Over half a century since her tragic passing, Cline remains a direct and long-lasting influence – just listen to stylists like Reba McEntire, Kacey Musgraves and LeAnn Rimes for proof. Now, there’s even a shrine to the inimitable vocalist in downtown Nashville: the Patsy Cline Museum houses memorabilia from her 1961 Carnegie Hall debut, her history-making Las Vegas engagement the following year and the elegant wristwatch she was wearing when she died just a few months later. Portrayals by Oscar nominees Beverly D’Angelo (in the 1980 Loretta Lynn biopic Coal Miner’s Daughter) and Jessica Lange (1985’s Sweet Dreams), and continuing interest in her hits via jukeboxes and karaoke, spurred Cline’s Greatest Hits album to sales in excess of 10 million, earning a Guinness World Records spot for its chart longevity. In 1973, Cline became the first solo female artist elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame, even ahead of the genre-defining Kitty Wells. In fact, her legend only flourished in the decades after her demise. Hits like “I Fall to Pieces,” “Walkin’ After Midnight” and Willie Nelson’s “Crazy” accompanied her slow ascent to stardom, while posthumous releases “Sweet Dreams (of You)” and “Faded Love” kept her in the spotlight after her death in a plane crash in Camden, Tennessee. The crash was later dubbed “The Day the Music Died” by Don McLean in his signature hit “American Pie.” BSĪlthough she lived only a year and two months longer than 29-year-old Hank Williams had, Patsy Cline secured her legacy as one of the greatest vocal talents of the 20th century by fusing country charm and big-city boldness to a sterling voice that was as adept at honky-tonk weepers as it was lushly orchestrated pop standards. We got ‘Love Me Do,’ the very first Beatles song.” But on February 3, 1959, the decade and Holly’s career came to a tragically sudden halt when the 22-year-old died in a plane crash alongside fellow stars the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens. “Eventually, out of it, we got a couple of little songs. “I used to write songs like Buddy,” McCartney admitted in an interview, noting the attempts him and Lennon would make to imitate Holly. His distinctive vocal style and hits like “Not Fade Away” and “It’s So Easy!” made him emblematic of the entire decade and a significant influence on the next wave of rock and roll stars, including John Lennon and Paul McCartney, who bonded over their love of Holly while beginning to explore their musical ambitions. ![]() Most cliches begin as essential truths: Yes, the artists featured and remembered here are gone – but they’re never forgotten.Īs part of the Crickets and later as a solo artist, the suit-clad, glasses-wearing Holly was the voice of the burgeoning rock and roll youth culture of the Fifties. ![]() But there’s a more expansive, alternate history component at work, too, imagining what these legends might have created had they lived, and how their absence has shaped the music and popular culture that followed. Revisiting these memories again and again (and we do) can feel traumatic, and the most sensational details still shock decades later. ![]() ![]() Who did you text when Michael Jackson died? Where were you when John Lennon was shot? Did you, like many devastated fans, flock to the Dakota on Manhattan’s Upper West Side after you heard? Which Nirvana song did you play over and over again after Kurt Cobain’s body was found? Do you (or a parent) have a story about Elvis’ last day? Years from now, the most earnest, intensely felt remembrances on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – the ones reacting to an untimely, unexpected passing of an icon like Chris Cornell, Prince, Amy Winehouse or Whitney Houston – will serve as yellowed newspaper clippings once did: They’ll take us back to that historic, shared moment of gut-punching, breathtaking shock and sudden loss. Mass mourning over celebrity deaths is not just a current-generation phenomenon – the Internet and social media only accelerate and amplify how fans process profound, visceral sorrow.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |