Do you remember How Much Was that Doggy In The Window?
… a #1 chart hit for Patti Page?
How could anyone not know of the singer who in the past 60 years has sold more recordings than any woman has in history? I talked with Patti for an hour a few days ago and her voice was so vibrant and young it amazed me. It was like talking to someone I’d known a lifetime, as I have nearly…her voice.
Still wintering in San Diego, she will soon be winging north from California for a concert at Saint John’s Imperial Theater Thursday, Apr. 10 at 7p.m., one of two in Atlantic Canada. This rare Patti Page Canadian Tour starts in Halifax the day before.
Miss Patti Page, The Singing Rage, as she has been known since 1946, sold over a hundred million copies of such hits as Allegheny Moon, Old Cape Cod, I Went To Your Wedding and many more….an incredible 111 charted hits from over a hundred albums and an amazing 16 of them Gold.
Born Clara Ann Fowler in Claremore, Oklahoma, population 4000, if country fans now think of Patti as only a pop singer, they should remember her recording of Tennessee Waltz sold over 10 million copies and topped Country, Pop and rhythm and Blues charts, for three months, one of a very few by either a male or female artist to ever chart on all three. That was in 1950. In 1951 she made Top 10 hits of both Mocking Bird Hill written by Vaughan Horton (Wilf Carter’s US manager), and Hank snow’s Down The Trail of Aching Hearts. She, also, made giants hits of Mister And Mississippi, Detour (a big 1946 hit for Spade Cooley), Changing Partners, Cross Over The bridge, Poor Man’s Roses , and in 1973, Hello We’re Lonely, a duet with Tom T. Hall. Also South of the Border, Y’All Come, No One To Cry To, Mom and Dad’s Waltz, Old spinning Wheel, and many more.
But, my own favourite Patti Page recordings are I Want To Be A Cowgirl’s Sweetheart, written and recorded by an old friend, Patsy Montana, in 1936, the first disc by a female singer to sell a million…Patti yodels beautifully on it…and I Wanna Go Skating With Willie.
She also made hits of such folk era songs as Jamaica Farewell, Danny Boy, Scarlett Ribbons, Try To Remember, and such movie themes as Boys Night Out and Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte. She starred herself in Boys Night Out and Elmer Gantry.
Patti only met Hank Snow once she said but told me … a real surprise … of hours on movie shoots with Elvis Presley. “I met Elvis first in Las Vegas”, she said. “He brought his mother into my dressing room at the Sand’s. I was her favourite singer, he said, and she loved my version of I don’t Care if The Sun Don’t Shine, a song he later recorded.”
“Then my husband, Charles O’Curran”, Patti said, “a choreographer at Paramount was assigned to work with Elvis on six of his movies. The first time I was free to visit him on the set was when they shot G.I.Blues. That was a year before I was signed for Elmer Gantry and it was sure a thrill!”
“Then, when Paramount shot Blue Hawaii in the islands, we’d get together at the hotel after dinner, Elvis would bring a guitar, others would get their instruments and the two of us would sing for hours. They were great nights!”
She’ll tell a lot of those stories during a wonderful recital of her hits when she appears at Saint John’s Imperial Theatre, April 10. Get your tickets now at their box office or phone 674-4100, if out of town call 1-800-323-7469.
Patti lives most of the year near Bath, New Hampshire where she and her second husband, Jerry Filiciotto grow and sell organic foods and maple syrup products.
“In fact, we spent Christmas there,” Patti said, “so I had a taste of the winter you folks are having!”
Patti was the feature act at Maine’s 2007 incredible Fryeburg Fair that I’ve visited several times as an ANE rep.
Last April’s Column
“She was The Rage back in the 50’s and the 60’s but what does Patty Page sound like now?” a lot of people have asked in recent weeks.
Well, the duets she did with Vince Gill on the Grand Ole Opry early this year answered that… her voice is just as sensational as ever, virtually unchanged by age! Tapes sent me of the satellite radio and Nashville Television coverage of those performances by Rocklands Entertainment Inc., the tour agency bringing Patti to Atlantic Canada … Halifax’s Rebecca Cohn Auditorium April 9 and Saint John’s Imperial Theatre Thursday, April 10, both at 7 p.m.,..for the first time ever, thrillingly verify that!
By introduction Vince Gill said of her: “ A finer woman or finer singer never graced this earth.” And Brian Edwards, Rockland’s president, says, “Patti looks much younger than her 80 years, a beautiful woman! In fact, time has added an even more thrilling depth to her wonderful voice!” Patti’s singing of her ten million selling hit that night, the Tennessee Waltz and her beautiful duet with Vince Gill on Home Sweet Oklahoma, a new song tribute to the state both were born in, are proof of that … both performances brought capacity audiences to their feet, wildly applauding! And so did her singing of another of her great hits Mockin’ Bird Hill !
Of course, Patti, has never taken a hiatus from recording. After years with Mercury and Columbia … two stints each … when she ruled the airwaves, she recorded with Epic until 1975, when she signed with Avco. Then, in 1981, she switched to Plantation, placing My Man Friday on Billboard’s pop charts in 1982 and several others on country charts!
Patti launched her own CAF label in 1998 and won a Grammy as Best Traditional Pop Singer. In recent years she has released Live At Carnegie Hall 50th Anniversary Concert, Child of Mine and others. They are for sale on her website www.pattipageproducts.com/hilltop or at her Hilltop Farm near Bath, New Hampshire.
Patti Page over her long career as a vocalist and actress has sold over 100 million records, more than other female recordings artist yet her April 10 concert at Saint John’s Imperial…her only N.B. concert … still has seats left, just $50, at the Theatre box office, by dialing 674-4100 or 1-800-323-7469.