*'For Sentimental Reasons' by Patti Page (from the Patti Page Oldsmobile Show, 1958–1959).
Patti Page, the 'Singing Rage,' was the top-selling female singer of the 1950s with more than 100 million records sold. Her most enduring songs remain "Tennessee Waltz," and "(How Much Is That) Doggie in the Window."
Page was borned Nov. 8, 1927, as Clara
Ann Fowler in Claremore, Okla. The family of three boys and eight girls
moved a few years later to nearby Tulsa. Her father worked on the MKT railroad, while her mother and older sisters picked cotton to earn money. Patti recalled years later how the family went without electricity for many years, and she could not read after dark, yet her family was too proud to live in the poor houses or accept govt. handouts.
After graduating Daniel Webster High School in 1945, Clara Ann worked at Tulsa radio station KTUL, which had a 15-minute
program sponsored by Page Milk Co. The regular Patti Page singer left
and was replaced by Clara Ann, who took the stage name with her on the road to
stardom.
Page was discovered by Jack Rael, a
band leader who was making a stop in Tulsa in 1946 when he heard Page
sing on the radio. Rael called KTUL asking where the broadcast
originated. When told Page was a local singer, he quickly arranged an
interview and abandoned his career to be Page's manager.
A year later she signed a contract with Mercury Records and began appearing in major nightclubs in the Chicago area. Her first major hit was "With My Eyes Wide Open I'm Dreaming," but she got noticed a few years earlier in 1947 with "Confess."
Page
went on to become the top-selling female singer of the 1950s with more than 100
million records sold. Her most enduring songs remain "Tennessee Waltz,"
one of two songs the state of Tennessee has officially adopted, and
"(How Much Is That) Doggie in the Window," which has gained fame as a perennially popular children's song.
"I
was a kid from Oklahoma who never wanted to be a singer, but was told I
could sing," she said in a 1999 interview. "And things snowballed."
She
created a distinctive sound for the music industry in 1947 by
overdubbing her own voice when she didn't have enough money to hire
backup singers for the single, "Confess." She went on to sell 15
gold records and three gold albums, with 24 songs in the top 10,
including four that reached No. 1.
She was
popular in pop music and country and became the first singer to have
television programs on all three major networks, including "The Patti
Page Show" on ABC.
In 1999, after 51 years of
performing, Page won her first Grammy for traditional pop vocal
performance for "Live at Carnegie Hall - The 50th Anniversary Concert."
Page was planning to attend a special ceremony on Feb. 9 in Los Angeles
where she was to receive a lifetime acheivement award from The Recording
Academy.
Patti Page, the "Singing Rage" who stumbled across
"Tennessee Waltz" and made it one of the best-selling recordings ever, died on New Year's Day, 2013, in Encinitas, Calif. She was 85.
Source
*For this, and more, original hits from the 40's, 50's, 60's, and more, tune
into John Christopher's streaming 24/7 musical extravaganza "The Neon Beat" by clicking here, or click the icon on the side of this page.
(disclaimer: the views expressed here are my own and not affiliated with John Christopher or The Neon Beat. I'm simply a fan of the show.)
