Patsy: The Life And Times Of Patsy Cline [Paperback]

Margaret Jones (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 7, 1999

More than thirty-five years after her tragic death in a plane crash at age thirty, Patsy Cline (1932–1963)remains one of the greatest voices of this century. Her soulful torch-song ballads—“Walkin’ After Midnight,” “I Fall to Pieces,” “Crazy,” and “Sweet Dreams”—bought her worldwide fame as both a country and pop star, while her life and career were immortalized in the 1985 film, Sweet Dreams. InPatsy, Margaret Jones chronicles the life of Patsy Cline (nee Virginia Hensley) from her impoverished childhood and abuse by her father, through the struggle for her success and her exploitation by record producers to her phenomenal but short-lived recording career. The book is based on extensive interviews with country music’s greatest—Loretta Lynn, June Carter, Dottie West, Barbara Mandrell, Faron Young, Roy Clark, Jimmy Dean, Johnny Western, Tompall Glaser, songwriters Harlan Howard and Donn Hecht, and record men Owen Bradley and Don Pierce. The result is the first fully drawn portrait of this crossover superstar, as well as a vivid picture of the ever-expanding country music world. Hard-living and hard-loving, bawdy and ballsy, Patsy Cline surmounted unimaginable odds in a male-dominated industry to become the most popular female country singer in recording history.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The turbulent life of the country music star whose popularity continues long after her death in 1963 is chronicled in this biography with compelling sympathy and an attention to detail that will appeal to fans. Cline's stuggle to develop a unique country act began in Winchester, Va., in a musical, if dysfunctional, family. According to Jones, a PW contributing editor, "a home environment charged with guilt, shame and fear" led by an abusive father had a direct bearing on the marital problems and hard drinking of Cline's adult years. At the time of her death in a car accident at age 30, Cline was a headliner at Nashville's Grand Ole Opry, a multimillion-dollar recording star and an influence on a generation of country singers with classics like "Crazy" and "Walking After Midnight." This sad story follows the grueling hardships and remarkable triumphs of a legendary country musician. Discography included. Photos not seen by PW. $25,000 ad/promo; author tour.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Every pop-music star who comes to an untimely end becomes a legend, it seems, and eventually inspires some respectable enough biographies, not to mention the inevitable hagiographies, for our entertainers constitute the pool of prospects from which we select our martyrs and saints. That Cline (193263), the husky-voiced country singer who had barely arrived in the first circle of popularity when she died in a plane crash, really is a modern martyr Jones quickly establishes by marshaling evidence that Cline was sexually abused by her father. Cline's sanctity established, Jones continues the story of her drive to success via extensive extracts from interviews with many of her country-music associates, such as June Carter, Tompall Glaser, Wanda Jackson, Faron Youngin short, a who's who of the generation of country music stars now in their sixties. Fans should find the book fascinating, while others may think it's a bit much. Ray Olson --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press (May 7, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0306808862
• ISBN-13: 978-0306808869
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,064,623 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant Bio Of Country's Best Female Vocalist, April 27, 2000

By 

Kim K. (Bayonne, New Jersey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Patsy: The Life And Times Of Patsy Cline (Paperback)

I've read most of the books out about Patsy Cline and came to the conclusion that this one is the absolute best. It tells everything you'd want to know about her and more. How she decided to make singing her career and how she paid her dues by singing at every country fair and carnival that would have her. Before long her golden voice drew alot of attention, and she was invited to try out on Arthur Godfrey's tv show. Needless to say, Patsy was so well-liked she topped any other competition and won first prize-a recording contract. True music lovers will enjoy reading about how the great Owen Bradley produced and guided her as well as what went on in the studio with Patsy, Owen & her backup band. Patsy was definitely ahead of her time and feared no one. What a tragedy that she only lived to be 31 years old. Her music lives on forever. Highly recommended.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Reviews, August 26, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Patsy: The Life And Times Of Patsy Cline (Paperback)

"...Patsy is a masterful study of an American master. It's the most meticulously researched and insightful of the three Cline biographies published thus far. Jones captures Cline in all of her vitality and passion, while showing how Cline rose from poverty to stardom."
Steve Neal, Philadelphia Inquirer

"Author Margaret Jones is a virtual unknown, but her book, Patsy, deserves to be the definitive work on the subject. Jones has dug deeper, done more interviews, uncovered more facts, and gotten more history correctly than nearly any book on the market today. Richly detailed, it succeeds both as biography and as a research work on country music of the '50s and early '60s."
Rich Kienzle, Country Music Magazine

"...[Patsy] Cline has never before been the subject of an unflinching, unbiased and, most important, Nashville-apolitical biography. Author Margaret Jones' Patsy: The Life and Times of Patsy Cline is the first portrait of the hillbilly torch singer with real fur on it--the book offers a depth, breadth and height of reality that is both fascinating and repellent." Jonny Whiteside, L.A. Weekly

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great read!, July 21, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Patsy: The Life And Times Of Patsy Cline (Paperback)

PATSY had me spellbound -- a page-turner from start to finish. Not only does this book reveal more about the woman and the myth that was Patsy Cline, but it is also the best documentation of the birth of modern country music that you can find anywhere. I loved the photos.