Singer Patti Page, 85, died New Year's Day, just five weeks shy of receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2013 Grammy Awards. Her death came just a few days after the conclusion of the run of "Flipside: The Patti Page Story," an off-Broadway musical commemorating her life that opened in New York City recently. "Flipside" picked up 18 national awards, including best musical, at the Kennedy Center National Theater Festival.
"She's the greatest female singer in American music history," Michael J. Glynn, Page's manager of more than 16 years told the Tulsa World newspaper.
Page was born in Claremore, Okla. as Clara Ann Fowler and raised in Tulsa, Okla. The Associated Press reported that 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, Page signed a contract with Mercury Records and began appearing in 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."
After WWII, Page sang with Benny Goodman, and after recording more than 100 albums, she starred on stage in the musical "Annie Get Your Gun." Over the years, she also collaborated with country artist George Jones to record "You Never Looked That Good When You Were Mine."
Upon learning of Page's death, Jones told The Associated Press: "I just loved singing with Patti, and she hit notes I never dreamed of. We cut some songs together, and it was a great time. She'll be missed by lots of folks, and everybody needs to know how great she was. Patti was a wonderful singer with a real special voice."
With the birth of a new age of music and the censored swinging hips of Elvis, many recording artists of the 50s went to the wayside, but not Page. She continued to compete with the rock 'n' roll crowd, placing songs on the pop charts into the 1960s and on the country charts into the '80s.
Page's song "Tennessee Waltz" reached number one on the pop, country and R&B charts simultaneously and is considered the first true cross-over hit. The song became an official Tennessee state song in 1965. Redd Stewart wrote the lyrics, and Pee Wee King wrote the music in 1946, and Cowboy Copas first released the song a year later. But it was Page that made the song a Billboard's No.1 tune for 16 weeks. It sold more than 10 million copies.
Page was the first singer to appear on all three major television networks and had her own show, "The Patti Page Show," on ABC. Many fans remember Page for her movie roles. She co-starred with Burt Lancaster in his Oscar-winning characterization of "Elmer Gantry," with David Janssen in "Dondi," and with James Garner and Kim Novak in "Boy's Night Out."
In 1999, after 51 years of performing, Page won her first Grammy for her traditional pop vocal performance for "Live at Carnegie Hall, the 50th Anniversary Concert."
In her letter last year to fans, Page wrote: "Over the past year and a half, I have not focused on performance or recording but have been more attentive to the doctors, nurses and thoughtful caregivers who have been helping me face several medical challenges. Throughout my life I never really gave much thought to my senior years. I was always able to hop on a plane, go out on stage and make music with the band. At this point I am no longer able to do that. My travels now are quite limited to North San Diego County, Calif. where I have called home for the past four decades. Although I feel I still have the voice God gave me, physical impairments are preventing me from using that voice as I had for so many years. It is only He who knows what the future holds."
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