Patsy Cline
Patsy Cline (born Virginia Patterson Hensley; September 8, 1932 – March 5, 1963) was an American singer. She is considered one of the most influential vocalists of the 20th century and was one of the first country music artists to cross over into pop music.[8][9] Cline had several major hits during her eight-year recording career, including two number-one hits on the Billboard Hot Country and Western Sides chart.
For other uses, see Patsy Cline (disambiguation).
Patsy Cline
March 5, 1963 (aged 30)
Shenandoah Memorial Park, Winchester, Virginia, U.S.
- Singer
- songwriter[3]
1948–1963
-
Gerald Cline(m. 1953; div. 1957)
2
- Vocals
Cline's first professional performances began at local radio station WINC when she was fifteen. In the early 1950s, Cline began appearing in a local band led by performer Bill Peer. Various local appearances led to featured performances on Connie B. Gay's Town and Country television broadcasts. It also led to the signing of her first recording contract with the Four Star label in 1954. She had minor success with her earliest Four Star singles including "A Church, a Courtroom, Then Goodbye" (1955) and "I've Loved and Lost Again" (1956). In 1957 Cline made her first national television appearance on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts. After performing "Walkin' After Midnight", the single became her first major hit on both the country and pop charts.
Cline's further singles with Four Star Records were unsuccessful, although she continued performing and recording. After marrying in 1957 and giving birth in 1958, she moved to Nashville, Tennessee, to further her career. Working with new manager Randy Hughes, Cline became a member of the Grand Ole Opry and then moved to Decca Records in 1960. Under the direction of producer Owen Bradley, her musical sound shifted and she achieved consistent success. The 1961 single "I Fall to Pieces" became her first to top the Billboard country chart. As the song became a hit, Cline was severely injured in an automobile accident, which caused her to spend a month in the hospital. After she recovered, her next single release "Crazy" would also become a major hit.
During 1962 and 1963, Cline had hits with "She's Got You", "When I Get Through with You", "So Wrong" and "Leavin' on Your Mind". She also toured and headlined shows with more frequency. In March 1963, Cline was killed in a plane crash along with country performers Cowboy Copas, Hawkshaw Hawkins, and manager Randy Hughes, during a flight from Kansas City, Kansas, back to Nashville.
Since her death, Cline has been cited as one of the most celebrated, respected, and influential performers of the 20th century. Her music has influenced performers of various styles and genres.[10] She has also been seen as a forerunner for women in country music, being among the first to sell records and headline concerts. In 1973, she became the first female performer to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. In the 1980s, Cline's posthumous successes continued in the mass media. She was portrayed twice in major motion pictures, including the 1985 biopic Sweet Dreams starring Jessica Lange. Several documentaries and stage shows were released during this time, including the 1988 musical Always...Patsy Cline. A 1991 box set of her recordings was issued that received critical acclaim. Her greatest hits album sold over 10 million copies in 2005. In 2011, Cline's childhood home was restored as a museum for visitors and fans to tour.
Career[edit]
1948–1953: Early career[edit]
At age 15, Cline wrote a letter to the Grand Ole Opry asking for an audition. She told local photographer Ralph Grubbs about the letter, "A friend thinks I'm crazy to send it. What do you think?" Grubbs encouraged Cline to send it. Several weeks later, she received a return letter from the Opry asking for pictures and recordings.[24] At the same time, Gospel performer Wally Fowler headlined a concert in her hometown. Cline convinced concert employees to let her backstage where she asked Fowler for an audition.[25] Following a successful audition, Cline's family received a call asking for her to audition for the Opry. She traveled with her mother, two siblings, and a family friend on an eight-hour journey to Nashville, Tennessee. With limited finances, they drove overnight and slept in a Nashville park the following morning. Cline auditioned for Opry performer Moon Mullican the same day. The audition was well-received and Cline expected to hear from the Opry the same day. However, she never received news and the family returned to Virginia.[26]
By the early 1950s, Cline continued performing around the local area. In 1952, she asked to audition for local country bandleader Bill Peer. Following her audition, she began performing regularly as a member of Bill Peer's Melody Boys and Girls.[22][25] The pair's relationship turned romantic, continuing an affair for several years. Nonetheless, the pair remained married to their spouses.[25][27] Peer's group played primarily at the Moose Lodge in Brunswick, Maryland where she would meet her first husband, Gerald Cline. Peer encouraged her to have a more appropriate stage name. She changed her first name from Virginia to Patsy (taken from her middle name "Patterson"). She kept her new last name, Cline. Ultimately, she became professionally known as "Patsy Cline".[17][18]
In August 1953, Cline was a contestant in a local country music contest. She won 100 dollars and the opportunity to perform as a regular on Connie B. Gay's Town and Country Time.[28] The show included country stars Jimmy Dean, Roy Clark, George Hamilton IV and Billy Grammer,[17] and was filmed in Washington D.C. and Arlington County, Virginia. She was not officially added to the program's television shows until October 1955.[29] Cline's television performances received critical acclaim. The Washington Star magazine praised her stage presence, commenting, "She creates the moods through movement of her hands and body and by the lilt of her voice, reaching way down deep in her soul to bring forth the melody. Most female country music vocalists stand motionless, sing with monotonous high-pitched nasal twang. Patsy's come up with a throaty style loaded with motion and E-motion."[30]
1954–1960: Four Star Records[edit]
In 1954, Bill Peer created and distributed a series of demonstration tapes with Cline's voice on it. A tape was brought to the attention of Bill McCall, president of Four Star Records.[31] On September 30, 1954, she signed a two-year recording contract with the label alongside Peer and her husband Gerald Cline.[32] The original contract allowed Four Star to receive most of the money for the songs she recorded.[33] Therefore, Cline received little of the royalties from the label, totaling out to 2.34 percent on her recording contract.[34][18] Her first recording session took place in Nashville, Tennessee on January 5, 1955. Songs for the session were handpicked by McCall and Paul Cohen. Four Star leased the recordings to the larger Decca Records. For those reasons Owen Bradley was chosen as the session's producer, a professional relationship that would continue into the 1960s.[35] Her first single release was 1955's "A Church, a Courtroom, Then Goodbye". Although Cline promoted it with an appearance on the Grand Ole Opry, the song was not successful.[36][17]
Cline recorded a variety of musical styles while recording for Four Star. This included genres such as gospel, rockabilly, traditional country, and pop.[37][25] Writers and music journalists have had mixed responses on Cline's Four Star material. Robert Oermann and Mary Bufwack of Finding Her Voice: Women in Country Music called the label's choice of material "mediocre". They also commented that Cline seemed to have "groped for her own sound on the label".[25] Kurt Wolff of Country Music the Rough Guide commented that the music was "sturdy enough, but they only hinted at the potential that lurked inside her.[38] Richie Unterberger of Allmusic claimed it was Cline's voice that made the Four Star material less appealing: "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."[39]
Posthumous releases[edit]
Music[edit]
Since Cline's death, Decca Records (later bought by MCA and owned by Universal Music since 1999) has re-released her music, which has made her commercially successful posthumously. The Patsy Cline Story was the first compilation album the label released following her death. It included the songs "Sweet Dreams (Of You)" and "Faded Love". Both tracks were released as singles in 1963.[38] "Sweet Dreams" would reach number 5 on the Billboard country charts and 44 on the Hot 100.[114][115] "Faded Love" would also become a top 10 hit on the Billboard country chart, peaking at number 7 in October 1963.[116] In 1967, Decca released the compilation Patsy Cline's Greatest Hits. The album peaked at number 17 on the Billboard country chart, and was certified diamond in sales from the Recording Industry Association of America. In 2005, the Guinness World Book of Records included Greatest Hits for being the album to run the longest on any record chart by any female artist.[117][43]
Cline's music continued making the charts into the 1980s. Her version of "Always" made the Billboard country chart in 1980.[38] An album of the same name was also released in 1980 that peaked within the top 30 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart.[118] Two overdubbed duets between Cline and Jim Reeves became major hits during this time as well.[38] Following the release of the Loretta Lynn biopic Coal Miner's Daughter (1980), there was renewed interest in Cline's career. As a result, MCA Records reissued much of Cline's earlier studio and compilation releases.[49] Her 1967 greatest hits album for example was repackaged in 1988 and labeled 12 Greatest Hits. The record reached number 27 on the Top Country Albums list in 1990.[119] The soundtrack for Cline's own film biopic was released concurrently with the movie in 1985. The soundtrack would peak at number 6 on the Billboard country albums chart upon its release.[120]
In 1991, MCA records issued her first boxed set, titled The Patsy Cline Collection. The album chronicled all of Cline's recorded material for Four Star and Decca Records. The boxed set received positive reviews, notably by Thom Jurek of Allmusic, who rated it five out of five stars. Jurek commented,
Artistry[edit]
Influences[edit]
Cline was influenced by various music artists. Among her earliest influences were pop singers of the 1940s and 1950s. These included Kay Starr,[142] Helen Morgan,[17] Patti Page,[143] and Kate Smith.[144] Patti Page recollected that Cline's husband said to her, "I just wish Patsy could have met you because she just adored you and listened to you all the time and wanted to be like you."[143] Among her primary influences was Kay Starr, of whom Cline was a "fervent devotee" according to The Washington Post.[145] Jack Hurst of the Chicago Tribune remarked that "Her rich, powerful voice, obviously influenced by that of pop's Kay Starr, has continued and perhaps even grown in popularity over the decades."[142] Cline was also attracted to country music radio programs, notably the Grand Ole Opry. According to Mary Bufwack and Robert Oermann, Cline became "obsessed" with the program at a young age. Cline's mother Hilda Hensley commented on her daughter's admiration, "I know she never wanted anything so badly as to be a star on the Grand Ole Opry..."[75] Among performers from the program she admired was Patsy Montana.[144] Cline was also influenced by other types of performers including early rockabilly artist Charline Arthur.[146]
Voice and style[edit]
Cline possessed a contralto voice. Time magazine writer Richard Corliss called her voice "bold".[147] Her voice has also been praised for its display of emotion. Kurt Wolff called it one of the most "emotionally expressive voices in modern country music".[148] Tony Gabrielle of the Daily Press wrote that Cline had "a voice of tremendous emotional power."[149] Cline was at times taken by her own emotion. Husband Charlie Dick recounted that Cline's producer Owen Bradley told him to leave a recording session because she was very emotional and he didn't want to disturb the mood. Cline was once quoted in describing the emotion she felt, saying, "Oh Lord, I sing just like I hurt inside."[147]
During her early career, Cline recorded in styles such as gospel, rockabilly, and honky-tonk.[37][25] These styles she cut for Four Star Records have been considered below the quality of her later work for Decca Records.[37] Steve Leggett of Allmusic commented,
Studio albums
Posthumous studio albums