3:59 pm - 01/02/2013
Patti Page, the apple-cheeked, honey-voiced alto whose sentimental, soothing, sometimes silly hits like “Tennessee Waltz,” “Old Cape Cod” and “How Much Is That Doggie in the Window?” made her one of the most successful pop singers of the 1950s, died on Tuesday in Encinitas, Calif. She was 85. Her death was confirmed by Seacrest Village Retirement Communities, where she lived.
Ms. Page had briefly been a singer with Benny Goodman when she emerged at the end of the big band era, just after World War II, into a cultural atmosphere in which pop music was not expected to be challenging. Critics assailed her style as plastic, placid, bland and antiseptic, but those opinions were not shared by millions of record buyers. As Jon Pareles wrote in The New York Times in 1997, “For her fans, beauty and comfort were one and the same.”
“Doggie in the Window,” a perky 1952 novelty number written by Bob Merrill and Ingrid Reuterskiöld, featured repeated barking sounds and could claim no more sophisticated a lyric than “I must take a trip to California.” It is often cited as an example of what was wrong with pop music in the early ’50s, a perceived weakness that opened the door for rock ’n’ roll. But if that is true, and if the silky voice of “the singing rage, Miss Patti Page,” as she was introduced during her heyday, was mechanical or sterile, she had significant achievements nonetheless.
“Tennessee Waltz,” from 1951, sold 10 million copies and is largely considered the first true crossover hit; it spending months on the pop, country and rhythm-and-blues charts.
Ms. Page was believed to be the first recording artist to overdub herself, long before technology made that method common. Mitch Miller, a producer for Mercury Records at the time, had her do it first on “Confess,” in 1948, when there were no backup singers because of a strike.
The height of her career predated the Grammy Awards, which were created in 1959, but she finally won her first and only Grammy in 1999 for “Live at Carnegie Hall,” a recording of a 1997 concert celebrating her 50th anniversary as a performer. Her career was also the basis of recent, short-lived Off Broadway musical, “Flipside: The Patty Page Story.” In the early days of television Ms. Page was the host of several short-lived network series, including “Music Hall” (1952), a 15-minute CBS show that followed the evening news two nights a week, and “The Big Record,” which ran one season, 1957-58, on the same network. “The Patti Page Show” was an NBC summer fill-in series in 1956.
Ms. Page defended her demure, unpretentious style as appropriate for its time. “It was right after the war,” she told The Baton Rouge Advocate in 2002, “and people were waiting to just settle down and take a deep breath and relax.”
I never cared for 'How Much is that Doggie in the Window' but my Parents and Grandparents listened to her a lot so I grew up hearing her music and was very saddened by this news, 'Cross Over the Bridge' will always be one of my favorite songs, may she RIP
Sources: You can read the rest of the article here 1
Singer Patti Page dies at age 85
Patti Page, the apple-cheeked, honey-voiced alto whose sentimental, soothing, sometimes silly hits like “Tennessee Waltz,” “Old Cape Cod” and “How Much Is That Doggie in the Window?” made her one of the most successful pop singers of the 1950s, died on Tuesday in Encinitas, Calif. She was 85. Her death was confirmed by Seacrest Village Retirement Communities, where she lived.
Ms. Page had briefly been a singer with Benny Goodman when she emerged at the end of the big band era, just after World War II, into a cultural atmosphere in which pop music was not expected to be challenging. Critics assailed her style as plastic, placid, bland and antiseptic, but those opinions were not shared by millions of record buyers. As Jon Pareles wrote in The New York Times in 1997, “For her fans, beauty and comfort were one and the same.”
“Doggie in the Window,” a perky 1952 novelty number written by Bob Merrill and Ingrid Reuterskiöld, featured repeated barking sounds and could claim no more sophisticated a lyric than “I must take a trip to California.” It is often cited as an example of what was wrong with pop music in the early ’50s, a perceived weakness that opened the door for rock ’n’ roll. But if that is true, and if the silky voice of “the singing rage, Miss Patti Page,” as she was introduced during her heyday, was mechanical or sterile, she had significant achievements nonetheless.
“Tennessee Waltz,” from 1951, sold 10 million copies and is largely considered the first true crossover hit; it spending months on the pop, country and rhythm-and-blues charts.
Ms. Page was believed to be the first recording artist to overdub herself, long before technology made that method common. Mitch Miller, a producer for Mercury Records at the time, had her do it first on “Confess,” in 1948, when there were no backup singers because of a strike.
The height of her career predated the Grammy Awards, which were created in 1959, but she finally won her first and only Grammy in 1999 for “Live at Carnegie Hall,” a recording of a 1997 concert celebrating her 50th anniversary as a performer. Her career was also the basis of recent, short-lived Off Broadway musical, “Flipside: The Patty Page Story.” In the early days of television Ms. Page was the host of several short-lived network series, including “Music Hall” (1952), a 15-minute CBS show that followed the evening news two nights a week, and “The Big Record,” which ran one season, 1957-58, on the same network. “The Patti Page Show” was an NBC summer fill-in series in 1956.
Ms. Page defended her demure, unpretentious style as appropriate for its time. “It was right after the war,” she told The Baton Rouge Advocate in 2002, “and people were waiting to just settle down and take a deep breath and relax.”
I never cared for 'How Much is that Doggie in the Window' but my Parents and Grandparents listened to her a lot so I grew up hearing her music and was very saddened by this news, 'Cross Over the Bridge' will always be one of my favorite songs, may she RIP
Sources: You can read the rest of the article here 1
I've always loved that song as well. :(
My theatre loving heart couldn't cope with that.
But seriously though, RIP. :(
I immediately started singing "Mockingbird Hill" to myself. And I love her "Tennessee Waltz". Godspeed, Patti.