Patsy Cline

Background

Country singer Patsy Cline has been dubbed as one of the biggest names in the American music industry during the 20th century. She was born Virginia Patterson Henley on September 8, 1932, in Virginia, the United States, to Samuel Lawrence Henley, a blacksmith, and Hilda Virginia, a homemaker. She had two half-siblings from her father’s previous marriage. Cline started singing after recovering from a throat infection and gave her first few performances in the local church choir.

She made her first public appearance in 1946, at 14, when she passed the auditions for a local radio station. Her father abandoned the family in 1947 and Cline became closer to her mother, with whom she shared a beautiful bond. While working for her radio performances, she started appearing in talent contests and cabaret acts. However, it was not until 1955 that she started gaining critical acclaim by performing regularly on Connie B. Gay’s T.V. program. In the same year, she started recording with the label, Four Star. Radio and variety shows on T.V. earned her a broader audience. In 1957, she released the song ‘Walkin’ After Midnight,’ which marked her breakthrough. In the late 1960s, she signed with Decca Records and released the song ‘I Fall to Pieces.’ Although the success was slow, it eventually reached number one on the charts. This marked her beginning to sing more pop. In 1961, she released ‘Crazy,’ which became one of her biggest hits.

Cline married twice; her first marriage was to a construction tycoon, Gerard Cline, in 1953. However, they divorced in 1957. She then married a linotype operator, Charlie Dick, in the same year, and they had two children, Julie and Randy. Their marriage ended in 1970, although Dick remained involved in keeping Cline’s legacy alive after her sudden and abrupt demise in the year 1963, in a plane crash.