Patti Page

Patti Page, the Oklahoma-born pop singer whose gossamer voice on "The Tennessee Waltz," "The Doggie in the Window" and other 1950s hits offered a soothing counterpart to the revolutionary new sound of rock 'n' roll, died New Year's Day in Encinitas, Calif., where she'd lived for several decades. She was 85. No cause was announced, but her longtime personal manager, Michael Glynn, said she had been suffering from a heart ailment and lung disease. Page helped bring country music to a broader audience in the late 1940s and early 1950s with smooth, elegantly produced recordings epitomized by "The Tennessee Waltz," the simply expressed and achingly emotional tale of a woman who loses her sweetheart to an old friend at a dance: "I introduced her to my loved one, and while they were dancing, my friend stole my sweetheart from me. " It spent 13 weeks at No. 1 in Billboard in 1950, becoming one of the biggest hits of all time and selling more than 6 million copies, according to Joel Whitburn's "Pop Memories 1890-1954.

Patti Page, the Oklahoma-born pop singer whose gossamer voice on "The Tennessee Waltz," "The Doggie in the Window" and other 1950s hits offered a soothing counterpart to the revolutionary new sound of rock 'n' roll, died New Year's Day in Encinitas, Calif., where she'd lived for several decades. She was 85. No cause was announced, but her longtime personal manager, Michael Glynn, said she had been suffering from a heart ailment and lung disease. Page helped bring country music to a broader audience in the late 1940s and early 1950s with smooth, elegantly produced recordings epitomized by "The Tennessee Waltz," the simply expressed and achingly emotional tale of a woman who loses her sweetheart to an old friend at a dance: "I introduced her to my loved one, and while they were dancing, my friend stole my sweetheart from me. " It spent 13 weeks at No. 1 in Billboard in 1950, becoming one of the biggest hits of all time and selling more than 6 million copies, according to Joel Whitburn's "Pop Memories 1890-1954.

Patti Page, the Oklahoma-born pop singer whose gossamer-gentle voice was heard on 1950s hits such as “The Tennessee Waltz” and “(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window?,” died New Year's Day in Encinitas, Calif., where she'd lived for several decades. She was 85. No cause of death has been announced, but her manager said she had been suffering from heart and lung disease recently. In September, Page posted a message on her official website explaining her cutback in personal appearances, telling fans that she was facing “several medical challenges.

Patti Page, the Oklahoma-born pop singer whose gossamer-gentle voice was heard on 1950s hits such as “The Tennessee Waltz” and “(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window?,” died New Year's Day in Encinitas, Calif., where she'd lived for several decades. She was 85. No cause of death has been announced, but her manager said she had been suffering from heart and lung disease recently. In September, Page posted a message on her official website explaining her cutback in personal appearances, telling fans that she was facing “several medical challenges.

Singer Patti Page filed suit in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles Monday seeking more than $1 million in damages from Asher Gould Advertising, claiming that the agency violated her rights by imitating her voice in a television commercial it produced for American Savings Bank. The suit contends that Asher Gould illegally appropriated Page's "distinctive voice" in a commercial that featured the song "Old Cape Cod," a 1956 Page hit.

Singer Patti Page, whose hits include "I Went to Your Wedding," will be going to her own when she marries retired aerospace executive Jerry J. Filiciotto. The two will wed on May 12 at the Solano Beach Presbyterian Church, her publicist, Alan Eichler Associates, said today. The couple will live in Solano Beach, although Filiciotto owns a 200-acre farm in New Hampshire. The marriage will be the third for Page, whose records have sold more than 100-million copies.

Singer Patti Page, whose 1950 recording of "Tennessee Waltz" is one of the biggest-selling records of all time, did the wedding waltz Saturday, marrying the widower of her late best friend. Page, 62, and Jerry J. Filiciotto, a 60-year-old retired aerospace engineer, were married in a formal ceremony at Solana Beach Presbyterian Church, said the singer's publicist, Alan Eichler. About 200 friends and family members attended. The marriage was the third for Page and the second for Filiciotto.

Calling the Orange County Performing Arts Center "a fabulous facility with incredible acoustics," singer Patti Page swept into the Center Club after her performance Saturday night to dine--and dance a waltz--at a benefit party staged by a chapter of the Newport Harbor Guild. As members of Guys & Dolls--the guild's singles chapter--gathered around the singer, lauding her for her hits, especially "The Tennessee Waltz," Page smiled and replied, "How sweet, thank you."

Between the late '40s and the mid-'60s, Patti Page cranked out 15 gold singles and three gold albums. With more than 100 million record sales to date, she is still the all-time bestselling female singer. So it was no surprise that an overflow crowd, the majority of whom clearly recalled Page's glory days firsthand, turned out for her matinee performance at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts on Sunday.

In the '50s, when Patti Page was one of the music industry's most prolific hit-producers, she was often described as "The Singing Rage." Other than the obvious convenience of the rhyme, however, "Rage" was hardly the appropriate appellation for a singer whose stock in trade was a cool, precise sound and laid-back songs.

George David Weiss, a prolific songwriter who co-wrote "Can't Help Falling in Love," "What a Wonderful World," "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" and many other pop hits, has died. He was 89. Weiss, a former longtime president of the Songwriters Guild of America, died Monday of natural causes at his home in Oldwick, N.J., the Associated Press reported. During his heyday in the 1940s, '50s and '60s, Weiss co-wrote songs that were recorded by singers such as Frank Sinatra ("Oh! What It Seemed to Be")

Mitch Miller, who helped shape musical tastes in the 1950s and early '60s as the head of the popular music division at Columbia Records and hosted the hit "Sing Along With Mitch" TV show in the early '60s while becoming one of the era's most commercially successful recording artists, has died. He was 99. Miller died Saturday after a short illness at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, said his daughter, Margaret Miller Reuther. A top oboist and English horn player who joined the CBS Symphony Orchestra in the 1930s and later recorded with legendary conductor Leopold Stokowski, Miller wound up his more than seven-decade musical career guest conducting symphony orchestras around the world.

In the '50s, when Patti Page was one of the music industry's most prolific hit-producers, she was often described as "The Singing Rage." Other than the obvious convenience of the rhyme, however, "Rage" was hardly the appropriate appellation for a singer whose stock in trade was a cool, precise sound and laid-back songs.

Between the late '40s and the mid-'60s, Patti Page cranked out 15 gold singles and three gold albums. With more than 100 million record sales to date, she is still the all-time bestselling female singer. So it was no surprise that an overflow crowd, the majority of whom clearly recalled Page's glory days firsthand, turned out for her matinee performance at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts on Sunday.

Singer Patti Page, whose 1950 recording of "Tennessee Waltz" is one of the biggest-selling records of all time, did the wedding waltz Saturday, marrying the widower of her late best friend. Page, 62, and Jerry J. Filiciotto, a 60-year-old retired aerospace engineer, were married in a formal ceremony at Solana Beach Presbyterian Church, said the singer's publicist, Alan Eichler. About 200 friends and family members attended. The marriage was the third for Page and the second for Filiciotto.

Singer Patti Page, whose hits include "I Went to Your Wedding," will be going to her own when she marries retired aerospace executive Jerry J. Filiciotto. The two will wed on May 12 at the Solano Beach Presbyterian Church, her publicist, Alan Eichler Associates, said today. The couple will live in Solano Beach, although Filiciotto owns a 200-acre farm in New Hampshire. The marriage will be the third for Page, whose records have sold more than 100-million copies.

Single-handedly, Patti Page finally answered the one question about the Orange County Performing Arts Center that not even the Los Angeles Philharmonic or the mighty Chicago Symphony could resolve with their music of Beethoven and Wagner. Specifically, could the $70-million concert hall do justice to "How Much Is That Doggie in the Window?"

The "Singing Rage" is what they called Patti Page in the '50s--a performer who eventually became the best-selling female vocalist in pop music history. The two decades between 1948 and 1968 saw no less than 58 Page singles listed in Billboard's Top 20. Friday night Page brought her "Doggie in the Window" and "Tennessee Waltz" (among many others) to the Hollywood Bowl as part of the annual "Great American Concert." Remarkably, both the songs and the singer sounded refreshingly pleasant.