Patsy Cline Biography, Photos and Posters

Patsy Cline

Biography

Born: September 8, 1932
City and Country of Origin: Winchester, Virginia
Music Training:
Awards:
Top Recordings: "Walkin' After Midnight," "I Fall to Pieces," "Crazy," "She's Got You," "Leavin' On Your Mind," "Sweet Dreams"
Patsy Cline Biography: Virginia Patterson Hensley success during the early 60s. Since her untimely death in an airplane crash in 1963 her fame has only grown. She is considered one of the most influential and successful female vocalists of the 20th Century. Her life and career has been the subject of numerous books, movies, documentaries, articles and stage plays.Her signature songs include "Crazy", "I Fall to Pieces", "She's Got You", "So Wrong" and "Walkin' After Midnight". She has sold millions of albums over the past 50 years, which gave Patsy Cline an iconic fan status, similar to that of country artists like Johnny Cash and Dolly Parton.

She was the daughter of Sam and Hilda Hensley, a blacksmith and a seamstress. Cline began performing in area variety/talent shows early on and then, as she grew older, began to play popular nightclubs. After her father abandoned the family she quit high school to work in restaurants during the day and singing at night. When she sas in her early 20s she married contractor Gerald Cline, whom she later divorced. In 1953 her new manager, Bill Peer, gave her the the name "Patsy."

She attracted a large following in the Virginia/Maryland area, which led to her becoming a regular on Connie B. Gay's Town and Country television show, broadcast out of Washington, D.C, which featured future Country star Jimmy Dean. In 1955 she signed a recording contract with Four Star Records. While under contract she was only able to record songs written by the labels songwriters. 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. Her follow up recordings didn't fair much better. While with Four Star Records she recorded 51 songs.

In 1957 things started to change for Patsy. First she married the love of her life Charlie Dick, then she rocketed to fame after appearing on the Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts program on January 21, 1957, when she sang "Walkin' After Midnight," and won. The song became an instant hit, but she was still under contract with Four Star. In 1959 she met Randy Hughes who became her manager and helped her get a contract with Decca after her contract with Four Star expired in 1960.

After signing with Decca she worked under the direction of legendary producer Owen Bradley. He was not only responsible for much of Cline's career, but also for those of Brenda Lee and Loretta Lynn. He first release for Decca was the Country Pop ballad "I Fall to Pieces." It became Cline's first number 1 hit.

On June 14, 1961, Patsy and her brother Sam were involved in a near fatal car crash. The impact of the collision threw Patsy through the windshield nearly killing her. She suffered a jagged cut across her forehead that required stitches, a broken wrist, and a dislocated hip, she spent a month in the hospital. When she left the hospital her forehead was still badly scarred which led to her wearing wigs to cover the scarring for the rest of her career.

Cline proved to be a trend setter for women in the country music business. She managed to surpass her male competitors in terms of record sales and concert tickets, and she wound up earning $1,000 for her concert performances toward the end of her life an unheard of sum in those days.

As a follow up to "I Fall to Piec es," Cline turned to a Willie Nelson composition, which she originally hated, "Crazy." It would become Cline's signature song. It became her biggest corss-over hit. After that she recorded an album called Showcase With the Jordanaires and in 1962 released "She's Got You," which also became a major cross-over hit.

Cline confided to friends that she felt a sense of impending doom. On March 3, 1963, Patsy performed for the last time at a benefit show in Kansas City, Missouri for the family of a disc jockey, Cactus Jack Call, who had recently died. Also performing on the show were George Jones, Dottie West and several other performers. Afterwards, Patsy boarded a private plane bound for Nashville, flown by her manager Randy Hughes, along with Cowboy Copas and Hawkshaw Hawkins. After refueling in Dyersburg, Tennessee, the plane took off at 6:07 pm. They never made it to Nashville. The plane flew into severe weather and crashed at 6:20 p.m. in a forest just outside of Camden, Tennessee. There were no survivors. Patsy Cline was 30 years old.
Died: March 5, 1963

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