country music, all by itself! After all, there IS and always will be, only one Patsy Cline!
Patsy Cline is buried in The Shenandoah Memorial Park, and on her gravestone are the words
" Death Cannot Kill That Which Never Dies ~ Love "
Sing with the angels Patsy.......... |
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