1. Patsy Cline was a Virgo.
2. She was born Virginia Patterson Hensley.
3. Patsy has sold millions more records since her untimely death than she did during her lifetime.
4. Hank Williams, Judy Garland, and Shirley Temple were among her early favorites.
5. In 1973, she became the first female solo artist inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
6. Aged 13, she was hospitalized with a throat infection and rheumatic fever. According to Patsy, “The fever affected my throat and when I recovered I had this booming voice.”
7. She worked as a waitress after she quit High School.
8. In 1999, she was voted number 11 on VH1’s special, The 100 Greatest Women in Rock and Roll.
9. In 1954, Jimmy Dean, a young country star, and Cline became regulars on Connie B. Gay’s Town and Country Jamboree radio show, airing weekday afternoons live on WARL in Arlington, Virginia.
10. Her first performance on radio was in 1947.
11. She was ranked 46th in the “100 Greatest Singers of All Time” issue of Rolling Stone magazine.
12. Aged 21, she married contractor Gerald Cline on September 19, 1953, and divorced him on Independence Day 1957.
13. Two months later she married linotype operator Charlie Dick on September 15, 1957.
14. Patsy had two children: Julie Dick (born August 25, 1958) and Randy Dick (born January 22, 1961).
15. Legendary Nashville producer Owen Bradley produced her biggest hits.
16. Her mother was a 16-year-old seamstress, and her father was a 43-year-old blacksmith.
17. Bill Peer, her second manager, gave her the name Patsy, from her middle name, her mother’s maiden name, Patterson.
18. In 1955, Peer got her a deal at Four Star Records, which was under contract to the Coral subsidiary of Decca Records.
19. Patsy signed with Decca in 1960.
20. Early songs such as “Don’t Ever Leave Me Again” and “A Stranger In My Arms” were both co-written by Patsy.
Don’t Ever Leave Me Again
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21. She recorded 51 songs with Four Star.
22. On July 1, 1955, Patsy made her network television debut on the short-lived television version of the Grand Ole Opry on ABC-TV.
23. Initially, Patsy didn’t want to record “Walkin’ After Midnight,” regarding it as just a pop song.
24. In 1956, she auditioned for Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts in New York City and sang “Walkin’ After Midnight.” Godfrey’s staff insisted that Patsy appear in a cocktail dress rather than in one of her mother’s hand-crafted cowgirl outfits. It worked.
25. “Walkin’ After Midnight” reached No. 2 on the country chart and No. 16 on the pop chart.
26. Patsy was one of the first country singers to have a crossover pop hit.
27. In 1958, Patsy and Charlie Dick moved to Nashville, Tennessee.
28. Patsy’s first release for Decca was the country pop ballad “I Fall to Pieces” in 1961.
29. On January 9, 1960, Patsy joined the Grand Ole Opry after they accepted her request to join the cast.
30. Patsy demanded her money before she took to the stage. Her mantra, “No dough, no show,” became the rule.
31. In 1961, Patsy spent a month in hospital, suffering from a jagged cut across her forehead, a broken wrist, and a dislocated hip following a car crash.
32. Patsy’s big hit song “Crazy” was written by future country legend, Willie Nelson.
33. Patsy recorded “Crazy” while still on crutches following her car accident.
34. “Crazy” reached No. 9 on the US Hot 100 and No. 2 on both the Hot Country Songs.
35. On the night Patsy premiered “Crazy” at the Grand Ole Opry, she received three standing ovations.
36. “She’s Got You” was Patsy’s first entry in the United Kingdom singles chart, reaching No. 43.
37. Patsy’s biggest UK hit was a posthumous 1990 reissue of “Crazy,” which made No. 14.
38. Patsy did not have an album on the UK charts during her lifetime.
39. Patsy’s one US album chart hit during her lifetime was Patsy Cline Showcase in 1962.
40. Patsy Cline’s Greatest Hits has spent over seven years on the US album charts.
41. Patsy was the first woman in country music to perform at New York’s Carnegie Hall.
42. In December 1962, Patsy became the first woman in country music to headline her own show in Las Vegas.
43. On March 3, 1963, Patsy performed a benefit at the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall in Kansas City, for the family of disc jockey “Cactus” Jack Call. He had died in a car crash a little over a month earlier.
44. Returning from the last concert on a light aircraft, Patsy was killed when it crashed in heavy weather, on the evening of March 5, 1963.
45. Among the items recovered from the crash site were Patsy’s wristwatch, Confederate flag cigarette lighter, studded belt, and three pairs of gold lamé slippers.
46. Patsy’s fee and her attire from the last performance were never recovered.
47. Her grave carries the inscription “Virginia H. (Patsy) Cline ‘Death Cannot Kill What Never Dies: Love’”
48. Three of Patsy’s songs became posthumous top 10 country hits: “Sweet Dreams,” “Leavin’ on Your Min,” and “Faded Love.”
49. In 1997, “Crazy” was named the number one jukebox hit of all time.
50. Patsy was, and is, the greatest…
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