Patsy Cline - Pianist, Singer - Biography.com Patsy Cline Patsy Cline was a celebrated country singer best known for her crossover hits, including "Crazy" and "Walking After Midnight." IN THESE GROUPS “The one thing I wanted to do more than anything else was sing country music.” Patsy Cline Patsy Cline - Crazy (TV-14; 2:23) In 1962, County Music legend Patsy Cline recorded Willie Nelson's song, "Crazy," a song he'd written while driving. Synopsis Patsy Cline was born Virginia Patterson Hensley on September 8, 1932, in Winchester, Virginia. Cline performed for nearly a decade before her breakthrough 1957 television appearance, singing "Walking After Midnight." She went on to many crossover pop and country hits, including "Crazy" and "She's Got You," becoming one of the leading Nashville figures before her death in a plane crash in 1963, in Camden, Tennessee.

Early Life Country music legend Patsy Cline was born Virginia Patterson Hensley on September 8, 1932, in Winchester, Virginia. She helped break down the gender barrier in this musical genre. Known for her smooth-sounding, emotive voice, she started performing at a young age. Her father Samuel was a blacksmith. Her mother Hilda was only 16 years of age when she married Cline's father, who was more than 25 years older than his bride. The couple had three children together before splitting up. Hilda became a seamstress to help support her family. Cline taught herself how to play piano around the age of 8. She later discovered her passion for singing. When she was sixteen, Cline dropped out of school to go to work. Her family desperately needed the money. She worked a number of places, including a poultry plant and a local soda shop. In her free time, Cline started her singing career. She performed on local radio stations and entered numerous singing contests. Career Beginnings In 1952, Cline began performing with bandleader Bill Peer's group. Peer encouraged her to change her first name to "Patsy" for their performances.

She picked up the second part of her now famous moniker the following year after marrying Gerald Cline. Cline landed a recording contract in 1954, but her first few singles failed to catch on. Cline's career hit a turning point in 1957. She landed a spot on the Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts show. Cline wowed audiences with her performance of "Walkin' After Midnight," winning the program's competition. After her appearance on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts, the song hit the country and pop charts. Cline divorced her first husband around this time. She soon married Charles Dick. The couple had two children together, daughter Julie and son Randy. Country Star In the early 1960s, Cline enjoyed great success on the country and pop charts. She also joined the cast of the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee—a true sign of her place in country music. Now with Decca Records, she released some of her greatest hits. "I Fall to Pieces" hit the top of the country charts in 1961. It also became a top 20 single on the pop charts.

Chart success soon struck again with the Willie Nelson-penned "Crazy." That same year, Cline survived a traumatic car crash. In 1962, Cline again hit the number one spot on the country charts with "She's Got You." She started performing with Johnny Cash around this time, joining his tour. Cline performed with the likes of June Carter and George Jones during this time. She was supportive of other female country artists, such as Loretta Lynn, and she tried to help them with their careers. Tragic Death and Legacy Patsy Cline's own career was all too brief. She died on March 5, 1963, in a plane crash in Camden, Tennessee. After her death, the song "Sweet Dreams" was released and became a hit. Considered one of country music's greatest vocalists, she was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1973. Her life became the subject of the 1985 film, Sweet Dreams, starring Jessica Lange. Her music remains popular today with fans around the world. Some of her fans even make the pilgrimage to her hometown of Winchester, Virginia, to visit the Patsy Cline Historic Home.

Videos Patsy Cline, 1932-1963: Fans Were 'Crazy' About This Young Country Music Star Patsy Cline, 1932-1963: Fans Were 'Crazy' About This Young Country Music Star January 15, 2011 Patsy Cline was one of America's most loved country music singers. Share Print Her other hits included "Walkin' After Midnight," "I Fall to Pieces," and "Sweet Dreams" | PEOPLE IN AMERICA Or download MP3 (Right-click or option-click and save link) SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: I’m Shirley Griffith. DOUG JOHNSON: And I’m Doug Johnson with People in America in VOA Special English. Today we tell about a young woman named Virginia Patterson Hensley. No one but her family would remember that name. The world remembers her as Patsy Cline. SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: That song is called "Walkin' After Midnight." It was Patsy Cline's first big hit record. She recorded it in nineteen fifty-seven.

It became number three on the list of country music hit recordings and number twelve on the list of most popular music. Patsy Cline, 1932-1963: Fans Were 'Crazy' About This Young Country Music Star Patsy had worked for many years to make that first successful record. She began singing when she was a young girl in her home town of Winchester, in the southern state of Virginia. Patsy sang anywhere she could. She sang at weddings and dances. She sang at public eating places for eight dollars a night. Those who knew her said she worked hard to improve her singing. In nineteen fifty-four she won a country music competition near her home. She was twenty-two years old. She was asked to appear on a country music television program in Washington, D.C. She also sang on radio programs in the Virginia area and recorded some records. DOUG JOHNSON: In nineteen fifty-seven, Patsy Cline appeared on a national television show in New York City. It was on this program that millions of people first heard her sing. She sang "Walkin' After Midnight," a song she had recently recorded. Her appearance on the television program helped make that record a major hit.

Patsy continued to record more songs. Within two years she had another major hit. It was called "I Fall to Pieces.” By this time Patsy's voice had already become something special. She had learned to control not only the sound but the feelings expressed in her songs. It was the slow, sad love songs that her fans enjoyed most, songs like "I Fall to Pieces." Patsy Cline, 1932-1963: Fans Were 'Crazy' About This Young Country Music Star SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Patsy Cline's recording of "I Fall to Pieces" became her first number one country music hit. It was also a hit with fans of popular music. Patsy was a major star. She also had begun performing at the country music theater, the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee. Those who knew her after she became a recording star say Patsy Cline was a very good friend. She liked to help young musicians. Later, many of these young musicians became important stars themselves. One of Patsy's biggest hit songs also helped two of these young musicians become known.

The song is called "Crazy." It was written by an unknown musician who later became a major country music star. His name is Willie Nelson. If you listen carefully to Patsy Cline's recording of "Crazy," you can hear the beautiful piano playing of another young musician, Floyd Cramer. He also became a major recording star. Listen to Patsy and Floyd perform Willie Nelson's song, "Crazy." DOUG JOHNSON: On March sixth, nineteen sixty-three, Patsy Cline was killed in the crash of a small airplane. She was only thirty years old. She was flying home to Nashville. She had taken part in a special concert in Kansas City to raise money for the family of a country music radio performer who recently had died. Patsy Cline's husband and daughter pose with the country music singer's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Patsy Cline was buried near her home town of Winchester, Virginia. Thousands of people came to her funeral. Ten years after her death, she became the first woman performer elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame.

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: In nineteen eighty-five, Hollywood producers made a movie about the life of Patsy Cline. It was called "Sweet Dreams. " Popular actress Jessica Lange played Patsy. No one really could sound like Patsy Cline. So the producers used her old records in the movie. Ms. Lange moved her mouth so she appeared to be singing. People who had never heard of Patsy Cline saw the movie and enjoyed her singing. They began buying her records. Today, her records still sell thousands of copies each year as new fans discover her. We leave you with a song Patsy Cline recorded only a month before she died. It sounds almost as though she was singing in Special English. The song is called "Faded Love." DOUG JOHNSON: This program was written by Paul Thompson. It was produced by Lawan Davis. I'm Doug Johnson. SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: And I’m Shirley Griffith. Join us again next week for People in America in VOA Special English. Crazy by Patsy Cline Songfacts Crazy by Patsy Cline Songfacts Songfacts This was written by Willie Nelson.

He was a struggling country singer at the time and got a big break when Cline recorded this and made it a hit. It has become one of Nelson's most enduring songs. He covered the song for his own debut album, ...And Then I Wrote, in 1962. On an episode of VH1's Storytellers, Willie Nelson revealed that this was originally titled "Stupid." >> Suggestion credit: Scott - Richmond, VA Cline was thrown through a windshield in a car accident 2 months before she recorded this (they didn't have seat belts back then). At the first session, she couldn't hit the high notes because of a broken rib, so the studio musicians recorded their parts without her. Two weeks later, she did her vocals while standing on crutches. This was Cline's biggest hit. She died in a plane crash 2 years later at age 30. In the UK, this was not a hit when it was first released, but went to #14 when it was re-released there in 1990. This song was later remade (yet again) in 2002 by the band Kidneythieves for their CD Zerospace.

>> Suggestion credit: Jen G. - Fort Worth, TX In 2003, Diana Krall covered this for the tribute album Remembering Patsy Cline. According to the Amusement And Music Operators Association, this is the most-played song on jukeboxes in the United States. Bob Seger's "Old Time Rock And Roll" is second and Elvis Presley's " Hound Dog " is third. According to Mojo magazine, Willie Nelson originally tried to sell this along with several other of his songs to country music singer Larry Butler for $10 a piece. Butler refused to take advantage, fortunately for Patsy Cline who, despite initially disliking "Crazy," made it into a huge hit. Both Cline's husband Charlie Dick and her producer Owen Bradley loved the song, and they that persuaded Cline to record it. This has been featured on numerous TV shows, including Moonlighting, Quantum Leap, Cybill, Cold Case, and Fringe.

It's also been used in the movies Desert Hearts (1985), Murder One (1988), The Handmaid's Tale (1990), Doc Hollywood (1991), Nell (1994), Tommy Boy (1995), Some Mother's Son (1996) and In & Out (1997). Actress Beverly D'Angelo performed this when she played Patsy Cline in the 1980 Loretta Lynn biopic, Coal Miner's Daughter. LeAnn Rimes released this as a single from her self-titled album in 1999. Rimes' voice was often compared to the country legend's when she burst onto the country music scene in 1996 with her debut album, Blue, at age 13. Her version of "Crazy" landed at #36 on the UK Charts. We’re ‘Crazy’ For Patsy Cline’s Country Hit | Retro Bunny He loves hopping back to the past. We’re ‘Crazy’ For Patsy Cline’s Country Hit August 4, 2016 This article is from Do You Remember.

Click the title to hop over there. Patsy Cline was born Virginia Hensley in Winchester, Virginia in 1932. Her father left the family in 1947, but Patsy’s mother, just 16 when Patsy was born, introduced her to singing at their local church. Despite no formal musical training and never learning to read music, Cline began to perform on local radio stations under the name Ginnie Hensley. Her professional career would be marked by highs and lows, but Patsy Cline is still known as one of the great icons of country music with a rich voice that helped her become one of country’s first stars to cross over into pop stardom. Four Star Records offered Cline her first recording contract in 1955, but the feisty Cline was never very happy with the material or the financial arrangements. She was only allowed to record songs written by studio writers, which did lead to her first big hit, “Walkin’ After Midnight.” The song went to #2 on the Country chart and #12 on the Pop chart in 1957.

The piano player on the song was Owen Bradley, who went on to be one of the most successful and respected producers in Country music. Cline’s career endured a dry spell after her success with “Walkin’ After Midnight” and the end of her contract with Four Star Records. In need of money and a career boost, she signed with Decca Records in 1960, teaming up with Owen Bradley. Despite occasional disagreements with him, Cline’s career took off under Owens. “I Fall to Pieces” became a cross over hit in 1961, hitting #1 on the country chart and #12 on the pop charts. However, a serious car accident in June left her unable to devote time to promoting the song and her momentum slowed. Later in 1961, Cline was presented with a song by a young songwriter, Willie Nelson. Her first reaction to “Crazy” was not a good one, but after reworking it to suit her vocal style, the song was a Top 10 hit on both the country and pop charts and became Cline’s signature song.

Nelson said in a documentary on Cline’s life that her interpretation of “Crazy” is his favorite cover of any of his songs. Cline followed it up with “She’s Got You,” which she promoted on American Bandstand with Dick Clark in 1962. In the early ’60s, Cline became a star, performing in venues including the Grand Ol’ Opry, the Hollywood Bowl, Carnegie Hall, and as a headliner for her own show at The Mint casino in Las Vegas. She took on a mentor role to Loretta Lynn and Lynn credits her with teaching her how to dress the part as a Country star. However, Cline also shared with her close friends, such as Lynn, June Carter, and Dottie West that she believed she did not have long to live. Cline performed at a benefit concert in Kansas City, Kansas for the family of disc jockey Cactus Jack Call on March 3, 1963. Call had died in an auto accident a month earlier.

Unable to leave Kansas City on March 4 due to inclement weather, it is widely reported that Cline refused Dottie West’s offer to return with her to Nashville by car, saying, “Don’t worry about me, Hoss. When it’s my time to go, it’s my time to go.” Cline’s private plane left Kansas City on March 5 and stopped for fuel in Dyersburg, Tennessee. Despite more weather warnings, the plane took off and crashed shortly after leaving Dyersburg, killing Cline, the pilot, and two of her fellow Grand Ol’ Opry stars, Cowboy Copas and Hawkshaw Hawkins. She became the first female solo artist to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1973. We're 'Crazy' For Patsy Cline's Country Hit - Do You Remember? Do You Remember? We’re ‘Crazy’ For Patsy Cline’s Country Hit By 0 29960 Patsy Cline, who was already a country music superstar and working to extend a string of hits, picked it as a follow up to her previous big hit “I Fall to Pieces”.

“Crazy”, its complex melody suiting Cline’s vocal talent perfectly, was released in late 1961 and immediately became another huge hit for Cline and widened the crossover audience she had established with her prior hits. It spent 21 weeks on the chart and eventually became one of her signature tunes. Cline’s version is #85 on Rolling Stone’s list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. According to the Ellis Nassour biography Patsy Cline, Nelson, who at that time was known as a struggling songwriter by the name of Hugh Nelson, was a regular at Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge on Nashville’s Music Row, where he frequented with friends Kris Kristoffersonand Roger Miller, both unknown songwriters at that time. Nelson met Cline’s husband, Charlie Dick, at the bar one evening and pitched the song to him. Dick took the track home and played it for Cline, who absolutely hated it at first because Nelson’s demo “spoke” the lyrics ahead of and behind the beat, about which an annoyed Cline remarked that she “couldn’t sing like that”.

However, Cline’s producer, Owen Bradley, loved the song and arranged it in the ballad form in which it was later recorded. On Loretta Lynn’s album I Remember Patsy Bradley reported that as Patsy was still recovering from a recent automobile accident that nearly took her life, she’d had difficulty reaching the high notes of the song on the original production night due to her broken ribs. So after about four hours of trying, in the days of four songs being recorded in three hours – they called it a night. A week later she came back and recorded the lead vocal in one take. READ Saturday Mornings with H.R. Pufnstuf On the same interview, Loretta remembers the first time Cline performed it at the Grand Ole Opry on crutches, and received three standing ovations. Barbara Mandrell remembers Cline introducing the song to her audiences live in concert saying All my recent hits have come true in my life. I had a hit out called Tra-La-La Triangle and people thought about me and Gerald and Charlie. I had another hit out called ‘I Fall to Pieces’ and I was in a car wreck.

Now I’m really worried because I have a new hit single out and it’s called ‘Crazy’. Willie Nelson stated on the 1993 documentary Remembering Patsy that Cline’s version of “Crazy” was his favorite song of his that anybody had ever recorded because it “was a lot of magic.” Crazy, I’m crazy for feeling so lonely I’m crazy, crazy for feeling so blue I knew you’d love me as long as you wanted And then someday you’d leave me for somebody new Worry, why do I let myself worry? Wondering what in the world did I do? Crazy for thinking that my love could hold you I’m crazy for trying and crazy for crying And I’m crazy for loving you Crazy for thinking that my love could hold you I’m crazy for trying and crazy for crying And I’m crazy for loving you. Writer/s: NELSON, WILLIE Songwriters Hall of Fame - Artists - Patsy Cline Songwriters Hall of Fame Notable Writers The most popular female country singer in recording history, Patsy Cline has achieved icon status since her tragic early death at age thirty in 1963.

Cline is invariably invoked as a standard for female vocalists, and she has inspired scores of singers including k. d. lang, Loretta Lynn, Linda Ronstadt, Trisha Yearwood, and Wynonna Judd. Her brief career produced the #1 jukebox hit of all time, ï¿½Crazyï¿½ (written by Willie Nelson) and her unique, crying style and vocal impeccability have established her reputation as the quintessential torch singer. Clineï¿½s short life reads like the heart-torn lyrics of many of the ballads she recorded. Born Virginia Patterson Hensley in Winchester, Virginia, in the midst of the Depression, she demonstrated musical proclivity at an early age - a talent inherited from her father, an accomplished amateur singer, whom Cline later confessed sexually abused her as a child. The family moved nineteen times around the state of Virginia before ï¿½Ginny,ï¿½ as she was known in her youth, reached age fifteen. A perpetual outsider, Cline dropped out of school at age fifteen to support her family after her father deserted them. They settled in Winchester, the Shenandoah Valley town with which she would grow to have a love-hate relationship.

Haunted by her early experiences, the teenaged Cline directed herself toward a career as a singer with unbending single-mindedness. She sang in juke joints in the Winchester area and did a nightclub cabaret act a` la Helen Morgan, the tear-stained pop chanteuse of the 1920s said to be one of Clineï¿½s primary influences (along with Kay Starr, Kate Smith and Charline Arthur). She also appeared in amateur musicals, talent shows, and on local radio station WINC. By age twenty Cline connected with local country bandleader Bill Peer, an association that nurtured her desire to become a country music star. She adopted the name ï¿½Patsyï¿½ after her middle name, Patterson, possibly in a nod to singer Patsy Montana, whose feisty cowgirl persona anticipated both Clineï¿½s spunk and early stage costuming. She married her first husband, staid Gerald Cline, on March 7, 1953, but she found the relationship unfulfilling and they divorced four years later.

During this period Cline made inroads into the thriving Washington, D.C., country music scene masterminded by country musicï¿½s ï¿½media magician,ï¿½ Connie B. Gay. Beginning in the fall of 1954, Gay spotlighted Cline as a featured soloist on his Town & Country regional TV broadcasts, which included Jimmy Dean as host, along with Roy Clark, George Hamilton IV, Billy Grammer, Dale Turner, and Mary Klick. Through her web of Washington contacts Cline landed her first recording contract in September 1954, wiï¿½ï¿½ Bill McCallï¿½s Pasadena, California-based Four Star Records, an association that lasted six years and was to become the single greatest hindrance to her career. Cline alleged that McCall swindled her out of record earnings and gave her substandard material to record. Clineï¿½s debut single, the country weeper ï¿½A Church, a Courtroom and Then Goodbye,ï¿½ sold poorly when released in July 1955 on the Decca labelï¿½s Coral subsidiary (by lease arrangement between McCall and Decca A&R man Paul Cohen).

Cohen turned production over to his protï¿½gï¿½ and eventual successor, Owen Bradley, who became Clineï¿½s guiding light for the duration of her recording career. Clineï¿½s first four singles flopped, but the ï¿½hillbilly with oomphï¿½ act she developed on TV and in personal appearances earned her regional fame. Her recording stalemate ended when she made her national TV debut on Arthur Godfreyï¿½s Talent Scouts show on January 21, 1957, singing ï¿½Walkinï¿½ After Midnight,ï¿½ which hit #2 country and #12 pop. Cline rode high on the hit for the next year, doing personal appearances and performing regularly on Godfreyï¿½s weekly CBS broadcast Arthur Godfrey and Friends and on ABCï¿½s Country Music Jubilee, but there were no follow-up hits. Her September 1957 marriage to second husband Charlie Dick resulted in a tumultuous relationship glamorized in Sweet Dreams, the 1985 film of Clineï¿½s life, starring Jessica Lange.

By the end of 1957 Cline had retreated into semi-retirement. After giving birth to a daughter (Julia) in August 1958, Cline moved to Nashville and signed with manager Randy Hughes, who attempted to revive her stone-cold career by booking one-nighters across the country and helping her ride out her Four Star contract. Back to working $50 gigs, she was at the nadir of her career when the Grand Ole Opry belatedly made her a member on January 9, 1960. That summer she signed with Decca, and Bradley began to direct her towards becoming a leading exponent of the emergent Nashville Sound, beginning with her recording of the Harlan Howard-Hank Cochran tune ï¿½I Fall to Pieces.ï¿½ Cline initially fought Bradleyï¿½s lush arrangements, which featured backings by the Jordanaires. Cline gave birth to a son (Randy) in January 1961 and survived a near-fatal car accident in June as ï¿½Piecesï¿½ slowly started its climb up the charts, reaching #1 country in August and #12 pop eight months after its release.

Cline maintained her chart momentum with the Top Ten hits ï¿½Crazyï¿½ and ï¿½Sheï¿½s Got Youï¿½ and with albums like Patsy Cline Showcase and Sentimentally Yours. Other highlights included appearances at Carnegie Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, and Dick Clarkï¿½s American Bandstand. Cline joined ï¿½The Johnny Cash Showï¿½ as the touring groupï¿½s star female vocalist in January 1962, and over the next fourteen months she played about fifteen or twenty dates with Cashï¿½s ï¿½family,ï¿½ which then included Don Gibson, George Jones, Carl Perkins, June Carter, Barbara Mandrell, Gordon Terry, and Johnny Western. Cline related premonitions of her death to close friends Loretta Lynn, Dottie West, and June Carter as early as September 1962. Her last public performance was a benefit in Kansas City, March 3, 1963. Returning home, she was killed in a plane crash that also took the lives of pilot Randy Hughes and fellow Opry stars Cowboy Copas and Hawkshaw Hawkins.

Released posthumously, Clineï¿½s singles ï¿½Leavinï¿½ on Your Mindï¿½ and ï¿½Sweet Dreamsï¿½ both charted Top Ten. Numerous new recordings have appeared since her death, and she has remained one of the MCA labelï¿½s most consistent sellers. The subject of both Sweet Dreams and the hit 1990s play Always . . . Patsy Cline, she was voted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1973. Music Gates: Patsy Cline - Crazy Music Gates ...are wide open...because music knows no barriers.. Pages Wednesday, June 8, 2011 Patsy Cline - Crazy Patsy Cline (September 8, 1932 – March 5, 1963), born Virginia Patterson Hensley, was an American country music singer who enjoyed pop music crossover success during the era of the Nashville sound in the early 1960s.

Since her death in 1963 at age 30 in a private airplane crash at the height of her career, she has been considered one of the most influential, successful, and acclaimed female vocalists of the 20th century. Cline was best known for her rich tone and emotionally expressive bold contralto voice, which, along with her role as a mover and shaker in the country music industry, has been cited as an inspiration by many vocalists of various music genres. Her life and career have been the subject of numerous books, movies, documentaries, articles and stage plays. Her hits included "Walkin' After Midnight", "I Fall to Pieces", "She's Got You", "Crazy", and "Sweet Dreams". Posthumously, millions of her albums have sold over the past 50 years. She has been given numerous awards, which have given her an iconic status with some fans similar to that of legends Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley. Ten years after her death, she became the first female solo artist inducted to the Country Music Hall of Fame.

In 2002, Cline was voted by artists and members of the country music industry as number one on CMT's television special, The 40 Greatest Women of Country Music, and in 1999 she was voted number 11 on VH1's special The 100 Greatest Women in Rock and Roll by members and artists of the rock industry. She was also ranked 46th in Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Singers of all Time." According to her 1973 Country Music Hall of Fame plaque, "Her heritage of timeless recordings is testimony to her artistic capacity." "Crazy" is a ballad composed by Willie Nelson. It has been recorded by several artists, most notably by Patsy Cline, whose version was a #2 country hit in 1962. Nelson wrote the song in early 1961; at the time he was a journeyman singer-songwriter who had written several hits for other artists but had not yet had a significant recording of his own. Cline was already a country music superstar who was working to extend a string of hits.

Nelson originally wrote the song for country singer Billy Walker, but Walker turned it down and Cline picked it as a follow up to her previous big hit "I Fall to Pieces". The song was released in late 1961 and immediately became another huge hit for Cline, eventually becoming one of her signature tunes, and its success helped launch Nelson as a performer as well as a songwriter. Her version spent 21 weeks on the chart. This song as sung by Patsy Cline is #85 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Musically the song is a jazz-pop ballad with country overtones. The complex melody suited Cline's vocal talent perfectly and widened the crossover audience she had established with her prior hits. The lyrics describe the singer's state of bemusement at the singer's own helpless love for the object of his affection. According to the Ellis Nassour biography Patsy Cline, Nelson, who at that time was known as a struggling songwriter by the name of Hugh Nelson, was a regular at Tootsie's Orchid Lounge on Nashville's Music Row, where he frequented with friends Kris Kristofferson and Roger Miller, both unknown songwriters at that time.

Nelson met Cline's husband, Charlie Dick, at the bar one evening and pitched the song to him. Dick took the track home and played it for Cline, who absolutely hated it at first because Nelson's demo "spoke" the lyrics to a faster tempo than what Cline later recorded as a ballad. Cline's producer, Owen Bradley, loved the song and arranged it as the ballad it was recorded as. Still recovering from a recent automobile accident that nearly took her life, Cline had difficulty reaching the high notes of the song at first due to her broken ribs, so she came back the next day to record the vocal, which she did in one take. Another story has it that Cline tried to record the song for hours one night with no success. After visiting Willie Nelson and listining to how he would have sung it she made it within a few attempts the next recording session. Loretta Lynn remembers the first time Cline performed it at the Grand Ole Opry on crutches, she received three standing ovations. Barbara Mandrell remembers Cline introducing the song to her audiences live in concert saying "I had a hit out called 'I Fall to Pieces' and I was in a car wreck.

Now I'm really worried because I have a new hit single out and its called 'Crazy'." Willie Nelson stated on the 1993 documentary Remembering Patsy that Cline's version of "Crazy" was his favorite song of his that anybody had ever recorded because it "was a lot of magic." Partly due to the genre-blending nature of the song, it has been covered by dozens of artists in several genres over the years. Notable versions include those recorded by The Kills, Linda Ronstadt, Julio Iglesias LeAnn Rimes, Don McLean. Willie Nelson himself has also recorded several versions of the song over the years including a trio version with Elvis Costello and Diana Krall; nevertheless the song remains inextricably linked with Cline. Posted by 'Crazy' : NPR 'Crazy' Embed Embed Embed Embed As performed by Patsy Cline Reporter: Linda Wertheimer Interviewees: Charlie Dick, Patsy Cline's husband Paul Kingsbury, music historian Recordings Used: Crazy, Patsy Cline Crazy, instrumental Willie Nelson performs in 2004. Jana Birchum/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Willie Nelson performs in 2004.

Jana Birchum/Getty Images Patsy Cline 's husband, Charlie Dick, helped to find that song for his wife. He says he was waiting for Patsy in a bar, and he found a record on the jukebox he wanted her to hear. It was by Paul Buskirk and His Little Men featuring Hugh Nelson. He then met Hugh Nelson, now known as Willie Nelson . "Later that week on Saturday night, I was at the Opry, and I tried to buy that record someplace, and they didn't have it because it was on a small label. So he gave me one. And I took it home and listened to it about half the night and kept Patsy up half the night, and she didn't think too much of that. And that's when we finally got the demo on "Crazy." She didn't think too much of the song. She just didn't even want to hear Willie Nelson's name mentioned.

And then Hank Cochran, who was a song plugger for the publishing company Willie was writing for, when he came over to bring this tape of "Crazy" that he thought was so good—Willie actually sat in the car; he didn't come in the house, 'cause I'd told him what Patsy said about me keeping her up all night. So he waited outside. He didn't want to lose a sale." Article continues after sponsorship By all accounts, it was not an easy sale. In 1960, when she was 28, Patsy Cline got the job she'd wanted all her life. She was part of the cast of the Grand Ole Opry. She saw herself as a country singer. She didn't particularly like the vulnerable heartbroken sound of songs like "Crazy." But a record producer, Owen Bradley, felt those songs were exactly right for Patsy Cline. Paul Kingsbury explains why. He's a music historian at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. "Patsy had incredible vocal technique. She was a very powerful singer and very versatile, capable of growling or purring, vaulting octaves with ease.

But beyond just the raw technique, Patsy was able to give you a window into her soul. You feel that you're hearing exactly how Patsy feels, almost as if she were a neighbor coming over for a cup of coffee and spilling her heart out to you." "Crazy" was recorded in the summer of 1961. Patsy Cline had been in a terrible car accident, a head-on collision in which she was thrown through the windshield. She was not quite ready to go back to work when Owen Bradley scheduled the first recording session for "Crazy," but she came in to hear what Owen Bradley had in mind for the record. He had planned a fairly complicated production for Willie Nelson's unusual piece of music. Paul Kingsbury again: "Willie wrote and was writing at that time, early '60s, very different songs from typical country music fare. Instead of the usual three or four chords that were just major chords and sevenths, he was writing "Crazy" with jazzy minor seventh, major sevenths, minors. If you count the chords, there are about seven chords in "Crazy," very different for a country song at the time. And also Willie wrote some great lyrics.

There are some wonderful alliteration in that, and Willie was going through his own romantic troubles with his wife, Martha, at the time, and you hear that in his songs like 'Crazy' and 'Hello Walls.'" Owen Bradley had plans for "Crazy." He wanted to produce a new form of country music. He had a number of innovations in mind. He wanted a background vocal to add richness and sophistication, so he brought in The Jordanaires, who also recorded with Elvis Presley. He hired a young piano player, Floyd Cramer, who provided what the other musicians referred to as `tinkling.' He had a bass guitar, which added a kind of jazzy percussion to the mix. And he set aside a whole recording session just to work out the background sound, without Patsy's vocal. That was added a week later. That doesn't sound complex by today's standards, but at a time when four songs were produced in an average afternoon session, it was incredible attention to detail. We asked three of the session musicians who were on the original recording of "Crazy" to talk to us about it.

They are Bob Moore, the bass player, Gordon Stoker, the top voice of The Jordanaires, and guitarist Harold Bradley, whose brother Owen produced the record. As they always did, they worked that day from a demo, a fairly unadorned version of Willie Nelson singing "Crazy." Patsy Cline was there while the musicians and Owen Bradley tried out the song, and, Gordon Stoker told us, she was not impressed. "I remember when Patsy heard the demo, she said, `Look, Hoss, there ain't no way I could sing it like that guy's a-singing it. I always got such a kick out of the way she talked. Phrasing. The phrasing of it. The way he cut his words off and choppy. She didn't want to do it like that. She wasn't going to do it that way. "Yeah," Mr. Moore added. "Willie waits till the chord hits, and then he starts his phrasing, and then he'll end up with his phrasing ahead on that." But what about the artistic disagreement — or at least tension — between Owen Bradley and Patsy Cline?

"When they got the hit "I Fall to Pieces," they didn't have any more arguments. But before that, there were some arguments and disagreements. And one of the things, I think, was something Owen did was to make her slow down the songs. And she didn't want to slow them down. And when you slow them down, she'd put a lot of feeling in there, but sometimes I thought she just had a lot of feeling 'cause she was kind of mad at Owen because, you know, she wasn't really thrilled over doing something that slow." "Well, you know," Mr. Stoker chimed in, "at first when Owen told us he was going to use The Jordanaires on her recording, she'd said, `Look, I don't want four male voices covering me up.' He said, `You just leave that to me, Patsy. You just leave that to me, and you'll be all right.'" The tick-tack bass — an octave lower than a normal guitar, and it's an octave higher than a bass, in the middle between a percussive instrument and a musical instrument – was important to the unique sound of the recording. "Right," Mr. Moore confirms.

"And Harold could turn that treble on it up to where it was real treble, and it would pick up his pick, and you get a click. If you want to hear a real good example, right at the very end, Patsy says, `I'm crazy for loving'—right there, the band stops. And when she says, `you,' we come back in and play just a bar and three beats. And the tick-tack is very predominant right in that place." "He defined his version of the Nashville sound with the tick-tack bass and the chink guitar," Bradley adds. "I remember how much I loved it," Mr. Stoker says. "I know I remember that. I remember I was pleasantly surprised at how great she did it, with how much feeling she did it." There is a music legend about "Crazy" that it was recorded in one take. That's true and not true. The studio musicians recorded their part after what they felt was a good amount of rehearsing and experimentation. But when Patsy Cline came in a week later to record the vocal of "Crazy," she did sing it only once. That one version is magical, and it's still selling records.

Young women singers are still measuring their own efforts against hers. Country singer Kathy Mattea treasures the idea that a woman like Patsy Cline could walk into a studio and sing "Crazy" one time from the heart. "One of the downsides of technology is that it has allowed us not to believe in magic anymore. And when music is at its best, it's like throwing up a butterfly net and catching a moment in time. And, you know, when you work it too hard and make it too perfect, you know, it's like you don't see the forest for the trees. Sometimes the flaws in something or the moments where it's not perfect are what makes it special." Patsy Cline died in 1963 in the crash of a private plane flying home to Nashville on a rainy night. She was 31. Patsy Cline's "Greatest Hits" is still the best selling hits package by a female artist. A boxed set of her songs was a gold record, 30 years after she recorded "Crazy" in the summer of 1961.

Question: Which country star wrote the Patsy Cline hit Crazy?
Answer: Willie Nelson