Not unlike many KEZW artists, Patti Page came from modest beginnings. Born Clara Anne Fowler, she grew up poor in Claremore, Oklahoma. Her father worked for the MKT railroad while her mother and older sisters picked cotton. She remembers times when the electricity was turned off and she couldn’t read after dark.
At the age of 18, she became the featured singer on a 15-minute radio program in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The program was sponsored by the Page Milk Company; so thus, the young Clara Anne Fowler became Patti Page on the air.
After being discovered by saxophone player and manager Jack Rael, the two went on to work together on many recordings. In 1947, Page recorded a song called "”Confess” which had a portion requiring one singer to answer another. (The other hit version involved a duet of Doris Day and Buddy Clark.) Because of a low budget, a second singer could not be hired, so Jack Rael suggested that Page sing the second part as well. The novelty of her doing two voices on one record possibly contributed to the song becoming a Top 20 hit for her.
Soon after, Page recorded "With My Eyes Open I’m Dreaming" as a quartet, selling a million copies and becoming the first artist to perform multiple tracks on the same song. Patti Page made her first # 1 hit with “All my Love” in 1950 and later on that year, she struck gold with the single greates hit of the decade with “The Tennesee Waltz.” Topping the charts for 13 weeks, “The Waltz” sold over 6,000,000 copies making Patti Page a juggernaut in the recording industry. Patti Page has continued her career for over fifty years becoming one of the best known female pop singers of all time. Inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame in 2007, Page continues to perform and record with a new album debuting this year from Curb Records.
Top Hits Include: 1950- “All my Love” “Tennesee Waltz” 1952- “I Went to your Wedding” 1953- “How much is that Doggie in the Window” 1954- “Cross over the Bridge”
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