Coordinates	33°51′35.9″N151°12′40″N
name	The Jordanaires
background	group_or_band
origin	Springfield, Missouri, United States
genre	Gospel, Country, Rock and Roll, Folk
years active	–present
associated acts	Foggy River Boys, Elvis Presley, Eddy Arnold, Ricky Nelson, Johnny Cash, Charley Pride, Patsy Cline, The Imperials
website	www.jordanaires.net
current members	Gordon StokerRay WalkerCurtis YoungLouis Nunley
past members	Bill MatthewsBob HubbardWarren MatthewsCulley HoltHoyt HawkinsNeal MatthewsDon BruceHugh JarrettDuane West }}

The Jordanaires are an American vocal quartet, which formed as a gospel group in 1948. They are best known for providing vocal background for Elvis Presley, in live appearances and recordings from 1956 to 1972. The group has also worked in the recording studio, on stage, and on television with many other Country and Rock and Roll artists.

Group history

Early years

The history of The Jordanaires can be traced back to the early 1940s, and the original Foggy River Boys, which were made up of the Matthews brothers—Bill (b. LaFollette, Tenn., 1923), Monty (b. Pulaski, Ky., 1927), Jack, and Matt (all ordained ministers). In 1948, Matt and Jack left to become full-time preachers and were replaced by Bob Hubbard (b. Chaffee, Mo., 1928), also a minister, and bass singer Culley Holt (b. McAlester, Okla., 1925), and pianist Bob Money. After three years Money was replaced as pianist by Gordon Stoker. At that time, they formed the new group as the Melodizing Matthews, in Springfield, Missouri, but soon changed the name to The Jordanaires, after Jordan Creek in Missouri—not after the Jordan River, as many have thought.

This lineup lasted until 1952; at that time, Bob Hubbard was drafted and was replaced by Hoyt Hawkins. Later that year, Monty and Bill Matthews left. Hawkins switched to baritone, and new lead Neal Matthews was recruited. Don Bruce came in as a new first tenor; however, he was drafted the next year. The group narrowed to a quartet, with Stoker taking over as first tenor. They recorded for Capitol Records in the early 1950s, and began providing vocal accompaniment behind solo singers in Nashville, Tennessee.

The lineup changed again in 1954, with Cully Holt leaving and new bass Hugh Jarrett (later a disc jockey) coming in.

The Jordanaires became well known in the southern gospel realm, and what made them stand out from other quartets of that time was how they would bring spirituals (such as "Dry Bones") to a predominantly white audience. While continuing to turn out gospel albums of their own, the group become better known for the signature background harmonies they have provided on dozens of secular records.

Jarrett remained until 1958; at that time, he was replaced by Ray Walker.

With Elvis Presley

One Sunday afternoon in 1955, the Jordanaires played a show in Memphis with Eddy Arnold to publicize their new syndicated TV series, ''Eddy Arnold Time'' (for the program the group used the name Gordonaires). They sang "Peace In The Valley", and when the show was over, a young man, quiet and courteous, with plenty of combed-back hair, came backstage to meet them. He was Elvis Presley, a practically unheard of singer just getting his start in the area. There were a few polite exchanges, then Presley said, "If I ever get a recording contract with a major company, I want you guys to back me up." He was on Sun Records at that time.

On January 10, 1956, Presley recorded his first session for RCA with guitarist Scotty Moore, bassist Bill Black and drummer D. J. Fontana. That day, "I Got A Woman", "Heartbreak Hotel" and "Money Honey" were recorded. True to his word, Presley asked his new label RCA Victor if The Jordanaires could appear on the recordings. The next day Gordon Stoker was called by Chet Atkins to do a session with a new kid, named Elvis. RCA had also just signed The Speer Family. Chet asked Stoker to sing with Ben and Brock Speer so he could use them. On that day, "I'm Counting On You" and "I Was The One" made history by being the first recording session that Presley did with vocal background. By April 1956, "Heartbreak Hotel" was No. 1.

After having done several more recording sessions in New York with Scotty, Bill, and D. J., Presley flew to Nashville on April 14, 1956, to record "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You". Stoker was called again, to sing a vocal trio with Ben and Brock. After the session, Presley took Stoker aside and told him (not knowing, at the time, why all the Jordanaires were not there) that he had wanted the Jordanaires. This time, Stoker saw to it—and Presley used the Jordanaires on nearly every one of his recording sessions for the next 14 years. At a time when no backing musicians, producers, or engineers received a name recognition on any records, Presley insisted that he have "with the Jordanaires" on the label of his records. The reflected glory was enough to earn the Jordanaires "Group of the Year" awards well into the late 1960s. The quartet also appeared in some of Presley's movies, and on many of his television appearances.

As Elvis was about to start performing at the Hilton in Las Vegas, the Colonel's office called for them to work with Elvis in the shows. They had 35 recording sessions already booked for the dates he needed, so, they could not go. They got in touch with The Imperials, who had done the ‘’How Great Thou Art’’ Elvis album with them, and they took their place.

After Elvis

The lineup consisting of Gordon Stoker, first tenor and manager, Neal Matthews, second tenor and lead, Hoyt Hawkins, baritone, and Ray Walker, bass, would be the group's most stable lineup, lasting throughout the 1960s and ‘70s.

The group changed again in 1982, when Hoyt Hawkins died. His replacement was Duane West, formerly of Sonny James' backup group, the Southern Gentlemen. The lineup remained constant for another two decades, with West leaving due to illness in 1999 (he died in 2002). His replacement was Louis Nunley, formerly of the Anita Kerr Singers.

Neal Matthews died the next year. He was replaced by new lead Curtis Young.

Hugh Jarrett died at 78 on May 31, 2008, from injuries sustained in an auto accident in March.

Members

:First tenor

Bill Matthews (1948-51)

Gordon Stoker (alternated as 2nd Tenor) (1951-present)

Don Bruce (1952-53)

:Second tenor

Bob Hubbard (1948-52)

Neal Matthews (1953-2000)

Curtis Young (2000-present)

:Baritone

Monty Matthews (1948-52)

Hoyt Hawkins (1952-82)

Duane West (1982-99)

Louis Nunley (1999-present)

:Bass

Culley Holt (1948-54)

Hugh Jarrett (1954-58)

Ray Walker (1958-present)

:Pianist

Bob Money (1948-49; 1952)

Gordon Stoker (1949-51)

Musical influence

The Jordanaires have also recorded with Patsy Cline, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Horton, Ferlin Husky, Tammy Wynette, Kenny Rogers, Sawyer Brown, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Dolly Parton, Red Foley, Jim Reeves, Willie Nelson and George Jones, Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme, Connie Francis, Johnny Hallyday and Julie Andrews.

The group toured extensively around the world and recorded a number of music albums on their own. They continue to record: "On The Jericho Road", ''A Friend We Have in Jesus'' and others. In 1999, a call to Jordanaires' first tenor Gordon Stoker by lifelong Jordanaires' musical disciple and Grammy Award-winning artist-producer Art Greenhaw resulted in a run of six Grammy-nominated albums in six different years and a Grammy Award. Gospel music pioneer James Blackwood was also responsible for the initial Jordanaires' collaboration on the indie label Greenhaw Records. The years between 1999 and 2006 saw The Jordanaires and Greenhaw artistically joined and Grammy-nominated with Blackwood, The Light Crust Doughboys, Ann-Margret, Engelbert Humperdinck, the Blackwood Brothers Quartet, Larry Ford, Nokie Edwards (of The Ventures) and Larry "T-Byrd" Gordon. In addition, The Jordanaires-Greenhaw Records teaming also received a Dove Award nomination for Best Country Album of the Year for ''God is Love: The Gospel Sessions'' with Ann-Margret.

Guest appearances

The Jordanaires performed with many modern recording artists as well as recent sessions with country music legends.

Harmonies on Ringo Starr's second solo album, ''Beaucoups of Blues''

Vocal support for Ricky Nelson on "Poor Little Fool", "Lonesome Town", "It's Late" and other hit recordings

Several tracks on Johnny Cash's 1959 album ''The Fabulous Johnny Cash'', the 1978 album ''I Would Like to See You Again'' and others

On the second album by The Grascals on the song "Did You Forget God Today?"

In 1973 backing harmony for Bobby Bare's hit single, "Ride Me Down Easy"

In 1981 backing rockabilly singer Gene Summers on several tracks for the LP "Gene Summers In Nashville"

Sang with The Tractors (of Steve Ripley)

In 1996 vocals on the Ween album ''12 Golden Country Greats''.

In 1997 sang "Who'll Be The One If Not Me" for the off-Broadway musical ''Violet''.

In 1999 began their collaborative work with Art Greenhaw which resulted in a Grammy Award win for the album ''We Called Him Mr. Gospel Music'' (2003) and 6 Grammy Award Nominations for best album of the year in a gospel category for other album titles including ''The Great Gospel Hit Parade'' (2001), ''God Is Love'' (2002), ''Always Hear The Harmony'' (2004), ''20th Century Gospel'' (2005) and ''Southern Meets Soul'' (2006). The Grammy Award-Winning and Grammy Award-Nominated albums were all released on Greenhaw Records.

In 2007 recorded "Save Your Dreams" by Americana artist Shark (Wild Colonials)

In 2006 and 2007 featured on Park Lane Drive Records' ''Friends of Henry Golis Wish You A Merry Christmas with The Jordanaires'', and ''Henry Golis Presents Good Music With Friends featuring The Jordanaires''

In 2007 appeared with the Christian pop band C.B.O.P. on the songs "Between You & Me" and "Live Like A King" on the album ''A Road Less Traveled''

In 2009 featured on the ''Today, Tomorrow & Forever'' EP by Pete Molinari

In 2010 on Canadian rockabilly band The Kingmakers' third album ''Last Night In Nashville'' on two songs, "Annabelle" and "Well Well Michelle"

See also

The Nashville A-Team

The Foggy River Boys

References

External links

The Jordanaires Website

'The Jordanaires' Vocal Group Hall of Fame Page

Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum

Category:American gospel musical groups Category:Musical groups established in 1948 Category:Southern Gospel performers Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Grand Ole Opry members Category:Country Music Hall of Fame inductees Category:Gospel Music Hall of Fame inductees Category:Rockabilly Hall of Fame inductees Category:Vocal quartets Category:RCA Victor artists Category:X Records artists

da:The Jordanaires et:The Jordanaires fr:The Jordanaires ko:조더네이어스 ru:The Jordanaires sv:The Jordanaires

Coordinates	33°51′35.9″N151°12′40″N
name	Freddie Starr
birth name	Frederick Leslie Fowell
birth date	January 09, 1943
birth place	Huyton, Liverpool, England
medium	Comedian, singer,impressionist
nationality	British
active	1958–present
genre	Stand-up
spouse	Donna Starr (1999–2002, 2002–present)
website	freddiestarr.com }}

Freddie Starr (born Frederick Leslie Fowell on 9 January 1943) is an English comedian who became famous in the early 1970s. He is also an impressionist and singer, with a chart album ''After the Laughter'' and UK Top 10 single, "It's You", in March 1974 to his credit.

Early career

In the early 1960s, Starr was the lead singer of the Merseybeat pop group The Midnighters. The group was promoted by the manager of the Beatles, Brian Epstein, and was recorded on the Decca label by Joe Meek, the record producer of the single "Telstar". During this period Starr performed in nightclubs in Hamburg and was an acquaintance of the Beatles.

Still relatively unknown to television audiences, Starr was "discovered" through the talent show, ''Opportunity Knocks''. He appeared on the 1970 Royal Variety Performance. From 1972, he was one of the main performers in the television series ''Who Do You Do''. and also a regular in ''Joker's Wild''. He went on to star in his own series.

"Freddie Starr ate my hamster"

Freddie Starr was the subject of one of the most famous British tabloid newspaper headlines. On 13 March 1986 ''The Sun'' carried as its main headline: FREDDIE STARR ATE MY HAMSTER. According to the text of the story, Starr had been staying at the home of Vince McCaffrey and his 23-year-old girlfriend Lea La Salle in Birchwood, Cheshire when the incident took place. Starr was claimed to have returned home from a performance at a Manchester nightclub in the early hours of the morning and demanded that Lea La Salle make him a sandwich. When she refused, he went into the kitchen and put her pet hamster Supersonic between two slices of bread and proceeded to eat it.

Freddie Starr gives his side of the story in his 2001 autobiography ''Unwrapped''. He says that the only time that he ever stayed at Vince McCaffrey's house was in 1979 and that the incident was a complete fabrication. Starr writes in the book: "I have never eaten or even nibbled a live hamster, gerbil, guinea pig, mouse, shrew, vole or any other small mammal". The man behind the hamster story was the British publicist Max Clifford. When asked in a television interview with Esther Rantzen some years later whether Starr really had eaten a hamster, his reply was "Of course not". Clifford was unapologetic, insisting that the story had given a huge boost to Starr's career. In May 2006 the BBC nominated "FREDDIE STARR ATE MY HAMSTER" as one of the top British newspaper headlines of all time. Starr's frustration at being linked perpetually to the hamster story was expressed in a newspaper interview: Starr says that the story came about after he made an offhand joke about eating a hamster in a sandwich.

Later career

In 1994 Freddie Starr was again the subject of tabloid newspaper attention in Britain. Thousands of pounds worth of jewellery went missing from Starr's home where a man named Robin Coxhead worked as a gardener and Coxhead was suspected of stealing it. When questioned by the police, Coxhead claimed to have given oral sex to Starr over a period of five years, and that the jewellery had been given to him as a reward. The case went to court and Coxhead was discredited when he was unable to state whether Starr's penis was circumcised or not. Coxhead was found guilty and sentenced to 15 months in prison in 1995.

Starr is a keen supporter of Everton and at the height of his television celebrity he appeared on ITVs coverage of the build up to the 1984 F A cup final, in which Everton defeated Elton John's Watford 2-0, when he appeared on the lawn outside the hotel where the Everton team were staying on the morning of the game and gave an impromptu comedy performance to the players who watched from the windows of their rooms.

Apart from the occasional guest appearance, Starr has not been seen regularly on British television since the late 1990s. ITV's ''The Freddie Starr Show'', broadcast between 1996 and 1998, was his last major work for the medium. His appearances on LWT's ''An Audience with Freddie Starr'' in 1996 and ''Another Audience with Freddie Starr'' in 1997 were critically acclaimed, although Starr admits in his autobiography that his television appearances often failed to capture the chaotic atmosphere of his live performances.

In 1994 he was the owner of Miinnehoma, the winning horse in the 1994 Grand National race. Starr was not present on the day due to television commitments elsewhere, but gave an unusual post race interview live on television to presenter Des Lynam via a mobile phone, with the television viewers only able to hear Lynam's responses to what Starr was saying.

In 1999, he presented the game show Beat the Crusher. In 2004 he appeared on television as one of the celebrities in the second series of the ITV1 reality show, ''Celebrity Fit Club'', where he was made team captain, but was demoted three weeks later for not taking the role seriously.

Starr gave an interview to the ''Herald Express'', the local newspaper for Torbay in Devon which was published on 20 July 2007. In it he says that his father was violent and broke both his legs, a claim which does not appear in his 2001 autobiography ''Unwrapped''. He says that he was taken away from home for two years at the age of six after his father beat him up. In ''Unwrapped'', Starr gives speech problems as the reason why he spent two years away from home as a child.

In January 2008, Starr and his wife Donna took part in ''Celebrity Wife Swap'', exchanging with Samantha Fox and her partner Myra.

In March 2009, Starr appeared in ''Living with the Dead'', a reality television show about people being haunted by ghosts. Freddie claimed his 1930s house was being haunted by an evil entity which he called George. During the show it appeared that he was possessed by this entity. It is later revealed that the entity's name is Roger. During the episode, Freddie says that since he was a boy he was always spiritual and firmly believed in ghosts.

Starr was due to tour in 2010, but the tour was cancelled when he suffered a major heart attack on 6 April 2010. He underwent triple heart bypass surgery on 17 April and will be recovering for a total of 6/7 months. His official website states that he hopes to reschedule the tour for 2011 once he fully recovers.

Stand-up videos

!Title	!Released	!Notes
''Live''	1993
''Live And Dangerous...And Very, Very Rude!''	14 November 1994
''Live And Devilish''	6 November 1995
''The Legend Is Back''	10 November 1997	Live at Oxford's New Theatre

See also

Rock Star Ate My Hamster

References

Further reading

''Unwrapped - My Autobiography'' by Freddie Starr with Alan Wightman ISBN 1-85227-961-3

External links

Category:1943 births Category:Living people Category:English comedians Category:People from Huyton Category:British racehorse owners and breeders Category:Celebrity Fit Club participants

Coordinates	33°51′35.9″N151°12′40″N
name	Helmut Lotti
background	solo_singer
birth name	Helmut Barthold Johannes Alma Lotigiers
birth date	October 22, 1969
origin	Ghent, Belgium
genre	Classical, Pop, Rock & Roll, Easy Listening
occupation	Singer
years active	1988–present
label	Universal Music Belgium
website	www.helmutlotti.be
notable instruments	}}

Helmut Lotti (born Helmut Barthold Johannes Alma Lotigiers on 22 October 1969), is a Flemish Belgian tenor and singer-songwriter. Lotti performs in several styles and languages: Once an Elvis impersonator, he has sung African and Latino hit records, and he crossed over into classical music in the 1990s.

Life and music

The son of Luc Lotigiers and Rita Lagrou, Lotti was born Helmut Lotigiers in Ghent, Belgium, and began his singing career with a visual and singing style in an obvious imitation of Elvis Presley, and was described as "De Nieuwe Elvis" (in Dutch) or "The New Elvis". His first two albums were ''Vlaamse Nachten'' ("Flemish Nights", 1990) and ''Alles Wat Ik Voel'' ("All That I Feel", 1992). After a few more albums, he changed direction in 1995 with the first of what became a long series of "Helmut Lotti Goes Classic" albums, which proved to increase his popularity. Since 2000 he has also made successful recordings in traditional Latino, African and Russian-style music.

Helmut Lotti sings fluently in his mother language Dutch, as well as Afrikaans, English, French, German, Russian, Ukrainian, Hebrew, Italian, Latin, and Spanish. He has sold over 13 million albums worldwide and received over 90 platinum and 70 gold albums.

Lotti does volunteer work as an ambassador for UNICEF. Lotti took part in the ''0110'' concerts against racism and the extreme right, organised by Tom Barman.

Discography

He has also recently made a CD/DVD called "Out of Africa!".

Links

Helmut Lotti official site, English version

The Best Of Helmut Lotti

References

Category:1969 births Category:Living people Category:Flemish musicians Category:Belgian musicians

cy:Helmut Lotti da:Helmut Lotti de:Helmut Lotti eo:Helmut Lotti fr:Helmut Lotti hr:Helmut Lotti it:Helmut Lotti lt:Helmut Lotti nl:Helmut Lotti pl:Helmut Lotti fi:Helmut Lotti sv:Helmut Lotti vi:Helmut Barthold Johannes Alma Lotigiers

Coordinates	33°51′35.9″N151°12′40″N
name	Don Gibson
background	solo_singer
birth name	Donald Eugene Gibson
birth date	April 03, 1928
death date	November 17, 2003
origin	Shelby, North Carolina
instrument	Guitar
genre	Country
occupation	Singer-songwriter
years active	1948–2003
label	RCA, Hickory
associated acts	Dottie West, Sue Thompson
notable instruments	}}

Donald Eugene "Don" Gibson (April 3, 1928 – November 17, 2003) was an American songwriter and country musician. A Country Music Hall of Fame inductee, Gibson penned such country standards as "Sweet Dreams" and "I Can't Stop Loving You", and enjoyed a string of country hits from 1957 into the early 1970s.

Biography

Don Gibson was born in Shelby, North Carolina, into a poor working-class family, and he dropped out of school in the second grade.

His first band was called Sons of the Soil, with whom he made his first recording in 1948.

In 1957, he journeyed to Nashville to record "Oh Lonesome Me" and "I Can't Stop Loving You" for RCA. The afternoon session resulted in a double-sided hit on both the country and pop charts.

"Oh Lonesome Me" set the pattern for a long series of other RCA hits. "Blue Blue Day", recorded prior to "Oh, Lonesome Me" was a number 1 hit in 1958. Later singles included "Look Who's Blue" (1958), "Don't Tell Me Your Troubles" (1959), "Sea of Heartbreak" (1961); "Lonesome No. 1", "I Can Mend Your Broken Heart" (1962), and "Woman (Sensuous Woman)", a number one country hit in 1972.

Gibson recorded a series of successful duets with Dottie West in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the most successful of which were the Number two country hit "Rings of Gold" (1969) and the top 10 hit "There's a Story Goin' Round" (1970). West and Gibson released an album together in 1969, titled ''Dottie and Don''. He also recorded several duets with Sue Thompson among these being the Top 40 hits, "I Think They Call It Love" (1972), "Good Old Fashioned Country Love" (1974) and "Oh, How Love Changes" (1975).

A talented songwriter, Gibson was nicknamed The Sad Poet because he frequently wrote songs that told of loneliness and lost love. His song "I Can't Stop Loving You", has been recorded by over 700 artists, most notably by Ray Charles in 1962. He also wrote and recorded "Sweet Dreams", a song that would become a major 1963 crossover hit for Patsy Cline. Roy Orbison was a great fan of Gibson's songwriting, and in 1967, he recorded an album of his songs simply titled ''Roy Orbison Sings Don Gibson''. Gibson's wide appeal was also shown in Neil Young's recorded version of "Oh Lonesome Me" on his 1970 album ''After the Gold Rush'', which is one of the few songs Young has recorded that he did not write.

Gibson was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1973, and in 2001, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Following his death from natural causes on November 17, 2003, he was buried in the Sunset Cemetery in his hometown of Shelby, North Carolina.

Discography

Albums

Year	Album	Chart Positions		Label
		! width="50"	! width="50"
	''Songs by Don Gibson''			Lion
''That Gibson Boy''
	''Look Who's Blue''
''Sweet Dreams''
1961	''Girls, Guitars and Gibson''
1962	''Some Favorites of Mine''
	''I Wrote a Song''
''God Walks These Hills''
	''A Blue Million Tears''
''The Best of Don Gibson''
''Too Much Hurt''
	''Don Gibson with Spanish Guitars''
''Great Country Songs''
1967	''All My Love''
	''The King of Country Soul''
''More Country Soul''
	''Dottie and Don'' (with Dottie West)
''Don Gibson Sings All-Time Country Gold''
	''The Best of Don Gibson 2''
''Hits, The Don Gibson Way''
''A Perfect Mountain''
	''Hank Williams as Sung by Don Gibson''
''Country Green''
	''Woman (Sensuous Woman)''
''The Two of Us Together'' (with Sue Thompson)
1973	''Touch the Morning / That's What I'll Do''
	''Snap Your Fingers''
''The Very Best of Don Gibson''
''Bring Back Your Love to Me''
	''I'm the Loneliest Man''
''Oh, How Love Changes'' (with Sue Thompson)
''Don't Stop Loving Me''
	''I'm All Wrapped Up in You''
''If You Ever Get to Houston''
	''Starting All Over Again''
''Look Who's Blue''

Singles

Year	Single	Chart Positions			Album
		! width="45"	! width="45"	CAN Country
1956					single only
	"Oh Lonesome Me"
"I Can't Stop Loving You"
"Blue Blue Day"
"Give Myself a Party"
"Look Who's Blue"
	"Who Cares"
"A Stranger to Me"
"Lonesome Old House"
"Don't Tell Me Your Troubles"
	"Big Hearted Me"
"Just One Time"
"Far, Far Away"
"Sweet Dreams" (re-recording)
	"What About Me"
"Sea of Heartbreak"				single only
"Lonesome Number One"				''I Wrote a Song''
	"I Can Mend Your Broken Heart"
"So How Come (No One Loves Me)"
	"Head Over Heels in Love with You"
"Anything New Gets Old (Except My Love for You)"
	"Oh Such a Stranger"
"Cause I Believe in You"
	"Again"
"Watch Where You're Going"
	"A Born Loser"
"(Yes) I'm Hurting"
"Funny, Familiar, Forgotten, Feelings"				''More Country Soul''
	"A Lost Highway"				''Great Country Songs''
"All My Love"				''All My Love''
	"Ashes of Love"
"Good Morning, Dear"
"It's a Long, Long Way to Georgia"				''More Country Soul''
"Ever Changing Mind"				''The King of Country Soul''
	"Solitary"				''The Best of Don Gibson 2''
"I Will Always"
"There's a Story (Goin' 'Round)" (with Dottie West)
	"Don't Take All Your Loving"
"A Perfect Mountain"
"Someway"
	"Guess Away the Blues"
"(I Heard That) Lonesome Whistle"				''Hank Williams as Sung by Don Gibson''
"Country Green"				''Country Green''
	"Far, Far Away" (re-recording)
"Woman (Sensuous Woman)"
"Is This the Best I'm Gonna Feel"
	"If You're Goin' Girl"
"Touch the Morning"
"That's What I'll Do"
"Snap Your Fingers"
	"One Day at a Time"
"Good Old Fashioned Country Love" (with Sue Thompson)				single only
"Bring Back Your Love to Me"
	"I'll Sing for You"
"(There She Goes) I Wish Her Well"				''I'm the Loneliest Man''
"Don't Stop Loving Me"
"I Don't Think I'll Ever (Get Over You)"
	"You've Got to Stop Hurting Me Darling"
"Doing My Time"
"I'm All Wrapped Up in You"
	"Fan the Flame, Feed the Fire"
"If You Ever Get to Houston (Look Me Down)"
"When Do We Stop Starting Over"
	"Starting All Over Again"
"The Fool"
"Oh, Such a Stranger"
"I Love You Because"
"Any Day Now"
1979	"Forever One Day at a Time"
	"Sweet Sensuous Sensations"
"I'd Be Crazy Over You"
"Love Fires"

Singles from collaboration albums

Year	Single	Artist	Chart Positions		Album
			US Country	CAN Country
	"Rings of Gold"
"Sweet Memories"
1970	"Till I Can't Take It Anymore"
1971	"The Two of Us Together"
	"Did You Ever Think"
"I Think They Call It Love"
"Cause I Love You"
	"Go with Me"
"Warm Love"
	"No One Will Ever Know"
"Oh, How Love Changes"
"I Can't Tell My Heart That"
	"Get Ready-Here I Come"
"Let's Get Together"

References

Wolfe, Stacey (1998). "Don Gibson". In ''The Encyclopedia of Country Music''. Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 199.

External links

Gibson discography at Emory Law

Gibson in the Country Music Hall of Fame

Gibson at the Nashville Songwriters Foundation

Category:1928 births Category:2003 deaths Category:American country singers Category:American country singer-songwriters Category:Country Music Hall of Fame inductees Category:Grand Ole Opry members Category:RCA Victor artists Category:People from Shelby, North Carolina Category:Hickory Records artists

de:Don Gibson fr:Don Gibson it:Don Gibson nl:Don Gibson no:Don Gibson sv:Don Gibson

Coordinates	33°51′35.9″N151°12′40″N
name	Patsy Cline
background	solo_singer
birth name	Virginia Patterson Hensley
alias	Ginny, Patsy
birth date	September 08, 1932
death date	March 05, 1963
origin	Winchester, Virginia, U.S.
instrument	Vocals, piano
genre	Nashville sound, country, traditional pop, rockabilly, honky tonk, standards
occupation	Singer, songwriter
years active	1955–1963
label	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 }}

Patsy Cline (September 8, 1932 – March 5, 1963), born Virginia Patterson Hensley in Gore, Virginia, was an American country music singer who enjoyed pop music crossover success during the era of the Nashville sound in the early 1960s. Since her death in 1963 at age 30 in a private airplane crash at the height of her career, she has been considered one of the most influential, successful, and acclaimed female vocalists of the 20th century.

Cline was best known for her rich tone and emotionally expressive bold contralto voice, which, along with her role as a mover and shaker in the country music industry, has been cited as an inspiration by many vocalists of various music genres. Her life and career have been the subject of numerous books, movies, documentaries, articles and stage plays.

Her hits included "Walkin' After Midnight", "I Fall to Pieces", "She's Got You", "Crazy", and "Sweet Dreams". Posthumously, millions of her albums have sold over the past 50 years. She has been given numerous awards, which have given her an iconic status with some fans similar to that of legends Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley. Ten years after her death, she became the first female solo artist inducted to the Country Music Hall of Fame.

In 2002, Cline was voted by artists and members of the country music industry as number one on CMT's television special, ''The 40 Greatest Women of Country Music,'' and in 1999 she was voted number 11 on VH1's special ''The 100 Greatest Women in Rock and Roll'' by members and artists of the rock industry. She was also ranked 46th in ''Rolling Stone'''s "100 Greatest Singers of all Time." According to her 1973 Country Music Hall of Fame plaque, "Her heritage of timeless recordings is testimony to her artistic capacity."

Childhood

Cline was born Virginia Patterson Hensley on September 8, 1932, in Gore, Virginia. The family lived in many different places around Virginia before settling in Winchester when Patsy was 8 years old. She was the daughter of Sam and Hilda Patterson Hensley, a blacksmith and a seamstress; Hilda was only 16 when Patsy was born and Sam was 43. Patsy was the eldest of three children, the others being Samuel and Sylvia. The three children were called Ginny, John, and Sis. Patsy grew up a poor girl "on the wrong side of the tracks." Despite the fact that her father deserted the family in 1947, when she was 15, the Hensley home was quite happy.

Cline often said as a child that she would one day be famous, and admired 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." Well-rounded in her musical tastes, Cline cited everyone from Kay Starr to Hank Williams as influences. As a child, she often sang in church with her mother. Cline was also a by-ear (someone who sings without written music) who sang with perfect pitch.

Teen years

Cline began performing in variety-talent showcases in and around Winchester. She asked WINC-AM disc jockey Jimmy McCoy if he would let her sing on his show, which he did. His program was a showcase for local talent.

To help 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 The Triangle Diner across the street from her school, John Handley High. At night, Cline could be found singing at local nightclubs, wearing fringed Western stage outfits that she designed and that her mother made.

First marriage and first recording

In her early 20s, Cline met two men who would influence her rise to stardom. The first was contractor Gerald Cline, whom she married in 1953 and divorced in 1957. The dissolution of the marriage was blamed not only on a considerable age difference, but also Cline's desire to sing professionally and Gerald Cline's lack of support of her quest for stardom. While she dreamed of a career as a superstar, he wanted her to conform to the role of a housewife first. The second was Bill Peer, her new manager, who gave her the name Patsy, from her middle name and her mother's maiden name, Patterson.

Cline's numerous appearances on local radio attracted a large following in the Virginia-Maryland area—especially when Jimmy Dean learned of her. In 1954, she became a regular on Connie B. Gay's ''Town and Country'' afternoon radio show on WARL-AM in Washington, DC, which also featured Dean, himself a young country star.

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", which attracted little attention, although it did lead to several appearances on the Grand Ole Opry. Between 1955 and 1957, Cline also recorded honky tonk material, with songs like "Fingerprints", "Pick Me Up On Your Way Down", "Don't Ever Leave Me Again", and "A Stranger In My Arms"; the latter two both co-written by Cline, and she experimented with rockabilly. None of these songs, however, gained any notable success.

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. The Four Star producers, however, insisted that Cline would record only country songs, as her contract also stated. During her contract with Four Star, she recorded 51 songs.

National fame and "Walkin' After Midnight"

Cline made her network television debut on January 7, 1956 on ABC-TV's ''Grand Ole Opry''; followed by an appearance on the network's ''Ozark Jubilee'' later that month, returning to the show in April. Later that year, 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 writers and record label insisted she should record it.

She auditioned for ''Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts'' in New York City, and was accepted to sing on the CBS-TV show on January 21, 1957. Godfrey's "discovery" of Cline was typical. Her scout, actually her mother, presented Patsy who initially was supposed to sing "A Poor Man's Roses (Or a Rich Man's Gold)", but the show's producers insisted she instead sing her recent release, "Walkin' After Midnight". Though heralded as a country song, recorded in Nashville, Godfrey's staff insisted Cline not wear one of her mother's hand-crafted cowgirl outfits but appear in a cocktail dress.

The audience's enthusiastic ovations stopped the meter at its apex, and she won the competition and was invited to return. The song was so well-received that she released it as a single. In short, although Cline had been performing for almost a decade and had appeared nationally three times on ABC-TV, Godfrey was largely responsible for making her a star. For a couple of months thereafter, Cline appeared regularly on Godfrey's radio program.

"Walkin' After Midnight" reached No. 2 on the country chart and No. 12 on the pop chart, making Cline one of the first country singers to have a crossover pop hit. She rode high on the hit for the next year, making personal appearances and performing regularly on both Godfrey’s show, and for several years on ''Ozark Jubilee'' (later ''Jubilee USA''). She could not follow it up with another hit, however, in part because of the deal with Four Star that limited her to recording songs only from its writers.

Cline co-wrote two songs, both in 1957 under her birth name, Virginia Hensley:

"A Stranger in My Arms", written with Charlotte White, and Mary Lu Jeans and recorded on April 24, 1957. The song was released as a Decca 45 single (Decca 30406), on August 12, 1957 b/w "Three Cigarettes (In An Ashtray)," and also as a 45 single on the Festival label as Festival SP45-1620.

"Don't Ever Leave Me Again", written with James E. Crawford, Jr., and Lillian N. Claiborne. "Don't Ever Leave Me Again" appeared on the 1957 Decca LP ''Patsy Cline'' and was the title track of a 1991 compilation album released on Laser Light.

Also in 1957, she met Charlie Dick, a good-looking ladies' man who frequented the local club circuit Cline played on weekends. His charismatic personality and admiration of Cline's talents captured her attention. Their relationship resulted in a marriage that would last the rest of her life. Though their love affair has long been publicized as controversial, Cline regarded him as "the love of her life". After the birth of their daughter, Julie, in 1958, they moved to Nashville, Tennessee.

A return in 1961 with "I Fall to Pieces"

In 1959, Cline met Randy Hughes, who became her manager. With Hughes's promotion and a new label, Cline would begin her ascent to the top. When her Four Star contract expired in 1960, she 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 he positively influenced the careers of Brenda Lee and Loretta Lynn as well.

Thanks to her vocal versatility, and with the help of Bradley's direction and arrangements, Cline enjoyed both country and pop success. His arrangements incorporated strings and other instruments not typical of country recordings of the day. He considered Cline's voice best-suited for country pop-crossover songs, and helped smooth her voice into the silky, torch song style for which she is famous. Nevertheless, she did not enjoy singing pop material. This new, more sophisticated instrumental style became known as The Nashville sound, created by Bradley and RCA’s Chet Atkins, who produced Jim Reeves, Connie Smith, and Eddy Arnold.

Cline's first Decca release was the country pop ballad, "I Fall to Pieces" (1961), written by Hank Cochran and Harlan Howard. The song was promoted at both country and pop music stations across the country, leading to success on both country and pop charts. The song slowly climbed to the top of the country chart—Cline's first number one. The song also made No. 12 on the pop chart, as well as No. 6 on the adult contemporary chart, a major feat for any country singer at the time. The song made her a household name, demonstrating that a woman country singer could enjoy as much crossover success as a man.

Opry and Nashville scene

In 1960, Cline joined the cast of the Grand Ole Opry, realizing a lifelong dream. She became one of the Opry's biggest stars, and is believed to be the only person granted membership by asking.

Believing that there was "room enough for everybody", and confident of her abilities and appeal, Cline befriended and encouraged a number of 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. According to Lynn and West, Cline always gave of herself to friends, buying them groceries and furniture when they were hard up. On occasion, she would even pay their rent, enabling them to stay in Nashville and continue their careers. In Ellis Nassour's 1980 biography ''Patsy Cline''. Cline's friend, honky tonk pianist and Opry star Del Wood, was quoted as saying, "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 befriended Roger Miller, Hank Cochran, Faron Young, Ferlin Husky, Harlan Howard and Carl Perkins, male artists and songwriters with whom she socialized at Tootsies Orchid Lounge next door to the Grand Ole Opry. In the 1986 documentary ''The Real Patsy Cline'', singer George Riddle said of her, "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."

Cline used the term of endearment "Hoss" to refer to her friends, and referred to herself as The Cline. According to the book "Honky Tonk Angel: The Intimate Story of Patsy Cline" by Ellis Nassour, Patsy Cline met Elvis Presley in 1962 at a fundraiser at St. Judes and they even exchanged phone numbers. Having seen him perform during one of his rare Grand Ole Opry appearances, she admired his music, called him The Big Hoss, and recorded with his backup group, The Jordanaires.

Cline 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 time when concert promoters often cheated stars out of their money by promising to pay them after the show but running with the money during the concert, Cline stood up to many of the male promoters before she took the stage and demanded their money by proclaiming: "No dough, no show." According to friend Roy Drusky in 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 Dottie West stated, "It was common knowledge around town that you didn't mess with 'The Cline!'"

Car accident

Cline continued to thrive in 1961, and gave birth to a son, Randy. On June 14, 1961, she and her brother, Sam, were involved in a head-on car collision on Old Hickory Boulevard in Nashville, the second and more serious of two during her lifetime. The impact threw Cline into the windshield, nearly killing her. Upon arriving, Dottie West picked glass from Patsy's hair, and went with her in the ambulance. While that happened, Patsy insisted that the other car's driver be treated first. This had a long-term detrimental effect on Ms. West; when West was fatally injured in a car accident in 1991, she insisted that the driver of her car be treated first, possibly causing her own death. Cline 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 hospitalized. While in the hospital, Cline, according to the Nassour biography ''Patsy Cline'' and to friend Billy Walker (who died in a vehicle accident in 2006), 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 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.

In the 1990s, a series of recordings from her first concert after the accident were 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 1997, is titled ''Patsy Cline: Live At the Cimarron Ballroom''. and features dialogue of Cline interacting with the audience, providing an historical archive of what her live performances were like.

"Crazy"

After the success of "I Fall to Pieces," Cline needed a follow-up after a month lost from touring and promotions. Written by Willie Nelson, "Crazy", was a song Cline originally disliked. Her first session recording was a disaster, and Cline claimed that the song was too difficult to sing. She tried to record "Crazy" like its demo recording, which featured Nelson's idiosyncratic style, but had a tough time recording it not only because of the demo, but also because she found the high notes hard to sing due to injured ribs from her car accident. The day in the studio at Decca resulted in a head-on fight between Cline and Bradley.

After nearly four hours, which in the days of four songs in three hours was a very long time, spent trying, fighting and crying, they called it a night and saved the best performance of the instrumental track for Cline to overdub her vocal on the song later. In those days, overdubbing was considered a sign of weakness. Singers as well as producers wanted to capture the whole performance live in one take. But the next week, Patsy laid down the vocal you hear on the record in one take with no splices or re-do's. This is why when you hear the song today, you can hear a faint echo of the final `Youuuuuuuuuuu' before she actually sings it on the vocal track. This is not a defect, but caused by echoes of her original vocal performance bleeding through the vocal isolation booth onto the musicians' microphones out in the studio.

In a version completely different from the demo, the song became an instant classic and, ultimately, Cline's signature song—and the one for which she remains best known. In late 1961, the song was an immediate country pop crossover hit, and also constituted her biggest pop hit, making the Top 10. Loretta Lynn later reported that the night Cline premiered "Crazy" at the Grand Ole Opry, she received three standing ovations.

"Crazy" was a hit on three different charts in late 1961 and early 1962—the Hot Country Songs list (No. 2), the US Hot 100 list (No. 9), and the Adult Contemporary list (also No. 2). An album released that November entitled ''Patsy Cline Showcase'' featured Cline's two hits of 1961.

At the top

With Cline’s success climbing the record charts, she was in high demand on the concert circuit. Although many women in country music at that time were considered “window dressing" or opening acts for the more popular and higher-paid male stars, Cline was the first female country music star to headline her own show and receive top billing above some of the male stars with whom she toured. While bands typically backed up the female singer, Cline led the band through the concert instead. She was so respected by men in the industry, that rather than being introduced to audiences as “Pretty Miss Patsy Cline” as her female contemporaries 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, she held her fan base in extremely high regard (many of whom became friends), staying for hours after concerts to chat 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 and disapproval from gossip columnist Dorothy Kilgallen—whom Cline fired back at) but also to headline the Hollywood Bowl with Johnny Cash and, later, in 1962, the first woman in country music to headline her own show in Las Vegas.

This success enabled Cline to buy her dream home in Nashville's Goodlettsville community, personally decorated in her style featuring gold dust sprinkled in the bathroom tiles and a music room. Loretta Lynn stated in a 1986 documentary interview, "She called me into the front yard and said, 'Isn't this pretty? Now I'll never be happy until I have my Mama one just like it.'" Cline called her home "the house that Vegas built" since she was able to pay it off with the money she earned during her time there. (Later, after Cline's death in 1963, Cline's home was sold by her husband to singer Wilma Burgess who told ''Patsy Cline'' author Ellis Nassour that "strange occurrences" happened during her years there.)

With this new demand for Cline came a higher price tag, and reportedly towards the end of her life, she was being paid at least $1000 for appearances - then an unheard-of fee for women in the country music industry, since they usually paid less than $200 Her penultimate concert, held in Birmingham, Alabama, grossed $3000.

To match her new sophisticated sound, Cline also reinvented her personal style, shedding her trademark Western cowgirl outfits for elegant sequined gowns, cocktail dresses, spiked heels, and even gold lame pants. Cline’s new image was considered riskier and sexier by a then-conservative country music industry more accustomed to gingham and calico dresses for women. But like her sound, Cline’s style in fashion was mocked by many at first, then copied. She also loved dangly earrings and ruby-red lipstick; her favorite perfume was ''Wind Song.''

During her short career of only five-and-a-half years, Cline received 12 awards for her achievements and three more following her death. Most were from ''Cashbox'', ''Music Reporter'', and ''Billboard Awards'', considered high honors during her time. (Awards such as the ACM and CMAs were not established until after her death, and the Nashville chapter of the Grammys wasn't founded until 1964.)

Cline wrote of her success in a letter to friend Anne Armstrong (from the 1993 documentary ''Remembering Patsy''): "It's wonderful—but what do I do for '63? Its getting so even I can't follow Cline!"

''Sentimentally Yours''

In late 1961, Cline was back in the studio to record songs for her upcoming album in 1962. One of the first songs recorded in late 1961 was the song "She's Got You", written by Hank Cochran, who pitched the song over the phone to Cline. It was one of the few songs Cline enjoyed recording. The song was released as a single in January 1962, and soon was another country pop crossover hit, reaching No. 1 on the country chart again (her second and last chart-topper), No. 14 on the pop charts, and No. 3 on the adult contemporary charts (originally called "Easy Listening"). It would be Cline's last Top 40 Pop hit.

"She's Got You" was also Cline's first entry in the United Kingdom singles chart, covered by one of Britain's most popular female artists, Alma Cogan; it reached No. 43. Her biggest U.K. record sales ''Hit Parade'' entry before her death was her version of the standard tune "Heartaches," reaching the Top 30 in late 1962 .

Following the success of "She's Got You", Cline enjoyed a string of smaller country hits, including the Top 10 "When I Get Thru' With You", "Imagine That", "So Wrong", and "Heartaches". These hits were not big crossover pop hits as her previous three had been on the country charts; but were Top 10 and 20 hits.

In late 1962, Cline appeared on ''American Bandstand'' and released her third album in August, ''Sentimentally Yours''. When asked in a WSM-AM interview about her vocal stylings, Cline stated, "Oh, I just sing like I hurt inside."

Though she was in high demand and her career was at its peak, the wear and tear of the road and business began to present the possibility of a hiatus for Cline, who longed to spend more time raising her children, Julie and Randy, especially after heading her own show at the Mint Casino in Las Vegas at the end of 1962.

A month before her death, Cline went into the studio to record her fourth album, ''Faded Love''. Recording a mix of country standards and such vintage pop classics as Irving Berlin's "Always" and "Does Your Heart Beat for Me", these sessions proved to be the most contemporary-sounding of her career, without any country music instruments and featuring a full string section. (Owen Bradley told ''Patsy'' author Margaret Jones that he and Cline had even talked of doing an album of show tunes and standards before her death, including "Can't Help Loving That Man of Mine", since Cline was a fan of Helen Morgan.)

Cline, so involved with the story in the song's lyrics, reportedly cried through most of what would be her last sessions. This emotion can be heard on certain tracks, especially "Sweet Dreams" and "Faded Love". At the playback party that night at the studio, according to singer Jan Howard on the documentary ''Remembering Patsy'', Cline held up a copy of her first record and a copy of her newest tracks and stated, "Well, here it is...the first and the last."

Death

Patsy Cline died in a plane crash on March 5, 1963, near Camden, Tennessee. The plane flew into severe weather, and according to Cline's wristwatch, crashed at 6:20 p.m. in a forest outside of Camden, Tennessee, 90 miles from the destination. Everyone died instantly from their injuries. Throughout the night, reports of the missing plane flooded the radio airwaves.

As stated in the Nassour biography, ''Patsy Cline'', friends Dottie West and June Carter Cash both recalled Cline telling them that she felt a sense of impending doom and did not expect to live much longer in the months leading up to her death. Cline also told Loretta Lynn of this, along with Carter and West, as early as September 1962. Cline, though known for her extreme generosity, even began giving away personal items to friends, writing out her own last will on Delta Air Lines stationery and asking close friends to care for her children if anything should happen to her. She reportedly told Jordanaire back up singer Ray Walker as she exited the Grand Ole Opry a week before her death: "Honey, I've had two bad ones (accidents). The third one will either be a charm or it'll kill me."

On March 3, 1963, Cline, though ill with the flu, gave a performance at a benefit show at the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall, Kansas City, Kansas, for the family of a disc jockey, Cactus Jack Call, who had recently died in an automobile accident. Also performing on the show were George Jones, George Riddle and The Jones Boys, Billy Walker, Dottie West, Cowboy Copas, Hawkshaw Hawkins, Wilma Lee and Stoney Cooper, George McCormick and the Clinch Mountain Boys. The three shows were standing-room only. For the 2 p.m. show, she wore a sky-blue tulle-laden dress, for the 5:15 show a red shocker and for the closing show at 8 p.m. Cline wore white chiffon and closed the show to a thunderous ovation. Her final song was the last she recorded during her last sessions the previous month, "I'll Sail My Ship Alone".

Dottie West, wary of Cline flying, asked her to ride back in the car with her and her husband, Bill. Cline, anxious to get home to her children, refused West's offer, saying, "Don't worry about me, Hoss. When it's my time to go, it's my time." Poor weather delayed their departure by a day, and on March 5, she called her mother from the airport and then boarded a Piper Comanche bound for Nashville. The pilot was her manager Randy Hughes, with passengers Cowboy Copas and Hawkshaw Hawkins, who had taken Billy Walker's seat. After stopping to refuel in Dyersburg, Tennessee, the plane took off at 6:07 p.m. CT. According to revelations by the airfield manager in the Nassour biography, he suggested that they stay the night after advising of high winds and inclement weather on the flight path, but Hughes responded, "I've already come this far. We'll be there before you know it."

Roger Miller told ''Patsy Cline'' author Nassour that he and a friend went searching for survivors in the early hours of the morning: "As fast as I could, I ran through the woods screaming their names—through the brush and the trees, and I came up over this little rise, oh, my God, there they were. It was ghastly. The plane had crashed nose down." Not long after the bodies were removed, scavengers came to take what they could of the stars' personal belongings and pieces of the plane. Many of these items were later donated to The Country Music Hall of Fame, including Patsy's beloved Confederate Flag cigarette lighter which played "Dixie," her wrist watch, belt with 'Patsy Cline' studded across it and one of three pairs of her gold lame slippers which were featured on the revised version of her ''Showcase With The Jordanaires'' album. However, the white chiffon dress that Cline had worn for her last performance and the money bag carrying the star's payment for their last concert were never found.

As per her wishes, Cline was brought home to her dream house for the last time before her memorial service, which thousands attended. She was buried in her hometown of Winchester, Virginia, at Shenandoah Memorial Park. Her grave is marked with a simple bronze plaque, which reads: Virginia H (Patsy) Cline "Death Cannot Kill What Never Dies: Love." A bell tower in her memory at the cemetery, erected with the help of Loretta Lynn and Dottie West, plays hymns daily at 6:00 p.m., the hour of her death. A memorial marks the place where the plane crashed in the still-remote forest outside of Camden, Tennessee.

Family

In December 1998, Cline’s mother, Hilda Hensley, died of natural causes at the age of 82. (Cline's father had died in the 1950s) Hensley rarely granted interviews, living the rest of her life practicing her craft as a master seamstress in Winchester, Virginia and helping to raise her grandchildren. Cline's daughter, Julie, stated in a 1985 ''People Magazine'' article: "Grannie loved my mother so much that it's still hard for her to talk about her." Hensley stated in her later years that the outpouring of love given to her by Cline's fans over the years had been amazing. "I never knew so many people loved my daughter," she told one newspaper.

As Cline's mother was only 16 years older, she was more like a big sister than a mother, and the two were consequently very close. She commented that her mother was the one person she could always depend on. Hensley also commented that Cline was a "wonderful daughter" who never let her family down in the hard times they endured. Cline's brother died in 2004, though her sister still lives in Virginia.

Charlie Dick resides in Nashville, where he continues to be a member of the country music community, producing documentaries on Cline and other artists through a video production company. Dick is involved with Cline's fan base and considers them an extension of family, attending many fan functions. Daughter Julie joins him in representing Cline’s estate at public functions and has four children of her own (one, Virginia, named for Cline, was killed in an automobile accident in 1994) and six grandchildren. Son Randy was the drummer of a Nashville band, although he chooses not to live in the limelight. Dick's brother, Mel, heads up the "Always... Patsy Cline" fan organization.

After Cline’s death, Dick married singer Jamey Ryan in 1965, but they were divorced a few years later. Ryan provided the vocals for three songs in the film ''Sweet Dreams'': "Bill Bailey (Won't You Please Come Home)", "Rollin' in My Sweet Baby's Arms" and "Blue Christmas" (a tune Cline never recorded).

Legacy

Impact and influence

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."

When Cline made her first recordings in 1955, Kitty Wells, known as The Queen of Country Music, was the top female vocalist in the 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 her by winning ''Billboard'' magazine's Favorite Female Country & Western Artist for two years in a row and the 1962 ''Music Reporter'' Star of The Year award.

The two country queens could not have been more different, given that Cline's full-throated sophisticated sound was a marked contrast to Wells' pure-country, quivering vocals. Though Cline had gained 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."

1963–1985

In 1963, three songs became Top 10 Country hits after Cline's death: "Sweet Dreams", "Leavin' on Your Mind" and "Faded Love". More albums of unreleased material followed, starting with ''The Patsy Cline Story'' in the summer of 1963. This album replaced Cline's planned fourth album, originally to have been released that March and titled ''Faded Love.'' Owen Bradley produced all of these tracks. The majority featured the legendary back-up vocal group The Jordanaires, who also appeared on many of Elvis Presley's and Connie Francis' albums. The album's cover photo and design, featuring Patsy in a smoky haze of gold and with simple titles across the top, is also considered the first contemporary album cover art in country music history.

In the 1960s and early 1970s, MCA (new owner of Cline’s former label, Decca) continued to issue Cline albums, so she had several posthumous hits, starting in early 1964 with a Top 25 country hit "He Called Me Baby", a song recorded during her "last sessions" in 1963, which was then released on her 1964 album ''That's How a Heartache Begins.'' Her ''Greatest Hits'' album, released in 1967, continues to appear on the country music charts. It held the record as the album to stay on the country charts the longest, until Garth Brooks surpassed it in the 1990s; however, it still holds the record for an album by a female artist.

In 1973, Cline was elected to The Country Music Hall of Fame along with guitarist and RCA producer Chet Atkins, making her the first female solo artist to receive that honor. Johnny Cash inducted Cline for the CMA Awards show, televised live from the Ryman Auditorium. Along with the standard induction bronze plaque, the hall houses a few of Cline's stage outfits, letters to her fan club president, and personal effects recovered from the crash site, including her "Dixie" cigarette lighter, donated by singer Carl Perkins.

In the late 1970s, Cline’s name occasionally appeared in magazine articles and television interviews with her friends, namely Dottie West and Loretta Lynn, who credited her with inspiration for the success they were seeing at that time. Lynn recorded a tribute album dedicated to Cline, ''I Remember Patsy'', and scored a hit with Cline's 1962 hit "She's Got You".

It was encounters by Ellis Nassour, then-manager of MCA artist relations, with MCA-Decca recording star Lynn that led to a series of magazine profiles and ultimately to ''Honky Tonk Angel'', the first of two Nassour biographies, featuring interviews with Cline's mother, Hilda Hensley; her husbands; intimate friends and peers such as West, Brenda Lee, and Faron Young.

Lynn's own autobiography, ''Coal Miner's Daughter'' (1976), featured a chapter dedicated to her friendship with Cline, and Lynn’s biopic of the same name four years later, starred Sissy Spacek as Lynn in her first musical role and featured actress Beverly D'Angelo in the role of Patsy. D'Angelo sang in the pic instead of lip synching to playback. Contrary to the script of Coal Miner's Daughter however, Cline and Lynn never toured together, as Cline never owned her own bus and stars during her time usually traveled in caravans and limousines.

Singles continued to be released by MCA records through much of the 1970s, but none charted on the country list. In 1980, however, MCA released an overdubbed version of her version of the song "Always", recorded in 1963. The song reached No. 18 on the Hot Country Songs list in 1980. An album of the same name was released that year.

In 1981, an electronically-produced duet between Cline and Jim Reeves, another legendary country singer who died the year after Cline from the same fate, was released. Their duet of "Have You Ever Been Lonely (Have You Ever Been Blue)" was a No. 5 country hit that year. Like Cline, Reeves gained a massive fan following after his death, as well as a string of re-issued singles.

In 1983, due in part to the success of the biopic ''Coal Miner's Daughter'', producer Bernard Schwartz undertook massive amounts of research in order to bring the story of Patsy Cline to the big screen. Much of this research formed the basis for the book ''Patsy'' by Margaret Jones released in 1990.

For the film,''Sweet Dreams'' Jessica Lange was cast in the title role and lip synched to Cline's original vocals laid onto a newly-recorded digital background. These new digital recordings brought Cline's voice to the forefront of American consciousness once again, garnering several hits from the soundtrack album.

1990–2000

In 1992, the U.S. Postal Service honored her, along with Hank Williams, the Carter Family and Bob Wills on a postage stamp.

Also in 1992, MCA released a 4 CD/cassette collection of the discography, called ''The Patsy Cline Collection.'' This boxed set, which includes a booklet chronicling Cline's career (with many rare photos), remains one of the top 10 bestselling boxed collections in the record industry.

In 1993, the Grand Ole Opry opened its museum in Nashville, which includes a Cline exhibit, displaying several of her awards, stage outfits, wigs, make-up, hairbrush, and a fully-furnished replica of her dream home’s music room.

1993 also marked the 30th anniversary of the 1963 plane crash. To commemorate the event, the Opry televised its Saturday night segment as a tribute to Cline, Hawkins and Copas. With Cline's widower, Charlie, and their daughter, Julie, on hand, friend Jan Howard paid tribute to Cline, singing "I Fall to Pieces" (which her ex-husband, Harlan Howard, cowrote), followed by Loretta Lynn, who performed "She's Got You".

Also in 1993, Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton and Tammy Wynette included Cline's cover of Hank Williams' "Lovesick Blues" on their ''Honky Tonk Angels'' trio album, singing along with Cline's original vocals.

Cline became a member of the Texas Cowgirl Hall of Fame in 1994. That same year, actress Delta Burke starred in her television show, ''Delta'', as a Nashville waitress trying to make it into country music. The show referenced Patsy Cline throughout its run, and included several of Patsy Cline's hits, all sung by Burke. One episode took her to pay homage to Patsy Cline's grave where she meets another visitor, singer Tanya Tucker, who played herself.

Cline was portrayed on film again in the 1995 CBS biopic ''Big Dreams and Broken Hearts: The Dottie West Story,'' featuring Michele Lee as Dottie West and actress Tere Myers as Cline. At that year's Grammy Awards, Cline was honored with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, with Barbra Streisand and Peggy Lee. On the ''Grand Ole Opry's 70th Anniversary Special'' on CBS, singer Martina McBride celebrated her induction as the Opry's newest member by paying tribute to Cline with her version of "Crazy."

In 1997, Cline's recording of "Crazy" was named the number one jukebox hit of all time; "I Fall to Pieces" came in at No. 17. In 1998, she was nominated to The Hollywood Walk of Fame by a dedicated fan, and received her star in 1999; later a street was named after her on the back lot of Universal Studios.

Also in 1999, VH1 named Cline number eleven on its ''100 Greatest Women of Rock and Roll''. She was also honored with the Nashville Golden Voice Award in its Legend Category that same year. Singer Trisha Yearwood celebrated her induction to the Opry that same year, paying tribute to Cline with her version of "Sweet Dreams" and receiving a necklace worn by Cline as a gift to commemorate the event from Cline's widower, Charlie, and their daughter, Julie.

2000–present

In 2002, CMT named her number one on its ''40 Greatest Women of Country Music.'' Balloting was by artists and members of the music industry. Her place at number one was followed by those women who've said she inspired them, Tammy Wynette (No. 2) and Loretta Lynn (No. 3).

Cline's hit song, "I Fall to Pieces" was listed at No. 107 on RIAA's list of Songs of the Century in 2001. Lynn released a sequel to her autobiography, ''Coal Miner's Daughter'', called ''Still Woman Enough'' and again dedicated a chapter to her friendship with Cline (called "Still Thinking of Patsy"). One of Lynn's daughters is named after Cline, and one of Brenda Lee's daughter's is named after Cline's daughter, Julie.

Throughout her career, country legend Reba McEntire has cited Cline as one of her childhood inspirations and, upon reaching stardom in the 1980s, featured Cline's hits on several of her first albums. McEntire closed her live shows for years with Cline's signature hit "Sweet Dreams", but discontinued the encore after closing a show with it on March 15, 1991 when the airplane carrying her band crashed and killed everyone aboard early the next morning.

One of the most heard country music albums of all time, ''Patsy Cline’s Greatest Hits'' has sold 10 million copies worldwide since its 1967 release. Bob Ludwig remastered the set, and it has been reissued in its original cover art. In 2005, the album ''Patsy Cline's Greatest Hits'' was certified by the RIAA as diamond (designating the sale of 10 million). That same year, the album was listed in the ''Guinness Book of World Records'' for staying on the music charts the longest of any female artist of any music genre in history.

Also in 2003, her childhood home in Winchester, Virginia was listed on ''The National Register of Historic Places'' with a bronze marker in front. Cline was also memorialized in Nashville's downtown Owen Bradley Park with her name on a slab of concrete featuring three of the hits that she and Bradley made famous. On the life-size grand piano upon which Bradley's statue sits is the sheet music for "I Fall to Pieces".

Each year, fans gather in Cline’s hometown of Winchester, where she is buried, to pay homage to her. They gather on the Labor Day weekend because it is close to her birthdate. September 8, 2007, was the 20th annual gathering. Charlie and Julie and all of the grandchildren and great-grandchildren as well as other family members attended. Efforts to open a Patsy Cline museum in Winchester are ongoing.

In 2009, the Handley High School Auditorium in Winchester dedicated "The Patsy Cline Theatre" after a multi-million dollar renovation was completed at her former school, John Handley High School, built in 1923. The dedication was celebrated with a concert by Willie Nelson and family. Nelson was a personal friend of Cline's, and wrote the Cline classic "Crazy".

On October 5, 2010 the "Patsy Cline Classic" at the Patsy Cline Theatre in Winchester welcomed Rock and Roll Hall of Fame members The Beach Boys. Concert producers look forward to an annual concert in honor of Cline and to benefit the Winchester Education Foundation.

Movies and documentaries

With Loretta Lynn's ''Coal Miner's Daughter'' book and hit motion picture making headlines, talk of a picture devoted solely to Cline's life story began. In 1985, HBO/Tri Star Pictures produced ''Sweet Dreams: The Life and Times of Patsy Cline,'' starring actress Jessica Lange as Cline; actor Ed Harris as Cline’s husband, Charlie Dick; and actress Ann Wedgeworth as Hilda Hensley, Cline's mother.

The film depicted Cline's marriage to Dick as abusive, portraying Cline as a victim of domestic violence. Dottie West said of the couple's disagreements in a 1986 interview: "It was always very interesting to watch -- because you ''always'' knew Patsy was going to win! He was her man. He was her lover." Cline’s family and friends claimed that this and other sequences were inaccurately fictionalized for Hollywood and were not pleased with the final product. Cline's mother was quoted in a 1985 issue of ''People'': "The producers told me they were going to make a love story. I saw the film once. That was enough. Jessica (Lange) did well with what she had to work with." Cline's widower, Charlie Dick, stated in the same article: "It's a great film -- if you like fiction."

The picture became a hit, and Lange was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance, one that she credits today as one of her favorites. The soundtrack to the film was a success, and Cline’s recordings began to climb the charts again.

Cline’s family and friends produced a series of video documentaries since ''Sweet Dreams'' including ''The Real Patsy Cline'', ''Remembering Patsy'', and most recently ''Sweet Dreams Still: The Live Collection.'' One of these, ''Remembering Patsy,'' was used on the A&E; Channel's show ''Biography'' in the 1990s.

Cline was portrayed again in the 1995 CBS made-for-television movie ''Big Dreams and Broken Hearts: The Dottie West Story'' featuring Tere Myers as Cline and Michelle Lee as West. In 2003, a biopic about the life of Hank Garland, lead guitarist on many of Cline's records, featured Mandy Barnett (of ''Always...Patsy Cline'' fame) as Cline.

Plays and musicals

''A Closer Walk with Patsy Cline'', created by Dean Regan, and ''Always...Patsy Cline'', created by Ted Swindley, are the only plays approved by the Patsy Cline Estate and licensed by Legacy, Inc., the company operated by the family. All Cline-related plays and merchandising are handled through the Legacy office in the Nashville area.

''A Closer Walk with Patsy Cline'', created by Dean Regan in 1991, is a musical tribute which showcases her life and music. It has been produced across the United States and Canada in theaters from Texas to Toronto with multiple productions by the Springer Opera House and Troupe America, Inc. It also ran under the name ''Patsy!'' at the Grand Palace in Branson, Missouri for a year, starring Gail Bliss as Patsy Cline. Other celebrated performers in the role are Julie Johnson, Sara-Jeanne Hosie and Bridget Beirne.

''Always...Patsy Cline'', produced by Ted Swindley, premiered in 1993. The story was taken and expanded from a section of the Cline biography, ''Honky Tonk Angel'', which chronicled the real-life story of her encounter in 1961 with a fan and Mississippi native, Louise Seger, who arrived early at The Esquire Ballroom in Houston for Cline's performance. In a chance encounter before the show, the two met, starting a lasting friendship.

In the musical, Cline expresses her worry to Seger over the attendance that night, and Seger tells her she'll have no problem filling the hall for both shows. She later persuades Cline to spend the night at her house rather than a hotel, they stay up all night girl-talking; and do a radio spot in the morning, surprising a local DJ in his sneakers, sweat-stained shorts and unshaven beard when they tap on his window.

Several weeks later, Seger would receive the first of many letters over the ensuing two year period prior to the singer's death, which when collected formed the basis for the musical, allowing the audience a rare and up-close look at the singer's daily life. The title of the musical came from the sign-off Cline used at the end of each letter. The revue has played across the U.S., running off-Broadway in New York City and for over a year at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium, where it sold out nightly, starring singer Mandy Barnett.

Discography

;Studio albums

1957: ''Patsy Cline''

1961: ''Patsy Cline Showcase''

1962: ''Sentimentally Yours''

;Posthumous studio albums

1964: ''A Portrait of Patsy Cline''

1964: ''That's How a Heartache Begins''

1980: ''Always''

Cover versions of Cline songs

"Walkin' After Midnight" was recorded by Kellie Pickler and Madeleine Peyroux. Pickler originally sang the song on the 2006 season of ''American Idol''. A live version of the song was covered by Bryan Adams, Garth Brooks, Kelly Clarkson and Megan Joy. Fiona Apple has also performed the song. Canadian folk-rockers Cowboy Junkies also recorded a version of the song, which appears on the band's 1990 album, ''The Trinity Sessions''. Also, the industrial band Braindead Soundmachine covered this in the early 1990s on the Wax Trax label including remixes by Industrial Rock Gurus KMFDM.

"I Fall to Pieces" was covered by country artists Michael Nesmith, LeAnn Rimes, Lynn Anderson, Linda Ronstadt, Loretta Lynn, Ray Price, the Greg Kihn Band and Willie Nelson. In 1992, it was covered by jazz guitarist Marc Ribot on the album Yo! I Killed Your God. In 1995, a cover by pop-punk band Screeching Weasel was included on their compilation release Kill the Musicians. In 2003, it was covered by Natalie Cole on a tribute CD to Cline.

"Crazy" (written by Nelson) has been covered by artists including Linda Ronstadt, Kenny Rogers, LeAnn Rimes, Diana DeGarmo, Loretta Lynn, Dottie West, Wanda Jackson, Julio Iglesias, Don McLean, Norah Jones, Kidneythieves and The Kills. The song has also been remixed by DJ Simple Simon and The Fabulous Wonder Twins.

"She's Got You" was recorded by Loretta Lynn, Jimmy Buffett, Dottie West, Lee Ann Womack, LeAnn Rimes, and Cat Power. It became a No. 1 hit for Lynn in 1977. Also, a version of the song titled "He's Got You" was covered by Ricky Van Shelton in 1990 and in 2004 by Elvis Costello on the album "Almost Blue".

"Leavin' on Your Mind" has been covered by LeAnn Rimes, Loretta Lynn and Rissi Palmer.

"Sweet Dreams", originally a hit for Faron Young in the 1950s, has been remade by both Emmylou Harris and Reba McEntire became hits for both of them in the 1970s. Other versions include Skeeter Davis, songwriter Don Gibson and Elvis Costello. There is also an instrumental version by guitarist Roy Buchanan, which was featured along with Cline's original in 2006's ''The Departed''.

"Faded Love" has been recorded by Ray Price, Willie Nelson and Loretta Lynn. It was originally a hit for Bob Wills in 1950 and before that, an original fiddle instrumental Wills's father created. Wills's younger brother Billy Jack Wills wrote the lyrics.

"Imagine That" was covered by Sara Evans and was in her album ''Three Chords and the Truth''.

"Strange" is covered by Sharam and Kid Cudi in a house remix titled "She Came Along" that was released in 2009.

"You Belong to Me" was covered by Fiona Apple

Further reading

Bego, Mark. ''I Fall to Pieces: The Music and the Life of Patsy Cline''. Adams Media Corporation.

Hazen, Cindy and Mike Freeman. ''Love Always, Patsy''. The Berkley Publishing Group.

Jones, Margaret (1998). "Patsy Cline". In ''The Encyclopedia of Country Music''. Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 98–9.

Nassour, Ellis. ''Honky Tonk Angel: The Intimate Story of Patsy Cline''. St. Martins Press.

Wolff, Kurt. ''Country Music: The Rough Guide''. Penguin Publishing.

References

External links

Patsy Cline at the Country Music Hall of Fame

Patsy Cline Museum

The Patsy Cline Plane Crash

Listing of all Patsy's songs and alternatives, dubs etc.

Love Always, Patsy - tribute site

Patsy Cline singing "Life's Railway to Heaven" duet with Willie Nelson backed by the Jordanaires

Category:1932 births Category:1963 deaths Category:Accidental deaths in Tennessee Category:American contraltos Category:American composers Category:American country pianists Category:American country singers Category:American female singers Category:American pop singers Category:Country Music Hall of Fame inductees Category:Decca Records artists Category:Grand Ole Opry members Category:Four Star Records artists Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Category:People from Winchester, Virginia Category:Southern Gospel performers Category:Torch singers Category:Traditional pop music singers Category:Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in the United States Category:Winchester, Virginia

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