Patsy Cline

Cline was married to Gerald Cline from 1953-1957. Their marriage did not work because she wanted to have a career in singing whereas he wanted her to be a housewife. The couple had no children.

She got married to a linotype operator, Charlie Dick, in 1957 and remained married to him until her death. The couple had two children together: Julie Dick and Randy Dick.

Cline met with a near-fatal accident in 1961, while she was travelling with her brother in a car around Nashville. She suffered from an uneven cut across her forehead, a broken wrist and a dislocated hip.

Patsy Cline was born in Winchester, Virginia, to Hilda Patterson Hensley and Sam Hensley. She belonged to a lower-middle class background as her father was a blacksmith and mother a seamstress. Her father left the family when Cline was only 15 years old.

She started singing from a very young age as her mother used to take her to church to sing with her. Everything that Cline knew about singing, she learnt on her own as she did not learn it professionally.

In order to support her family, Cline left school and took up menial jobs like working as a waitress. Since singing was one of her fortes, she requested the WINC-AM’s coordinator if she could sing on his show.

Jimmy McCoy, WINC-AM’s coordinator allowed Cline to sing on his show in 1947 and her performance was so well received that she was called back again. This was her ticket to the commencing stage performances at local nightclubs.

She expanded her musical exposure by performing in variety and talent shows locally, in Winchester and Tri-State areas along with her increased stints on the radio. In 1954, she became a regular on Connie B. Gay’s ‘Town and Country Jamboree’.

In 1955, owing to her increased popularity, Cline signed a contract with Four Star Records. According to the contract she could only sing compositions written by company’s writers, which eventually became creatively difficult to adjust with.

She started to experiment with genres, recording honky tonk material, trying her hand at rockabilly but nothing seemed to be working for Cline at the time. She also made her debut on television with ‘Grand Ole Opry’ on ABC-TV.

In 1957, she went through a turning point in her career when she appeared on ‘Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts Show’ and by giving a wonderful performance with her new composition, ‘Walkin’ After Midnight’, she won the competition.

‘Walkin’ After Midnight’, recorded in 1956 is considered to be Cline’s prominent work. The Track peaked at No. 2 on country charts and No. 16 on pop and made her the first female country singer to have a crossover pop hit.