On September 30, 1954, a young Patsy Cline signed her first record deal after years of cutting her teeth at venues in her native Virginia and the surrounding area. Virtually every reviewer who wrote about the singer in the press commended her rich, emotional vocal delivery. So, it’s unsurprising that a country record label like 4 Star Records would take note. What’s more surprising, however, is the fact that her first recording contract was hardly as impressive as it might sound.
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We often idealize the notion of a record deal, assuming such an agreement would beget the first of many hits for up-and-coming performers like Cline. But critics often consider her first few years at 4 Star Records to be some of the least productive of her short-lived career. Hers is a tale as old as time. A young woman enters the patriarchal music business under the advice of A&R representatives who failed to provide her with songs that allow her to show her full potential.
Cline failed to produce a hit in the first two years of her contract with 4 Star, something that might have been a death knell for an artist of lesser caliber. Ultimately, it was a national television show, not her record deal, that would propel her to the level of stardom we know her for today.
Patsy Cline Landed Her First Record Deal in September 1954
Patsy Cline, born Virginia Patterson Hensley, began performing regularly at around 14 years old, circa 1946. By the early 1950s, Cline (who had since adopted a new stage moniker by modifying her middle name slightly) was performing in venues around Virginia and the surrounding area. By 1954, 4 Star Records president Bill McCall offered the young singer a two-year contract with the label.
Cline released her first single, “A Church, a Courtroom, Then Goodbye”, in 1955. She followed this track with “Hidin’ Out”, “I Love You, Honey”, and “I’ve Loved and Lost Again”. But to her and the label’s disappointment, none of these songs entered the charts. Toward the end of her two-year contract with 4 Star, Cline received an invitation to appear on the national television show, Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts.
At the behest of the show producer, Cline switched her original song, “A Poor Man’s Roses (Or a Rich Man’s Gold)” for “Walkin’ After Midnight”. The decision proved to be a fortuitous one, as public interest in the song took off immediately. Decca Records, which had a distribution contract with 4 Star, put in a rush-release for what would become Cline’s first hit.
A lack of follow-up hits to “Walkin’ After Midnight” nearly retired Cline until she moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where her career started to pick up steam once more. After riding out her contract with 4 Star, Cline signed with Decca Records exclusively. It was there that Cline really hit her stride, releasing hits like “I Fall to Pieces” and “Crazy”. But the success would be short-lived after a tragic plane crash in West Tennessee cut the promising country star’s life short in 1963.
Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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