Patsy Cline Part I

Patsy Cline was one of the country singers who died tragically in a plane crash... like Jim Reeves…Travelling around the country in small planes, could be dangerous in bad weather or with inexperienced pilots…but country singers and musicians had to keep in touch with their public by playing as many concerts as they could, it was a hard but inevitable part of country music life...

She was born in 1932, as Virginia Patterson Hensley... and her family were far from well off.  Her mother was only 16, at the time of Virginia, or “Ginny’s” birth.  The Hensley family moved around a lot, in their home state of Virginia...  and tried to make a living… in the hard times of the 1930s.   She said later, that her father sexually abused her….

Patsy developed a strong throaty and booming voice after an illness in her teens.  Her mother was her ally, in trying to get a musical career started… Her father had deserted the family, and Patsy left school and took a job to try and help keep them.

In her teens, she succeeded in getting an audition for the Grand Old Opry and journeyed to Nashville… but she did not hear any more form them and then returned to her Virginian home…

She continued to perform locally near her home… and made a living... And she got married in 1953 to Gerald Cline. The marriage was short lived.  She worked for Bill Peer, who had a small scale country band. And she and he became good friends and then lovers.  However both of them were married to other people.

She changed her first name to Patsy, from her middle name.. and used her husband’s surname Cline…