Clara Ann Fowler (November 8, 1927 – January 1, 2013), known by her stage name Patti Page, was an American singer of pop and country music and occasional actress. She was the top-charting female vocalist and best-selling female artist of the 1950s, selling over 100 million records during a six-decade long career. She was often introduced as “the Singin’ Rage, Miss Patti Page”. New York WNEW disc-jockey William B. Williams introduced her as “A Page in my life called Patti”.
Page signed with Mercury Records in 1947, and became their first successful female artist, starting with 1948’s “Confess”. In 1950, she had her first million-selling single “With My Eyes Wide Open, I’m Dreaming”, and would eventually have 14 additional million-selling singles between 1950 and 1965.
Her most famous song is “Tennessee Waltz”, and less well known is that in 1964 she recorded a version of the famous Serbian song “March on the Drina” called “Little Soldier Boy”, which was the main musical theme of the eponymous song.
In her interpretation, “Drina” is a name for a toy – a wooden figure of a soldier, and in the refrain the lyrics are:
“Music, music, swinging and dancing, hopping to the polka band,
Hoopla, hoopla, happy is the bride, when everyone takes her by her hand … ”
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