The Buckingham

Photo Credit: www.brooklynvegan.com

Patti Page, a pop star of the ‘50s, has died.  She was 85.

The singer, who is most famous for hits such as “Tennessee Waltz,” and “How Much Is That Doggie in the Window?,” died on Jan. 1 at the Seacrest Village Retirement Community, where she lived.

Page was born Clara Ann Fowler on Nov. 8, 1927, in Claremore, Okla.  She was one of 11 children.  She began her career at Tulsa radio station KTUL as an announced for a country-music radio show called “Meet Patti Page.”  Page then was signed by Mercury Records, and began her life long career, including an Oscar nomination for the theme to Hush … Hush, Sweet Charlotte (a 1964 thriller starring Bette Davis) and a Grammy win in 1999 for Live at Carnegie Hall.

Page was married twice, first to Charles O’Curran, a choreographer, in 1956.  They divorced in 1972, and then she married Jerry Filiciotto, a retired aerospace engineer, in 1990.  The two co-founded a company that marketed maple syrup products, and lived happily until his death in 2009.

Page is survived by her children, Danny O’Curran and Kathleen Ginn, and some grandchildren.