Patti Page R.I.P.

I just learned today that the great American singer and performer Patti Page died on January 1st, 2013.  As you may know, I provided regular updates for her here, here and here, and she was also active on the concert circuit as well.  Her manager would always post me with updates of where she would be performing.  From a recent news article about her:  She sold more than 100 million records and since her first hit in 1947, the singer never stopped touring and singing.

I have to say that she will be greatly missed and my condolences go out to her family and friends.  She was a great lady.

The Singing Rage - Miss Patti Page

Artist: Patti Page
Song: Steam Heat (a-side) (b-side is Lonely Days)
Label: Mercury 70380-X45
Number: YW-10344
Songwriters: Adler-Ross
Time: 2:18
Released: 1954

Regular readers of Music For Every Mood well know of my fondness for the singing talents of Miss Patti Page. She has such a versatile voice and uses it to full effect. On records such as The Tennessee Waltz or Old Cape Cod, she was nothing but smooth while she employed her best balladeering voice. For today's song, however, she really cuts loose with a sultry, steamy voice - literally! She still performs regularly, and in fact, if you'd like to see her in concert, be sure to see her in the upcoming appearances below:

February 14th & 15th, 2011
7:30 p.m.
Eric Meyer Civic Center
Gulf Shores, Alabama

April 9th & 10th, 2011
World Premier "Flipside: The Patti Page Story"
University of Central Oklahoma
Edmond, Oklahoma

The most well-known version of today's song, Steam Heat, was released by Patti Page in 1954. It was featured in the Broadway production of The Pajama Game. Patti's recording of it shot up the Billboard chart on May 26th; it lasted 9 weeks and peaked at #8. With her breathy intonation of the word "steam," backed by Jack Rael and his orchestra, she delivers a performance sure to fog up your reading glasses. Be sure to look Patti up on her website, but not until after you've heard her singing this "hot" number. Download Patti Page as she belts out the classic Steam Heat. It proves once and for all that Miss Page is an American classic.

Patti Page Followup

Artist: Patti Page

Song: A Poor Man's Roses (a-side) (b-side is The Wall)

Label: Mercury Records 71059X45

Number: YW14651

Songwriters: DeLugg-Hilliard

Time: 2:25

Released: February 4th, 1957

This is just a short Patti Page followup post to let everyone know what's going on here at Music For Every Mood. A few weeks ago, a huge thunderstorm swept through my area and lightning struck and took out my computer. (And several others all along my block!) I finally got a new one and returned to the internet, but I've still got some catching up to do. For now, maybe this lovely song by Patti will help tide you over until I can get some new things up.

This song is the flipside of a record I've already posted, here, but this one has such a nice guitar part that features throughout, I decided to post it, too! If you didn't know that I play guitar in a band, you might not know why I like the guitar so much in music. But, that's not the only reason this song is good. Patti delivers it with so much confidence that it grabs you and pulls you in to liking it the very first time you hear it. Sometimes, certain uptempo songs like this do things like that! So, please enjoy Patti Page singing A Poor Man's Roses, because I certainly do and I think you will, too. And we all know what a great taste in music I have! (Wink, wink!)

Labels

Just a quick post to upload a few images of the labels from the 45's I use here at Music For Every Mood. They're interesting to look at and if I can't find an image of an upcoming artist, I might have to resort to posting only the label image. I figure, it's better than no image at all in the post. Well, enjoy these records!

How many of these have you downloaded and listened to already?

Ella Mae Morse - I'm Gone.

Julie London - It's Easy.

Patti Page - The Wall.

Patti Page Time

Artist: Patti Page
Song: The Wall (b-side) (a-side is A Poor Man's Roses)
Label: Mercury Records 71059X45
Number: YW14652
Songwriters: Diamond - Owens - Dreyer
Time: 1:52
Released: February 4th, 1957

What else can I say about Patti Page but that she's incomparable? Born Clara Ann Fowler, she is known by her professional name and is one of the best-known female artists in traditional pop music. She was the best-selling female artist of the 1950s, and has sold over 100 million records to date. Her signature song, Tennessee Waltz, recorded in 1950, was one of the biggest-selling singles of the twentieth century, and spent 13 weeks atop the Billboard magazine's Best-Sellers List in 1950. Today, the song has come close to selling fifteen million copies.

Patti was born on November 8, 1927 in Claremore, Oklahoma, and became a featured singer on a 15-minute radio program on radio station KTUL, Tulsa, Oklahoma at age 18. Page toured with the Jimmy Joy Band throughout the country in the mid-1940s. The band eventually ended up in Chicago, Illinois in 1947. In Chicago, she sang with a small group led by popular orchestra leader, Benny Goodman. This helped her gain her first recording contract with Mercury Records the same year. Page became Mercury Records' "girl singer."

After her popularity began to decline in the 1960's, she left Columbia Records and returned to her old label, Mercury Records and shifted her career towards country music, in 1970. She achieved success in this field, also, singing with the likes of Tom T. Hall, on her #14 Billboard Country Chart hit Hello, We're Lonely, from 1973.

Now in her 80's, Page continues to tour, performing 50 select concerts a year across the United States and Canada. I'd say that if you get a chance to hear her, don't miss it!

Today's record is a catchy little upbeat number entitled The Wall. Patti sings about the developing space between two people in her own unique and inimitable style, so you have to check this one out. Here is the great Patti Page singing The Wall. Not to be confused with the Pink Floyd album of the same name.