Born 99 Years Ago Today in the Sooner State, the “Singing Rage” Who Became the Best-Selling Female Artist of the 1950s and Sold Over 100 Million Records

Patti Page, born Clara Ann Fowler in Claremore, Oklahoma, on 8 November 1927, became one of the most successful female recording artists of the 1950s. Her blend of country and pop, along with pioneering recordings in which she overdubbed her own harmonies, helped shape her career and gave her chart success across five decades.

Page sold more than 100 million records over six decades and had 14 million-selling singles. Her 1950 recording of “Tennessee Waltz”, first issued as a B-side, spent 13 weeks at the top of Billboard’s best-sellers list; she also had No. 1 hits with “All My Love”, “I Went to Your Wedding” and “(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window?” She hosted a television programme from 1955, retired in 2012 for health reasons and died in 2013, aged 85.