Patsy Cline is best remembered for her distinctive, rich and warm tone, which dominated the country music genre during the 1950s. She is also hailed as one of the most influential vocalists of the 20th Century as she became one of the first country music artists to successfully cross over into pop music, in a trailblazing move at the time.
Throughout her eight-year recording career, Patsy enjoyed several major hits including two number-one hits on the Billboard Hot Country and Western Sides chart. Her singles, I Fall to Pieces and She’s Got You, topped the charts and propelled the singer into worldwide success. However, just six months after her 30th birthday in 1963, Patsy’s life came to a tragic end after a heartbreaking plane crash, a death she chillingly predicted.
According to Fate magazine, just days before her 30th birthday in September 1962, Patsy insisted that her friend and singer Dottie West keep her show business scrapbook as she stated: “I’ll never live to see 30.”
However, this wasn’t the only premonition she had about her demise, as Patsy told another pal, singer June Cash: “I’m going out soon. Write something down for me.”
In her 1987 autobiography, From the Heart, June revealed that the late star gave her detailed instructions on how she wanted her children raised and said that she wanted her wake to be held in her home, and marked this conversation as the last time they met.
Moments before her death, Patsy was in Kansas to perform at a benefit concert, but she could not fly the following night due to the foggy weather.
The country star was asked to join with her husband, Bill, on an eight-hour drive back to Nashville but refused, saying: “Don’t worry about me, Hoss. When it’s my time to go, it’s my time.”
Sadly, the plane Patsy eventually boarded crashed due to the heavy weather, instantly killing everyone onboard.
According to the publication, Patsy’s friend Jane Howard received a call from a friend, and for seemingly no reason, two record albums fell off the shelf, one hers and the other Patsy’s.
Following her death, Grand Ole Opry star Roy Acuff revealed that he was due to perform at the benefit, but his wife, Mildred, had “a funny feeling” and let him oversleep, missing all planes from Nashville.