One of the all-time legends of country music, Patsy Cline was
born Virginia Patterson Hensley, September 8, 1932,
in
Virginia. Devoted to music, she quit school at the age of fifteen to
work in a drug store and help support her single mother and
younger brother and sister. In return, her mother dedicated her spare time
to helping Patsy's career, and drove her to Nashville when she was
only sixteen
for her first Grand Ole Opry try-out.
Teaching herself to play by ear, Patsy
never properly learned
to read music. At the encouragement of her first manager,
Bill Peer,
she changed her name to Patsy. After her marriage to Gerald Cline,
her name became Patsy Cline.
On September 15, 1957, not long after her first
marriage
ended in divorce, Patsy married Charlie
Dick. They had two children, Julie and
Randy.
Her big break came when she won an Arthur Godfrey Talent program
in 1957 with the hit Walkin' After Midnight, which brought the house
down. The
recording of the song did even better, racing up the country
charts and crossing
over to the pop charts as well, a pattern that would
consistently repeat itself
with most of her hits. She pursued a recording
career appearing at the Grand
Ole Opry in 1958. Proof of her stardom
came in 1961 when she was invited to join
the cast of the
"Grand Ole Opry". Patsy had an exceptional voice but
it was not the
voice alone, it was the heart of this girl that made the songs
she sang
have such an overwhelming effect on all who listened. Her natural
talent
and spirit took her to the top of the country charts in 1962, and
her style and
popularity has never waned.
But the dream ended on March 5, 1963, in a plane
crash ,after
attending a benefit concert in Kansas City . Justbefore her
departure
to Nashville, Ray Walker of the Jordonaires told Patsy
to be careful. Her last
words to him were prophetic:
"Honey, I've been into two bad ones...
the
third one'll be a charm or it will kill me."
That crash also took the lives
of country stars Hawkshaw Hawkins
and Cowboy Copas. Country music lost a magical
entertainer when
her career was ended .
No one can sing like Patsy did or interpret
songs the way Patsy has.
The pure quality of her incredible voice, her raw emotion,
her
inflection and phrasing makes each and every one of her recordings
a special
and magical experience.
Her stature has only increased in the years
since
her death. She was inducted into the Country
Music Hall of Fame in 1973, the
first solo female performer
to recieve such an honor, and her reputation is
on
record as one of the major female vocalists of all time.
A whole new generation
was introduced to Patsy Cline and her music
with the 1985 release of the film
biography, Sweet Dreams,
which starred Jessica Lange as Patsy.
A bell
tower has been erected in her memory at the
Shenandoah Memorial Park, where Patsy
Cline is interred.
"Patsy Cline was such a unique, such a good voice,
that naturally
everyone that heard it did a double-take, and when I found out
that
there was a possibility of Patsy Cline doing a Willie Nelson song,
well,
then that really set me up! I can
truthfully say I've had alot of songs recorded,
but Patsy Cline's
recording of 'Crazy' was my favorite all-time song of mine
that
anyone ever did. Patsy Cline singing 'Crazy' was just alot of magic,
and
it's my favorite." - Willie Nelson
"In the cotton fields of Mississippi,
I would daydream
about being Patsy Cline, about meeting and knowing Patsy Cline.
I never met her, and that is certainly my loss. Patsy is, and perhaps
will
always be, the standard bearer for all femalecountry singers.
She truly has been
my inspiration." - Tammy Wynette
"If she was living today, I don't
believe there's a singer out there
that could outshine her, because she would
be so far ahead of 'em that
it would be obvious when you heard one of her records."
- George Jones
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