çPAR@ ` ?TEXT ` 1Cline, Patsy1932╨1963singerBorn Virginia Patterson Hensley in Winchester, Virginia, on September 8, 1932, Patsy Cline began to sing with local country bands while a teenager, sometimes accompanying herself on guitar. She first recorded on the Four Star label in 1955, but it was with the advent of television culture in the late 1950s that she gained a wider audience. Cline began appearing on the radio and on ╥Town and Country Jamboree,╙ a local television variety show; broadcast every Saturday night from Capitol Arena in Washington, D.C., it featured such future country music stars as Jimmy Dean, Roy Clark, George Hamilton IV, and Mary Klick.Cline╒s big break came on January 28, 1957, when she sang ╥Walkin╒ after Midnight╙ as a contestant on the CBS television show ╥Arthur Godfrey╒s Talent Scouts.╙ She took first prize, winning the opportunity to appear on Godfrey╒s morning show for the next two weeks, gaining national exposure both for herself and for her song. The song made both the pop and country charts, a split that would mark the remainder of Cline╒s singing career. Three years later, she became a member of the ╥Grand Ole Opry,╙ the Nashville country-music troupe whose radio broadcasts largely defined the genre. Cline preferred traditional country music, which included vocal tricks like yodeling and growling; however, the industry, battered by the popularity of rock-and-roll, was trying to appeal more to a pop audience. After her recording of ╥I Fall to Pieces╙ remained on the charts for thirty-nine weeks straight, Decca began to market Cline as a pop singer, backed by strings and vocals. She was never comfortable with this categorization, however: she persisted in yodeling on her records, she dressed as a cowgirl until 1962, and she disliked her three hit pop songs, ╥Walkin╒ after Midnight,╙ ╥I Fall to Pieces,╙ and ╥Crazy,╙ (written by a young Willie Nelson).Cline╒s life was cut short on March 5, 1963, by an airplane crash that also killed fellow entertainers the Cowboy Copas and Hawkshaw Hawkins. In her short career, however, she was responsible for ushering in the modern era of American country vocalists; she figures prominently, for instance, as Loretta Lynn╒s mentor in Lynn╒s autobiography, Coal Miner╒s Daughter, 1976. Cline was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1973. &styl ` ! ¬ 5¬ 5¬ !I É 5¬ æ !I L 5¬ M !I { 5¬ | !I ╘ !I Θ !I Ω !I δ !I link `
