Patsy Cline (born Virginia Patterson Hensley; September 8, 1932 - March 5, 1963) was an American country music singer and part of the Nashville sound during the late 1950s and early 1960s. She successfully "crossed over" to pop music and was one of the most influential, successful, and acclaimed vocalists of the 20th century. She died at age 30 in the crash of a private airplane. Cline was known for her rich tone, emotionally expressive and bold contralto voice, and her role as a country music pioneer.

Patsy Cline was born Virginia Patterson Hensley on September 8, 1932 in Winchester, Virginia, in the city's Memorial Hospital. She was the eldest child of seamstress Hilda Virginia (nee Patterson, 1916-1998) and blacksmith Samuel Lawrence Hensley (1889-1956). She had a brother Samuel Jr. (1939-2004) and a sister Sylvia. The family moved often before finally settling in Winchester, Virginia when Patsy was 16. Sam Hensley deserted his family in 1947, but the children's home was reportedly happy nonetheless.  When Patsy was 13, she was hospitalized with a throat infection and rheumatic fever. She later said, "The fever affected my throat and when I recovered I had this booming voice like Kate Smith."  Cline enrolled at John Handley High School but never attended classes. To help her mother support their family, she worked as a soda jerk at Gaunt's Drug Store and a waitress at the Triangle Diner. She watched performers through the window at the local radio station, and she asked WINC (AM) disc jockey Jimmy McCoy if she could sing on his show. Her performance in 1947 was well received and she was asked back. This led to appearances at local nightclubs wearing fringed Western outfits that her mother made from Patsy's designs.  Cline performed in variety and talent shows in the Winchester and Tri-State areas, and she gained a large following through the shows and local radio appearances. Jimmy Dean was already a country star in 1954, and she became a regular with him on Connie B. Gay's Town and Country Jamboree radio show on WAVA (AM) in Arlington County, Virginia.  Bill Peer, her second manager, gave her the name Patsy, from her middle name, Patterson. (Bill Peer, who had a country music band in Brunswick, MD, also had an infant daughter named Patsy). In 1955 he gained a contract for her at Four Star Records, the label he was then affiliated with. Four Star was under contract to the Coral subsidiary of Decca Records. Patsy signed with Decca at her first opportunity three years later.  Her first contract allowed her to record compositions only by Four Star writers, which Cline found limiting. Later, she expressed regret over signing with the label, but thinking that nobody else would have her, she took the deal. Her first record for Four Star was "A Church, A Courtroom & Then Good-Bye," which attracted little attention, although it led to appearances on the Grand Ole Opry. As these performances were not "records" per se, they were not governed by her contract, and she could sing what she wanted, within reason. This somewhat eased her "stifled" feeling.  Between 1955 and 1957, Cline recorded honky tonk material, with songs like "Fingerprints," "Pick Me Up On Your Way Down," "Don't Ever Leave Me Again," and "A Stranger In My Arms." Cline co-wrote the last two. None of these songs gained notable success. She experimented with rockabilly.  According to Decca Records producer Owen Bradley, the Four Star compositions only hinted at Patsy's potential. Bradley thought that her voice was best-suited for pop music, but Cline sided with Peer and the other Four Star producers, insisting that she could only record country songs, as her contract also stated. Every time Bradley tried to get her to sing the torch songs that would become her signature, she would panic, missing her familiar country fiddle and steel guitar. She often rebelled, only wishing to sing country and yodel. She recorded 51 songs with Four Star.  She cultivated a brash and gruff exterior as "one of the boys," befriending male artists as well. Among them were Roger Miller, Hank Cochran, Faron Young, Ferlin Husky, Harlan Howard and Carl Perkins, with all of whom she socialized at the famed Tootsie's Orchid Lounge, next door to the Opry. In the 1986 documentary The Real Patsy Cline, singer George Riddle said of her, "It wasn't unusual for her to sit down and have a beer and tell a joke, and she'd never be offended at the guys' jokes either, because most of the time she'd tell a joke dirtier than you! Patsy was full of life."  Cline used the term of endearment "Hoss" to her friends, both male and female, and called herself "The Cline." She met Elvis Presley in 1962 at a fundraiser for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and they exchanged phone numbers. Having seen him perform during a rare Grand Ole Opry appearance, she admired his music, called him The Big Hoss, and often recorded with his backup group, The Jordanaires.  By this time, Cline controlled her own career, making it clear to all involved that she could stand up to any man, verbally and professionally, and was ready to challenge them if they interfered with her. At a time when concert promoters often cheated stars by promising to pay them after the show but skipping out with the money before the concert ended, Cline demanded her money before she took the stage: Her "No dough, no show" became the rule. According to friend Roy Drusky in The Real Patsy Cline: "Before one concert, we hadn't been paid. And we were talking about who was going to tell the audience that we couldn't perform without pay. Patsy said, 'I'll tell 'em!' And she did!" Dottie West recalled with amazement some 25 years later that "It was common knowledge around town that you didn't mess with 'The Cline!'"

why did she change her last name to Cline?