PATTI PAGE

'Patti Page' (born 'Clara Ann Fowler' on November 8, 1927 in Claremore (some sources give Muskogee), Oklahoma) is one of the best-known female singers in traditional pop music. She is the best-selling female artist of the 1950s^[1] 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"''.

Contents

Early life and rise to success

Recording career

Later career

Life today

Discography

Hit singles

References

See also

External links

Early life and rise to success

She was born into a large and poor farming family, whose 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 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.

Recording career

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.
At the time, most record companies had a director of Artists and Repertory (the "A&R man"), who tightly controlled all the choices of artist-song assignments, and Mercury Records' A&R man was Mitch Miller, who became famous later on as the A&R man who brought Columbia Records into a dominant position in pop music in the early 1950s). After recording "Confess", Page (or Rael, or both) liked the multiple-voice idea so much, that she asked to do an entire song as a quartet. Miller was skeptical, until Page recorded a four-bar song demo in four different voices, and played the sample for Miller.
Reluctantly, Miller permitted it, and the song, "With My Eyes Wide Open I'm Dreaming" became another big hit for Page, her first to sell a million. Although both Mary Ford and Jane Turzy became known for it, Page was actually the first singer to record multiple tracks on the same song ("Confess"). On some of the records, she was billed as "Vocal by Patti Page, Patti Page, and Patti Page," and in at least one case ("With My Eyes Wide Open I'm Dreaming"), she was given quadruple billing.
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 biggest hit was "The Tennessee Waltz", which was also released in 1950. "The Tennessee Waltz" was #1 for thirteen weeks in 1950. In 1963, she 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.
Page had a huge hit in 1953, "(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window?", a novelty song that written by Bob Merrill in 1952. It was 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 at that time.

Later career

In 1974 and 1975, she recorded for Avco Records, and, in 1981, recorded for Plantation Records, her most recent record label. Page's most recent single to appear on any Billboard chart was the 1982 #80 country single, "My Man Friday". (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.)
Page made the country chart in up to 1983, with the her biggest hit during that time being "Hello, We're Lonely," a 1973 #14 duet with Tom T. Hall.
In the 1990s, Page started her own label, C.A.F. Records. In 1998, she won a Grammy as "Best Traditional Pop Singer". Many of her songs have a strong beat to them that prelude rock 'n' roll. These titles include "Mister and Mississippi", "Detour" and "Cross Over the Bridge". In 1956, she married choreographer Charles O'Curran. They adopted two children, a daughter, Kathleen, and a son, Daniel O'Curran.

Life today

Patti Page and Charles O'Curran divorced in 1972. In 1990, she was wed to Jerry Filiciotto, with whom she runs a maple syrup business in New Hampshire. Until recently, Page was also host of a weekly Sunday program on the "Music of Your Life" radio network (now distributed to individual radio stations via satellite by Jones Radio Networks).

Discography

Hit singles

'Year'	'Single'	US Pop Singles	US Country Singles	US AC Singles
1948	"Confess"	'#12'	-	-
1950	"I Don't Care If the Sun Don't Shine"	'#8'	-	-
1950	"All My Love (Bolero)"	'#1'	-	-	GOLD record
1950	"The Tennessee Waltz"	'#1'	'#2'	-	GOLD/Platinum record
1951	"Would I Love You (Love You, Love You)"	'#4'	-	-	GOLD record
1951	"Mockin' Bird Hill"	'#2'	-	-	GOLD record
1951	"Down The Trail of Achin' Hearts"	#17	-	-
1951	"Mister And Mississippi"	'#8'	-	-	GOLD record
1951	"Detour"	'#5'	-	-	GOLD record
1951	"And So to Sleep Again"	'#4'	-	-
1952	"Come What May"	'#9'	-	-
1952	"Once In a While"	'#9'	-	-
1952	"I Went to Your Wedding"	'#1'	-	-	GOLD record
1952	"You Belong to Me" (best-known version by Jo Stafford)	'#4'	-	-	GOLD record
1952	"Why Don't You Believe Me" (best-known version by Joni James)	'#4'	-	-
1953	"(How Much is That) Doggie in the Window"	'#1'	-	-	GOLD record
1953	"Butterflies"	'#10'	-	-
1953	"Changing Partners"	'#3'	-	-	GOLD record
1954	"Cross Over the Bridge"	'#2'	-	-	GOLD record
1954	"Steam Heat"	'#8'	-	-
1954	"What a Dream"	'#10'	-	-
1954	"Let Me Go, Lover!" (best-known version by Joan Weber)	'#8'	-	-
1955	"Go On With The Wedding"	#11	-	-
1956	"Allegheny Moon"	'#2'	-	-	GOLD record
1956	"Mama From The Train"	#11	-	-
1957	"Old Cape Cod"	'#3'	-	-	GOLD record
1957	"A Poor Man's Roses (Or a Rich Man's Gold)"	'#14'	-	-
1958	"Left Right Out of Your Heart (Hi Lee Hi Lo Hi Lup Up Up)"	'#9'	-	-	GOLD record
1962	"Go On Home"	-	'#13'	'#9'
1962	"Most People Get Married"	'#27'	-	'#8'
1965	"Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte"	'#8'	-	'#2'	GOLD record
1968	"Gentle On My Mind"	'#66'	-	'#7'
1973	"Hello, We're Lonely" (with Tom T. Hall)	-	#14	-
1981	"No Aces"	-	#39	-

(For a more complete collection, see ''List of songs recorded by Patti Page.)''

References

1. All Music Guide [1]

See also

★ List of popular music performers

External links

★ The Official Patti Page Website

★ Interview with Patti Page

★ Chart positions, label numbers, etc. of all her hit songs

★ Bio on Country Music Television

★

★ Bio on Producers Inc. site

★ Bio on All Music Guide site

★ Bio on The Interlude Era site