Patsy Cline Sang ‘I Fall To Pieces’ In Last Ever Broadcast Performance Before She Died In A Plane Crash

Jul 08, 2022

Patsy Cline was born in Winchester, Virginia on Sept. 8, 1932. The young girl relocated many times throughout her childhood due to an unsteady home life between her parents as well as money issues. When Cline was just 13 years old, she was hospitalized for a throat infection and intense fever. During her long hours in the hospital, Cline started to take up an interest in singing. After getting released from the hospital, Cline decided she wanted to pursue her newfound love. She joined a local choir and began to embark on a future in singing.

Soon after, the young girl started to audition to be on the radio. Cline one day waited in the WINC Radio waiting room where she eventually got her first chance to perform on air. Eventually, this opened up many more opportunities for the young star on the rise.

When still living in Winchester, Virginia, Cline worked as a waitress at Soda Jerk, and she joined several talent searches. In a very short time, she was a sensation and got several shows in nightclubs. 

After gaining some experience, Cline got into Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts talent show, which resembled today's "American Idol." Her performance of "Walkin' After Midnight" elevated the song to second place on the country songs chart, and 12th on the pop charts. Cline rose to be among the pioneer country musicians to have a crossover hit. 

Cline is still a country music legend and queen, even nearly 60 years after her premature death. She originated the Nashville Sound, which brought country and pop music together in the early '60s. 

At the young age of 30, on March 5, 1963, a tragic air crash at Camden, Tennessee, robbed us of this immense talent. Cline was in a light aircraft returning to her home in Nashville after a performance in Kansas City, and a sudden, very severe rainstorm caused the plane to crash, killing her and everyone else on board, reported The Boot. Her voice and talent are credited for having reshaped how people see country music. 

Before her passing, Cline was on track to be one of the most famous country singers of all time. After working hard to get her name noticed by music industry workers, Cline finally got a big break in 1954. That year the singer signed her first singing contract with Four Star Records. While under that label Cline recorded a wide range of music genres. She recorded gospel, rock, traditional country, as well as pop music. Cline released four singles between 1955 and 1956 without much success with any of them. 

After moving to Nashville in 1960, Cline's career started to look upward. In 1960 Cline became a part of the Grand Ole Opry. On the rise, she switched labels from Four Star Records to Decca Records. Soon after making the switch, she released "I Fall to Pieces" in 1961. She then released "Crazy" which reached Billboard's top charts in October of 1961. 

Sadly, Cline and her brother were involved in a terrible car accident in the summer of 1961. The car accident was severe enough to cause damage to Cline's face as she was thrown into the car's windshield. She also suffered from a broken wrist and a dislocated hip. She recovered for nearly six weeks before returning to performing. 

After her recovery, her next song "Crazy" was also a big hit. She was known to joke about the coincidence.

"I recorded a song called, I Fall to Pieces, and I was in a car wreck," said Cline. "Now I'm worried because I have a brand-new record, and it's called Crazy!"

After moving on from the car accident that left two people in the other car dead, Cline jumped back into her work. Fans were worried following the car crash she wouldn't continue to perform, but she didn't let anything slow her or her work down. In 1962 Cline released three more huge music hits, "When I Get Thru With You," "So Wrong" and "Imagine That." It was during this time in her career that she started to worry about an early death.

Friends of Cline reported that several months before her death, she was talking about having a feeling of impending doom and even began giving away personal items to friends and family. She updated her will and arranged for someone to care for her children in the event of her death.

Many people have pointed out the strange coincidence that Cline was in a very bad car crash after releasing "I Fall to Pieces" and then died in a very bad plane crash shortly after singing the same song. Coincidence? Or not? Tragically, Cline passed away on March 5, 1963, while traveling via airplane. Just 10 days earlier she'd performed her hit song on "The Glenn Reeves Show" and the recording is now infamously her last. The surprise news of her tragic passing struck the music community very hard and was felt around the world. Her name is still a name that people remember. 

After her death, her music still made headlines, and she was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1973 as the first solo female musician. Her songs released after she died, in the compilation album "Patsy Celine's Greatest Hits" are among the top-selling country records by a female artist. She was also known for breaking rules in her industry, making her a trailblazer in her own right. Among the rules she disregarded was one where women were not allowed to wear pants to the Grand Ole Opry, which she did after her petition was approved. In her belief, female musicians were free to choose their path. Her personality was her outspokenness and bold nature. She was the first female country music artist to perform in Las Vegas.

After the fatal air crash on Randy Hughes' private plane while on its way back from Kansas, Cline's fun club erected a mailbox close to the crash site, where fans could leave notes and letters to her.

A Patsy Cline Museum was put up in Nashville, where her fans could pay their respects, while her grave site was situated next to her husband, Charlie Dick's grave. She often referred to her husband as the love of her life. A play, "Always…Patsy Cline", which debuted in 1988, is based on Cline and Houston housewife Louise Seger's friendship. The play, which was showcased at the Ryman Auditorium in 1994, had Mandy Barnett portraying Cline, and it has been screened off-Broadway too.

She was so loved that most songwriters in the early '60s made sure to write a song for Cline since it was destined to be an instant hit. In addition to the financial aspect, songwriters believed that Cline brought some magic into their songs. According to Willie Nelson, her work on the song "Crazy" is his "favorite all-time song of mine that anyone ever did." Cline's hit songs were written by among the top songwriters hailing from Nashville.

Are you a fan of Patsy Cline? Which is your favorite song of hers? Let us know, then pass this on to your friends and family to keep her spirit alive.