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Patsy Cline

, Country Singer
Patsy Cline
Source

  • Born: 8 September 1932
  • Birthplace: Winchester, Virginia
  • Died: 5 March 1963 (airplane crash)
  • Best Known As: Country and pop sensation who sang "Crazy"

Name at birth: Virginia Patterson Hensley

In 1957 Patsy Cline appeared on the popular TV program Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts and sang " Walkin' After Midnight." The song went on to make both the country and pop charts, and Cline's career took off. She was the first female country star to cross over into pop, with hits that included "I Fall To Pieces" and "Crazy." In 1963 she was killed in a plane crash; in 1973 she was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame.

"I Fall To Pieces" is alleged to be Bill Clinton's favorite song.

 
 
Artist: Patsy Cline
Patsy Cline

Born:
Sep 08, 1932 in Gore, Virginia

Died:
Mar 05, 1963 in Camden, Tennessee

Representative Songs:

"Walkin' After Midnight," "Just a Closer Walk With Thee," "I Fall to Pieces"

Representative Albums:

The Definitive Collection, Gold, The Patsy Cline Collection

Similar Artists:

Influences:

Followers:

Performed Songs By:

Charlotte White, Barbara Vaughan, Stan Gardner, Tiny Colbert, Lillian Clarborne, Gertrude Burg, Fred Burch, Ethel Bassey, Kay Adelman, Ginger Willis, Johnny Starr, Kenny Sowder, Rita Ross, Glenn Reeves, John Klenner, Bobby Lile, Jerry Le Fors, Chuck Seals, Don Hecht, Al Hoffman, Sammy Masters, W.S. Stevenson, John Wills, Tex Satterwhite, Frank Simon, Hal Willis, Don Reid, Durwood Haddock, Alan Block, Mae Boren Axton, James Crawford, Beam Vs. Cyrus, George London, Milton DeLugg, Alan Black, Hank Williams, Wayne Walker, V.F. Stewart, William "Mickey" Stevenson, Webb Pierce, Ralph Mooney, Bob Montgomery, Eddie Miller, E. Miller, Harlan Howard, Bob Hilliard, Cliff Friend, Hank Cochran, Carl Belew, Redd Stewart, Pee Wee King, Justin Tubb, Freddie Hart, Irving Mills, Carl Perkins, Irving Berlin, Floyd Tillman, Mel Tillis, Buck Owens, Willie Nelson, Don Gibson, Bill Monroe

Worked With:

  • Alternative Name: Virginia Patterson Hensley
  • Genre: Country
  • Active: '50s, '60s
  • Instruments: Vocals, Piano

Biography

One of the greatest singers in the history of country music, Patsy Cline also helped blaze a trail for female singers to assert themselves as an integral part of the Nashville-dominated country music industry. She was not alone in this regard; Kitty Wells had become a star several years before Cline's big hits in the early '60s. Brenda Lee, who shared Cline's producer, did just as much to create a country-pop crossover during the same era; Skeeter Davis briefly enjoyed similar success. Cline has the most legendary aura of any female country singer, however, perhaps due to an early death that cut her off just after she had entered her prime.

Cline began recording in the mid-'50s, and although she recorded quite a bit of material between 1955 and 1960 (17 singles in all), only one of them was a hit. That song, "Walkin' After Midnight," was both a classic and a Top 20 pop smash. Those who are accustomed to Cline's famous early-'60s hits are in for a bit of a shock when surveying her '50s sessions (which have been reissued on several Rhino compilations). At times she sang flat-out rockabilly; she also tried some churchy tear-weepers. She couldn't follow up "Walkin' After Midnight," however, in part because of an exploitative deal that limited her to songs from one publishing company.

Circumstances were not wholly to blame for Cline's commercial failures. She would have never made it as a rockabilly singer, lacking the conviction of Wanda Jackson or the spunk of Brenda Lee. In fact, in comparison with her best work, she sounds rather stiff and ill-at-ease on most of her early singles. Things took a radical turn for the better on all fronts in 1960, when her initial contract expired. With the help of producer Owen Bradley (who had worked on her sessions all along), Cline began selecting material that was both more suitable and of a higher quality than her previous outings.

"I Fall to Pieces," cut at the very first session where Cline was at liberty to record what she wanted, was the turning point in her career. Reaching number one in the country charts and number 12 pop, it was the first of several country-pop crossovers she was to enjoy over the next couple of years. More important, it set a prototype for commercial Nashville country at its best. Owen Bradley crafted lush orchestral arrangements, with weeping strings and backup vocals by the Jordanaires, that owed more to pop (in the best sense) than country.

The country elements were provided by the cream of Nashville's session musicians, including guitarist Hank Garland, pianist Floyd Cramer, and drummer Buddy Harmon. Cline's voice sounded richer, more confident, and more mature, with ageless wise and vulnerable qualities that have enabled her records to maintain their appeal with subsequent generations. When k.d. lang recorded her 1988 album Shadowland with Owen Bradley, it was this phase of Cline's career that she was specifically attempting to emulate.

It's arguable that too much has been made of Cline's crossover appeal to the pop market. Brenda Lee, whose records were graced with similar Bradley productions, was actually more successful in this area (although her records were likely targeted toward a younger audience). Cline's appeal was undeniably more adult, but she was always more successful with country listeners. Her final four Top Ten country singles, in fact, didn't make the pop Top 40.

Despite a severe auto accident in 1961, Cline remained hot through 1961 and 1962, with "Crazy" and "She's Got You" both becoming big country and pop hits. Much of her achingly romantic material was supplied by fresh talent like Hank Cochran, Harlan Howard, and Willie Nelson (who penned "Crazy"). Although her commercial momentum had faded slightly, she was still at the top of her game when she died in a plane crash in March of 1963, at the age of 30. She was only a big star for a couple of years, but her influence was and remains huge. While the standards of professionalism on her recordings have been emulated ever since, they've rarely been complemented by as much palpable, at times heartbreaking emotion in the performances. For those who could do without some of more elaborate arrangements of her later years, many of her relatively unadorned appearances on radio broadcasts have been thankfully preserved and issued. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide
 
Discography: Patsy Cline

The Very Best of Patsy Cline [Collectables]

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50 Golden Greats: The Complete Early Years

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18 Greatest

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Sweet Dreams: The Four Star Recordings 1955-1960

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Walking and Dreaming

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Gold

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The Essential First Recordings

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The Definitive Collection

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Patsy Cline Greatest Hits [MCA]

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David Allan Coe Presents Patsy Cline

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The Legends Collection

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Lonely Street

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True Love: A Standards Collection

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Walkin' After Midnight: The Best of Patsy Cline [BMG]

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25 All-Time Greatest Recordings: The 4-Star Sessions 1955-1960

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The Ultimate Collection [UTV]

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20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of Patsy Cline

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Walkin' After Midnight: The Very Best of Patsy Cline

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Live Broadcasts

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Live at the Cimarron Ballroom

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Back to Back [Universal]

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Crazy Dreams: The Classic Early Years

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Platinum Collection

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Critique Country Classics Collection, Vol. 1

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The Birth of a Star

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Crazy Dreams: The Four Star Years

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Sings More Great Songs of Love

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Sings Songs of Love

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Classics

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Classics Collection: Patsy Cline

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Today, Tomorrow and Forever [Madacy]

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In Care of the Blues

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Walkin' After Midnight [Rhino]

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Country Spotlight [Dominion]

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At Her Best [Hollywood]

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20 Golden Pieces of Patsy Cline

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The Patsy Cline Collection [MCA]

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Best of Patsy Cline [Curb]

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Her First Recordings, Vol. 1: Walkin' Dreams

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Her First Recordings, Vol. 3: Rockin' Side

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Live, Vol. 2

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Her First Recordings, Vol. 2: Hungry for Love

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20 Golden Hits [Deluxe]

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Live at the Opry

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12 Greatest Hits

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Heartaches [Universal]

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Country Great

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Songwriter's Tribute

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A Portrait of Patsy Cline

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The Patsy Cline Story

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Sentimentally Yours

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Patsy Cline Showcase

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Biography: Patsy Cline

Vocalist Patsy Cline (1932-1963) was one of the first women to break into the country and western music scene, which was, until then, dominated by men.

Up until Patsy Cline's recordings in the late 1950s and early 1960s there were only a handful of country and western female singers; and the title of queen belonged solely to Kitty Wells. It was Cline who dethroned Wells with classic performances on cuts like "Walkin' After Midnight" and the Willie Nelson composition "Crazy," which combined the pop characteristics of Patti Page and Kay Starr with the hillbilly traits of Hank Williams. All three singers were major influences on Cline's style.

Career Began at Age Four

Cline's entertainment career began at the tender age of four, when she won a local amateur contest for tap dancing in her hometown of Winchester, Virginia. By age eight she was playing the piano and singing in her church's choir. In 1948 the drugstore counter girl began singing in nightclubs with Bill Peer and his Melody Boys. Wally Fowler of the Grand Ole Opry convinced the 16-year-old to go to Nashville for an appearance on Roy Acuff's "WSM Dinner Bell" radio program. Cline hung around Nashville trying to break into the industry but ended up working as a club dancer.

Cline headed back home shortly thereafter and continued singing with Peer's band until 1954, when she returned to Nashville and signed a contract with William McCall's 4 Star Sales Co. out of Pasadena, California. Cline's first recording session was on June 1, 1955, and her first three songs were leased to Coral Records, a subsidiary of Decca. Part of her deal with 4 Star, which included one-time session fees with no royalties, stipulated that she could only record material that belonged to McCall's company. This may have been part of the reason that the majority of her early work did not sell very well. She was also tackling a wide variety of styles that made it hard to categorize her.

Radical Image

Producer Owen Bradley was trying to create a new genre with Cline by bathing her voice in full, jazzy orchestrations at his Quonset Studios in an effort to counter the rising popularity of rock and roll. According to The Listener's Guide to Country Music, "Patsy Cline was his ultimate country success. For him, she played down her country characteristics. For her, he played down his popular music background. The results were records full of tension and dynamics."

It would, however, take some time before the formula caught on, as the country scene was changing from hillbilly to country and western and was still mainly dominated by male artists. Cline's radical image as a two-fisted, hard-drinking woman definitely made her stand out from the rest of the Nashville crowd, but any chance of success would rely on her voice and songs. Her talents shined on both slow torchers and up-tempo cuts but her 4 Star sessions never did fully realize her potential, with the exception of "Walkin' After Midnight."

"Walkin' After Midnight" a Hit

Cline recorded the tune on November 8, 1956, but it was the rendition of the song she performed on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts television program on January 28, 1957, that got the industry's attention. She had debated performing the song but was finally convinced by one of the regulars on Godfrey's show, Janette Davis. The television audience went wild and gave Cline a standing ovation.

4 Star rushed to release the single on February 11 and it shot all the way to number three on Billboard's country chart. More importantly, however, "Walkin"' also rose to number 17 on the pop charts. Donn Hecht had originally written the tune for Kay Starr, who turned it down, but Cline and Bradley managed to use it as a vehicle to bridge the gap between hillbilly and pop. McCall, whose company was eventually shut down as a result of questionable business dealings, was unfortunately too slow in following up on the hit. He did convince Cline to renew her contract, but it took another six months before she recorded another session, "Fingerprints"/"A Stranger in My Arms." Her remaining work with 4 Star was unspectacular and in 1959 she jumped to Decca Records, insisting upon a $1,000 advance.

Vocals Soared to New Heights

It wasn't until 1961, one year after she became a regular cast member of the Grand Ole Opry, that Cline had her second hit, "I Fall to Pieces." The song went to number one on the country charts and was joined by "Crazy," another Top 10 hit of 1961. Cline's vocals began to soar to new heights on material that was less restrictive than 4 Star's catalog. For the next two years she recorded major hits with "She's Got You" (a number-one hit), "When I Get Through With You, You'll Love Me," "Faded Love," and "Leavin' On Your Mind" (all Top 10's).

Cline was just coming into her own when tragedy struck on March 5, 1963. On the way home from a Kansas City benefit for disc jockey Cactus Jack Callat, Cline, Randy Hughes, Cowboy Copas, and Hawkshaw Hawkins were killed when the airplane they were flying in crashed near Camden, Tennessee. At the age of 31 she had been performing for over twenty years, yet recording for less than eight.

A Legend

Ironically, perhaps her most identifiable tune, "Sweet Dreams," was released posthumously and also broke the Top 10. Even with her relatively small collection of songs, Cline managed to break new ground and influence hundreds of female, and some male, country singers since. Loretta Lynn, undoubtedly Cline's most successful pupil, recorded a tribute LP, I Remember Patsy, featuring nine of Cline's songs.

"Patsy Cline knew how to cry on both sides of the microphone," wrote Donn Hecht in The Country Music Encyclopedia. "And the why of it all, explained by many, understood by few, is slowly becoming a legend unparalleled by any other country entertainer since Hank Williams."

Further Reading

Lazarus, Lois, Country Is My Music!, Messner, 1980.

Malone, Bill, Country Music U.S.A. - A Fifty-Year History, American Folk Society, 1968.

Oermann, Robert K., with Douglas B. Green, The Listener's Guide to Country Music, Facts on File, 1983.

Stambler, Irwin, and Grellun Landon, The Encyclopedia of Folk, Country & Western Music, St. Martin's Press, 1983.

Stars of Country Music - Uncle Dave Macon to Johnny Rodriguez, edited by Bill C. Malone and Judith McCulloh, University of Illinois Press, 1975.

Shestack, Melvin, The Country Music Encyclopedia, KBO, 1974.

 

(born Sept. 8, 1932, Winchester, Va., U.S. — died March 5, 1963, near Camden, Tenn.) U.S. singer. Cline sang with country music groups as a teenager. She began recording in the mid-1950s and won first place on Arthur Godfrey's television show with "Walking After Midnight" (1957), a hit that made her the first female country singer to cross over into pop music. In 1960 she joined the Grand Ole Opry. After recovering from injuries sustained in a car crash, she returned in 1962 with hits such as "I Fall to Pieces" and "Crazy." She was killed in an airplane crash.

For more information on Patsy Cline, visit Britannica.com.

 
Columbia Encyclopedia: Cline, Patsy,
1932–63, American country singer, b. Winchester, Va., as Virginia Patterson Hensley. She began singing locally while still in her teens and signed her first recording contract in 1953, but did not become well known until after the release of her first hit, “Walkin' after Midnight” (1957). Cline became a regular performer on radio's Grand Ole Opry in 1960. While remaining a country artist, she was the first female vocalist to successfully cross over to the pop charts. Among her other hits are “I Fall to Pieces” (1961), “Crazy” (1961), and “She's Got You” (1962). Cline was killed in a plane crash at the age of 30. Her strong, golden-toned voice and expressive, sometimes sobbing style influenced a wide range of singers including Dottie West, Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette, Dolly Parton, and K. D. Lang. Cline was posthumously named (1992) to the Country Music Hall of Fame and given (1995) a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Bibliography

See C. Hazen and M. Freeman, ed., Love Always: Patsy Cline's Letters to a Friend (1999); biographies by E. Nassour (rev. ed. 1993), M. Jones (1994, repr. 1999), M. Bego (1995), S. E. Brown and L. F. Myers (1996), and D. Hall (1998); Sweet Dreams (documentary film, 1985).

 
Wikipedia: Patsy Cline
Patsy Cline
Birth name Virginia Patterson Hensley
Born September 8 1932(1932--)
Origin Winchester, Virginia
Died March 5 1963 (aged 30)
Genre(s) Country, Traditional Pop, Nashville Sound,
Honky Tonk,Rockabilly
Occupation(s) Singer, Songwriter
Instrument(s) Vocals, Piano
Years active 1955 – 1963
Label(s) Four Star Records (1955-1960)
Decca Records (1960-1963)
Associated
acts
Kitty Wells, Jean Shepard, Jimmy Dean, Jim Reeves, Eddy Arnold, Skeeter Davis, Brenda Lee, Loretta Lynn, Jan Howard, Dottie West
Website Patsified.com; A Patsy Cline Site
Members
Country Music Hall of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame
Former members
Grand Ole Opry (1960 – 1963)

Patsy Cline (b. Virginia Patterson Hensley September 8, 1932March 5, 1963) was an American country music singer, who enjoyed pop music cross-over success during the era of the Nashville Sound in the early 1960s. Since her death at the age of 30 in a 1963 plane crash at the height of her career, she has been considered one of the most influential, successful, revered and acclaimed female vocalists of the 20th century. Her life and career has been the subject of numerous books, movies, documentaries, articles and stage plays.

Cline was best known for her rich tone and emotionally expressive voice, which, along with her role as a mover and shaker in the Country Music industry, has been cited and praised as an inspiration by many vocalists of various music genres. Posthumously she has sold millions of albums over the past 50 years and won countless awards, which has given her an iconic fan status, similar to that of music legends Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley. In 2001, she was voted by artists and members of the Country Music industry as #1 of 40 Greatest Women of Country Music of all time and in 1999 she was voted #11 of The 100 Greatest Women in Rock and Roll of all time by members and artists of the rock industry. According to her 1973 Country Music Hall of Fame plaque: "Her heritage of timeless recordings is testimony to her artistic capacity." Among those hits: "Walkin' After Midnight", "I Fall to Pieces", "She's Got You", "Crazy", and "Sweet Dreams".

Early years & rise to fame

Born Virginia Patterson Hensley on September 8, 1932, in Gore, Virginia, she was the daughter of Sam and Hilda Patterson Hensley, a blacksmith and a seamstress; Hilda was only 16. Patsy was the eldest of three children, which included a brother, Sam, and a sister, Sylvia Mae. The three children, despite their given names, were called "Ginny," "John," and "Sis," respectively.

Some say that Patsy had an unhappy childhood and grew up a poor girl "on the wrong side of the tracks", but except for the fact that her father deserted the family in 1947, when she was fifteen, the Hensley home was quite happy.[1] The family moved often, living in many different places around Virginia, before settling into Winchester. Cline often proclaimed as a child that she would one day be famous, and looked up to stars such as Judy Garland and Shirley Temple. A serious illness as a child caused a throat infection which, according to Cline, resulted in her gift of "a voice that boomed like Kate Smith's." Cline credited everyone from Kay Starr to Hank Williams for influencing her and was very well rounded in her musical tastes. As a child, she often sang in church with her mother. Cline was also a by-ear pianist and sang with perfect pitch.

Cline began performing in area variety/talent shows early on. She once went to the local radio station (WINC) in Winchester and ask DJ Jimmy McCoy if he would let her sing on his radio show. He did and this was a great opportunity for Patsy, as Jimmy's radio show was a great showcase for local talent. As she grew older, she began to play in popular nightclubs. To support her family after her father abandoned them, she dropped out of high school and worked various jobs, soda jerking and waitressing by day. At night, Cline could be found singing at local nightclubs, wearing her infamous fringed western stage outfits designed by herself and made by her mother, Hilda.

During this period in her early 20s, Cline met two men who would be responsible for making her name a household word. The first was contractor Gerald Cline, whom she married in 1953 and would divorce in 1957. The second was Bill Peer, her new manager. It was Peer who gave her the name "Patsy", short from her middle name and her mother's maiden name "Patterson."

Cline began making numerous appearances on local radio, and she attracted a large following in the Virginia/Maryland area—especially when Jimmy Dean learned of her. She became a regular on Connie B. Gay's "Town and Country" television show, broadcast out of Washington, D.C, which also featured Dean, himself an established young country star. She also began making appearances on the world renowned Grand Ole Opry.

In 1955, Cline was signed to Four Star Records. However, her contract only allowed her to record compositions by Four Star writers; Cline disliked this, and later expressed regret over signing with the label. Her first record for Four Star was "A Church, A Courtroom & Then Good-Bye." The song attracted little attention, although it did lead to several appearances on The Grand Ole Opry. Between 1955 and 1957, Cline recorded Honky Tonk material, with songs like "Fingerprints," "Pick Me Up On Your Way Down," and "A Stranger In My Arms." She also experimented with Rockabilly. However, none of these songs gained any notable success for Cline. According to Owen Bradley, her Decca Records producer, the Four Star compositions only seemed to hint at the potential that lurked inside of Cline. Bradley thought her voice was best suited for singing pop music. However, the Four Star producers insisted that Cline would record only country songs, as her contract also stated. During her contract with Four Star, Cline recorded 51 songs.

1957: Success of "Walkin' After Midnight"

The year 1957 was a year of great change in Cline's life as she found national stardom and married the man whom she called the love of her life, Charlie Dick. While looking for material for her first album "Patsy Cline" a song appeared titled "Walkin' After Midnight," written by Don Hecht and Alan Block. Cline initially did not like the song because it was, according to her "just a little old Pop song." However, the song's songwriters and record label insisted Cline should record it. She then auditioned for Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scout's program in New York City, and luckily got accepted to sing on the show.

Initially, Cline was supposed to sing the song "A Poor Man's Roses (Or a Rich Man's Gold)," however, show producers insisted Cline instead sing "Walkin' After Midnight." That night, she won the program and was invited to return to the show. The song was so well-liked by the audience that she decided to release "Walkin' After Midnight" as a single. The song was released in early 1957, and before long it was a hit on both the Country and Pop charts, reaching #2 on the Country charts and #12 on the Pop charts. Cline became one of the first country singers to have a crossover pop hit. She couldn't follow up "Walkin' After Midnight" with another hit, however, in part because of the deal that limited her to songs from one publishing company.[2] After the birth of their daughter Julie in 1958, she and Charlie moved to Nashville, Tennessee.

In 1959, Cline met Randy Hughes, who became her manager. With Randy's promotion and a new contract with Decca Records - Nashville, Cline's stardom would begin its ascent to the top.

1960: The year of her comeback

When her Four Star contract expired in 1960, Cline signed with Decca Records-Nashville, under the direction of legendary producer Owen Bradley. He was not only responsible for much of the success behind Cline's recording career, but also for those of Brenda Lee and Loretta Lynn. Under Bradley's direction, Cline enjoyed country and pop music success both because of her versatile vocal ability and because of Bradley's arrangements and incorporation of instruments — such as strings — not typically used on country records. Bradley found that Cline's voice was best-suited for Country Pop-crossover songs, and helped smooth Cline's voice into silky, torchy Pop-singing glory. Cline never liked the fact that she sang Pop material. This new, more sophisticated instrumental style became known as “The Nashville Sound,“ founded by Bradley and RCA’s Chet Atkins, who produced Jim Reeves, Skeeter Davis, Connie Smith, and Eddy Arnold.

Cline's first Decca release was in 1961, was the Country Pop ballad "I Fall to Pieces," written by Hank Cochran and Harlan Howard. It went on to become Cline's first #1 hit on the Country charts and peaked at #12 on the Pop charts. The song cemented Cline's status as a household name and proved that female Country singers could enjoy just as much crossover success as male counterparts such as Jim Reeves and Eddy Arnold.

That same year, she was elected as a member of the Grand Ole Opry, the realization of a lifelong dream. Cline was one of the Opry's greatest stars and, reportedly, she is the only Opry star in history to date to receive membership merely as a result of asking.

Believing that there was "room enough for everybody" and perhaps due to her own self confidence, Cline befriended and encouraged several women starting out in Country Music, including Loretta Lynn, Dottie West, Barbara Mandrell (with whom Cline once toured), Jan Howard and Brenda Lee, all of whom cite her as an influence in their careers. Both Lynn and West claimed that Cline always gave of herself to her friends, often buying them groceries when they didn't have money, new furniture and even money to pay the rent to enable them to stay in Nashville and continue their quest for stardom. Cline's friend, Honky Tonk pianist and Opry star Del Wood, stated in the 1980 Ellis Nassour biography Patsy Cline: "Even when she didn't have it, she'd spend it and not always on herself. She'd give anyone the skirt off her backside if they needed it."

Cline also became friends with Roger Miller, Hank Cochran, Faron Young, Ferlin Husky, Harlan Howard and Carl Perkins; a group of male artists and songwriters whom she enjoyed joining at Tootsies Orchid Lounge next door to the Grand Ole Opry. Singer George Riddle remembered on the 1986 documentary The Real Patsy Cline: "It wasn't unusual for her to sit down and have a beer and tell a joke. She'd never be offended at the guys jokes because most of the time she'd tell a joke better than you! Patsy was full of life as I remember." She was known for calling her friends "Hoss," a term of endearment, and referring to herself as "The Cline." Though Cline never met Elvis Presley, she was a huge fan of his music and often kept up with him through the Jordanaires, who backed her and Elvis' vocals. She referred to him as "The Big Hoss."

Near-fatal car accident

While Cline would continue to thrive successfully in 1961, she also gave birth to a son, Randy. However, on June 14, 1961, Patsy and her brother Sam were involved in a head-on car collision, the second and most serious of two during her lifetime. The impact of the accident threw Patsy through the windshield, nearly killing her. Upon her arrival at the scene, singer Dottie West picked glass from Patsy's hair, while Patsy insisted that the other car's driver be treated first. (Coincidentally, West would be involved in a serious car accident in 1991 and would not survive.) Patsy later stated that she saw the female driver of the other car die before her eyes at the hospital. Suffering from a jagged cut across her forehead that required stitches, a broken wrist, and a dislocated hip, she spent a month in the hospital. While in the hospital, Cline, according to the Nassour biography Patsy Cline and to friend Billy Walker, rededicated her life to Christianity. She received thousands of cards and flowers sent by fans.

When she left the hospital, her forehead was still visibly scarred. For the remainder of her career, she wore wigs and careful makeup to hide the scars, and headbands to relieve pressure on her forehead. She returned to the road on crutches, determined to be a survivor with a new appreciation for life.

Years later in the 1990s, a series of recordings from her first concert since the accident was released. These archives, recorded in Tulsa, Oklahoma, were found in the attic of one of Cline's former residences by the current owners and given to the family. The album, released in 1995, is titled "Patsy Cline: Live At the Cimmarron Ballroom."

The height of her career: 1960-1961

After the success of "I Fall to Pieces," Cline needed a follow-up, particularly because her near-fatal car accident had required that she spend a month in the hospital, which meant lost time from touring and promotions. The famous follow-up to her hit was written by Willie Nelson and called "Crazy," which Cline originally hated. Her first recording session recording "Crazy" turned out to be a disaster, and Cline claimed that the song was too difficult to sing. She tried to record "Crazy" like the demo recording of it (which was sung by its songwriter), but had a tough time recording it not only because of its demo, but because she found the high notes hard to sing due to her wounded ribs from her car accident. The entire day in the studio at Decca was a head-on fight between Cline and Owen Bradley. However, when the song was finally recorded the next week in one take by Cline, she recorded a version that was completely different from the demo, and because of this, it turned out to become a classic and, ultimately, Cline's signature song – the one for which she remains best known. In late 1961, the song was an immediate Country Pop crossover hit, and was also her biggest Pop hit, when it went into the Top 10 there. Friend Loretta Lynn later reported that the night Cline premiered "Crazy" at the Grand Ole Opry, she received three standing ovations.

The success of "Crazy" was a hit on three different charts, the Hot Country Songs list, the US Hot 100 list, and the Adult Contemporary list. Soon an album was released that November entitled Showcase With the Jordanaires, that featured Cline's two big hits that year. The album brought success to Cline late that year.

Affect & Influence

Cline was the first female in the industry to prove that she could surpass her male competitors in terms of record sales and concert tickets. Cline is often considered a "pioneer" and "heroine" by her female contemporaries, who claim that she broke down doors in the industry for women when it was dominated and ruled by men. In retrospect, it was Cline who opened the door to greater pop-influence for country female vocalists, like Lynn Anderson, Crystal Gayle, Reba McEntire, Faith Hill, Shania Twain and Carrie Underwood.

Guitarist/Producer Harold Bradley said of Cline in the 2003 book Remembering Patsy: "She's taken the standards for being a country music vocalist, and she raised the bar. Women, even now, are trying to get to that bar.... If you're going to be a country singer, if you're not going to copy her -- and most people do come to town copying her -- then you have to be aware of how she did it. It's always good to know what was in the past because you think you're pretty hot until you hear her.... It gives all the female singers coming in something to gauge their talents against. And I expect it will forever."

Despite her name, Cline proved she was "nobody's patsy" many times in her life. She was in control of her own career, making it clear that she could stand up to any man -- verbally and professionally -- and challenge their rules if they got in the way of where she felt her career should be headed. In a day and time when concert promoters often cheated stars out of their money by promising to pay them after the show and running with the money during the concert, Cline stood up to many of the male promoters before she even took the stage and demanded their money by claiming: "No dough, no show." According to friend Roy Druskey on the 1986 documentary The Real Patsy Cline: "Before one concert we hadn't been paid. And we were talking about who was going to tell the audience that we couldn't perform without pay. Patsy said 'I'll tell 'em!' And she did!" Friend Faron Young stated "It was common knowledge around town that you didn't mess with 'The Cline'!"

When Cline made her first recordings in 1955, Kitty Wells, known as "The Queen of Country Music," was the undisputed top female vocalist in the country music field. By the time Cline broke through as a consistent hit maker in 1961, Wells was still country's biggest female star. However, Cline dethroned Wells when, for two years in a row, she won Billboard Magazine's "Favorite Female Country & Western Artist" and the 1962 Music Reporter "Star of The Year" award. The two country queens could not have been more different, given that Cline's husky, full-throated, sophisticated sound was a marked contrast to Wells' pure-country, quivering vocals. Cline proved her name as such a household word that she needed no "royal" title other than her name to prove her popularity. Though she was gaining attention on Country and Pop charts, she did not think of herself as anything other than a country singer and was known for her humility in her motto "I don't want to get rich -- just live good."

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With Cline’s success climbing the record charts, she was in high demand on the concert circuit. Whereas most women in Country Music at that time were only considered “window dressing,” opening acts or extra attractions for the more popular and higher paid male star headliners, Cline was the first to headline her own show and receive top billing above many of the male stars with whom she toured. While bands typically backed up the female singer, Cline led the band through the concert instead. Cline was so respected by men in the industry, that, rather than being introduced to audiences as “Pretty Miss Patsy Cline” as her female colleagues often were, she was given a more stately introduction such as that given by Johnny Cash on their 1962 tour together: “Ladies and Gentlemen, the one and only Patsy Cline.” As an artist, Cline held her fan base in extreme high regard (many of which became lifelong friends), staying for hours after concerts to chat with them and sign autographs.

Cline was not only the first woman in Country Music to perform at New York’s Carnegie Hall (which she did with fellow Opry members with disapproval from elite gossip columnist Dorothy Kilgallen, whom Cline fired back at) but also to headline the Hollywood Bowl with