Patti Page (born Clara Ann Fowler on November 8, 1927 in Claremore, Oklahoma) is one of the best-known female singers in traditional pop music. She is the best-selling female artist of the 1950s and was among the first to cross over from country music to pop. Her recording career spans the years 1947 to 1981. Page continues to perform live and was billed as "The Singing Rage, Miss Patti Page".
She was born into a large and poor family. Her father worked on the MKT railroad, while her mother and older sisters picked cotton. They went without electricity, so young Clara could not read after dark, as she related on TV many years later. Clara Ann Fowler became a featured singer on a 15-minute radio program on radio station KTUL, Tulsa, Oklahoma at age 18. The program was sponsored by the Page Milk Company; thus, young Clara Ann Fowler became Patti Page on the air. In 1946, Jack Rael, a saxophone player and band manager, came to Tulsa to do a one-nighter. He turned on the radio, and heard the musical program with the 18-year-old featured vocalist. He liked what he heard, and asked her to join the Jimmy Joy band, which Rael managed. Eventually, both left the band, and Rael became Patti's personal manager and leader of the backup orchestra for many of her recordings.
In 1947, she recorded a song called "Confess" which had a portion requiring one singer to answer another. (The other hit version involved a duet of Doris Day and Buddy Clark.) Because of a low budget, a second singer could not be hired, so Jack Rael suggested that Page sing the second part as well. The novelty of her doing two voices on one record possibly contributed to the song becoming a Top 20 hit for her.
"With My Eyes Wide Open I'm Dreaming" became another big hit for Page, her first to sell a million. Page's first number one hit was "All My Love". It was based on Maurice Ravel's "Bolero". "All My Love" was #1 for five weeks in 1950. Her bigest hit was "The Tennessee Waltz", which was also released in 1950. "The Tennessee Waltz" was #1 for thirteen weeks in 1950 and eventually sold more than 6,000,000 copies, making it the biggest charted Billboard hit of the entire decade. She had a huge hit in 1953, "(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window?", a novelty song written by Bob Merrill, adapted from a well-known Victorian music hall song. Page recorded it in 1952, and it made #1 on the Billboard and Cash Box charts in 1953. To say that it was a major hit would be a tremendous understatement; it was almost constantly on the radio.
In 1963, Page left Mercury Records for Columbia Records, returning to Mercury in 1971. While at Columbia, she scored her most recent Top 10 pop hit in 1965 with the title song from the Bette Davis film Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte. In 1973, she went back to the Columbia again, recording for their Epic Records subsidiary.
She last appeared on the pop chart in 1968, with her version of O.C. Smith's hit, "Little Green Apples", and on the Adult Contemporary chart with "Give Him Love" in 1971. In 2007 Patti Page was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame. She continues recording to this day, with a new album debuting in 2008 from Curb Records and featuring a duet with Vince Gill on the song “Home Sweet Oklahoma.” Find out more at: http://www.misspattipage.com/
Research info gathered at: www.wikipedia.org
Visit my ezine: http://www.concelebratory.blogpspot.com/
and personal blog: http://www.copyat5.blogpsot.com/
She was born into a large and poor family. Her father worked on the MKT railroad, while her mother and older sisters picked cotton. They went without electricity, so young Clara could not read after dark, as she related on TV many years later. Clara Ann Fowler became a featured singer on a 15-minute radio program on radio station KTUL, Tulsa, Oklahoma at age 18. The program was sponsored by the Page Milk Company; thus, young Clara Ann Fowler became Patti Page on the air. In 1946, Jack Rael, a saxophone player and band manager, came to Tulsa to do a one-nighter. He turned on the radio, and heard the musical program with the 18-year-old featured vocalist. He liked what he heard, and asked her to join the Jimmy Joy band, which Rael managed. Eventually, both left the band, and Rael became Patti's personal manager and leader of the backup orchestra for many of her recordings.
In 1947, she recorded a song called "Confess" which had a portion requiring one singer to answer another. (The other hit version involved a duet of Doris Day and Buddy Clark.) Because of a low budget, a second singer could not be hired, so Jack Rael suggested that Page sing the second part as well. The novelty of her doing two voices on one record possibly contributed to the song becoming a Top 20 hit for her.
"With My Eyes Wide Open I'm Dreaming" became another big hit for Page, her first to sell a million. Page's first number one hit was "All My Love". It was based on Maurice Ravel's "Bolero". "All My Love" was #1 for five weeks in 1950. Her bigest hit was "The Tennessee Waltz", which was also released in 1950. "The Tennessee Waltz" was #1 for thirteen weeks in 1950 and eventually sold more than 6,000,000 copies, making it the biggest charted Billboard hit of the entire decade. She had a huge hit in 1953, "(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window?", a novelty song written by Bob Merrill, adapted from a well-known Victorian music hall song. Page recorded it in 1952, and it made #1 on the Billboard and Cash Box charts in 1953. To say that it was a major hit would be a tremendous understatement; it was almost constantly on the radio.
In 1963, Page left Mercury Records for Columbia Records, returning to Mercury in 1971. While at Columbia, she scored her most recent Top 10 pop hit in 1965 with the title song from the Bette Davis film Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte. In 1973, she went back to the Columbia again, recording for their Epic Records subsidiary.
She last appeared on the pop chart in 1968, with her version of O.C. Smith's hit, "Little Green Apples", and on the Adult Contemporary chart with "Give Him Love" in 1971. In 2007 Patti Page was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame. She continues recording to this day, with a new album debuting in 2008 from Curb Records and featuring a duet with Vince Gill on the song “Home Sweet Oklahoma.” Find out more at: http://www.misspattipage.com/
Research info gathered at: www.wikipedia.org
Visit my ezine: http://www.concelebratory.blogpspot.com/
and personal blog: http://www.copyat5.blogpsot.com/
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