LITTLE PATTIE

Patricia Amphlett was born in 1949 in Paddington, New South Wales, and has an older brother, Joe. She was educated at King Street Primary School and Sydney Girls High School. She was nicknamed "Little Pattie" at school as she had two taller friends also named Patricia. At eight years-old, she commenced piano lessons with Gwen Parsons, and then singing lessons when 11 years-old. Parsons also taught Noeleen Batley—a popular singer called "Australia's Little Miss Sweetheart". Both persuaded her to audition for TCN 9's TV teen show Saturday Date hosted by Jimmy Hannan, where she was a hit. She first appeared on TV, singing on the Opportunity Knocks series, when she was 13. While a third-year high school student, at the age of 14 years, she performed weekly at the Bronte Surf Club as lead singer of The Statesmen with Nev Jade, Peter Maxworthy, Duncan McGuire, Mark Rigby and Peter Walker. Singer-songwriter, Jay Justin (aka Justin McCarthy) was impressed with her vocals and recommended her for a recording contract with EMI.

Little Pattie's debut single was the double A-sided, "He's My Blonde Headed, Stompie Wompie, Real Gone Surfer Boy" / "Stompin' at Maroubra", both co-written by Jay Justin and record producer Joe Halford, which utilised the surf music style and a dance style craze that was known as 'The Stomp' It was released by EMI on HMV in November 1963 when she was aged 14, and reached #2 on the Sydney music charts (#1 was The Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand"), #6 in Brisbane, and peaked at #19 on the national Kent Music Report. Little Pattie left school in early 1964, and released her debut album, 'The Many Moods of Little Pattie' on EMI / HMV. She had further hits on the Sydney charts with "We're Gonna Have a Party Tonight" (#18 in March), "Pushin' a Good Thing Too Far" (#28 in March 1965) and "Dance Puppet Dance" (#9 in October). Her popularity saw her voted as Australian Female Singer of the Year in 1965. She appeared frequently on television variety programs, including Bandstand, Saturday Date, An Evening With, and Sing, Sing, Sing. Little Pattie regularly toured supporting Col Joye & the Joy Boys, with Judy Stone, Cathy Wayne and international star Sandie Shaw. The Joy Boys included, Joye's brothers, Kevin Jacobsen on piano and Keith Jacobsen on bass guitar.

On 16 August 1966, 17 years old and 147 cm (4 ft 10 in) tall, Little Pattie became the youngest and shortest person to entertain troops during the Vietnam War. Along with Col Joye & the Joy Boys she performed three concerts each day, in Nui Dat, Vietnam, she was singing onstage backed by the Joy Boys, when the Battle of Long Tan started on 18 August less than 4 kilometres away. Although organisers had promised her safety, she was evacuated from the area before the completion of her scheduled performances.

In the days after the battle, Joye and Little Pattie visited injured soldiers in hospital to comfort and sing to them. In 1994 she received the Vietnam Logistic and Support Medal in recognition of her services in support of the Australian Armed Forces in operations in Vietnam. From 1966, Little Pattie was performing solo in cabarets and clubs, she continued releasing singles and albums with EMI until 1970, and then signed with Joye's ATA recording label and management group. She subsequently appeared on several TV shows in America, including The Ed Sullivan Show.

As Little Pattie entered her twenties, she continued her career moving into adult contemporary music. During the 1972 Australian Federal election campaign she sang with other entertainers including Joye and Judy Stone in the Australian Labor Party's "It's Time" TV commercial, which featured future Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam. Styled as Pattie Amphlett from 1972, she released singles and albums on ATA / Festival Records and by 1977 had moved into country music. In 1973, she married Keith Jacobsen (Joy Boys' bass guitarist, ATA record producer and manager) and continued to perform on television and in clubs. Amphlett parted from Keith in 1984 and married Lawrie Thompson (a drummer) in 1986. Her repertoire included swing tunes from Gershwin, Rodgers and Hart, and Cole Porter. In 1990, she toured China as vocalist for veteran jazz musician Graeme Bell and his Allstars. As Patricia Thompson, she became an active unionist in the entertainment industry, and a vocal teacher, later coaching Nikki Webster before her performance at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. She has taught at a number of Sydney high schools: Burwood Girls High School, St. Joseph's College, Hunters Hill, Mercy College, Chatswood, and Saint Ignatius' College, Riverview.

On 27 August 2009, Little Pattie was inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Hall of Fame alongside Kev Carmody, The Dingoes, Mental As Anything and John Paul Young. She was inducted by her cousin, Christina Amphlett of Divinyls, with former Australian Idol star, Lisa Mitchell performing "He's My Blonde-Headed, Stompie Wompie, Real Gone Surfer Boy". She is currently a singing teacher at various high schools in Sydney, including St Joseph's College and Burwood Girls High School.

SINGLES

''He's My Blonde-Headed, Stompie Wompie, Real Gone Surfer Boy (#19) / Stompin' At Maroubra [with The Statesmen] 1963 HMV
''We're Gonna Have A Party Tonight (#41) / Dear Judy'' [with The Statesmen] 1964 HMV
''He's My Boy (#71) / Drag Race Johnny'' 1964 HMV
''Surfin' Time Again (#91) / Everybody Keeps On Telling Me'' 1964 HMV
''Pushin' A Good Thing Too Far (#34) / Ladies Man'' 1965 HMV
''Dance Puppet Dance (#29) / I Just Need Your Love'' 1965 HMV
''My Love / It's Love Baby (Twenty Four Hours A Day)'' 1965 HMV
''The Game Of Love / Raindrops Fall Like Teardrops (From My Heart)'' 1966 HMV
''Never Gonna Love Again / Will Ya Or Won't Ya'' 1966 HMV
''Don't Walk Away / Your Kind Of Lovin' 1966 HMV
''Let Me Dream (#81) / Love Will Come Back'' 1966 HMV
''With Love From Jenny'' [with Bryan Davies] 1966 HMV
''I'll Eat My Hat (#45) / Nothin' 1967 HMV
''If He Would Care / The Thrill Is Gone'' 1967 HMV
''I Knew Right Away / In Time'' 1967 HMV

''Sunshine Boy / 24th Day Of July'' 1968 Columbia
''Love Is A Happy Thing (#53) / Nothing You Can Do But Cry'' [with Grantley Dee] 1968 Columbia
''Someone Out There / Beautiful In The Rain'' 1968 Columbia
''Gravitation (#67) / Let The Music Start'' 1969 Columbia
''The Penthouse / We're Not Going To Take It'' 1970 Columbia
''April Fool / Seen It All Before'' 1971 ATA
''Save Me / So Softly'' 1972 ATA
''What's Your Mama's Name / Since Your Not Around'' 1973 ATA
''Kentucky Blues / Without You'' 1974 ATA
''Only If You Want To (#61) / It's All For You'' 1976 ATA
''You'll Never Know / You'll Be My Love'' 1977 ATA
''Ain't Nothin' Gonna Keep Me From You / Love Is'' 1980 Polydor

EPs

'Little Pattie With The Statesmen' 1964 HMV
'Pushin' A Good Thing Too Far' 1965 HMV
'Dance Puppet Dance' 1966 HMV
'I'll Eat My Hat' 1967 HMV

ALBUMS
'The Many Moods Of Little Pattie' 1964 HMV
'Pattie' 1965 HMV
'Little Things Like This' 1967 HMV
'Beautiful In The Rain' 1968 Columbia

'I Will Bring You Flowers' 1972 ATA
'Sunshine Of My Life' 1974 ATA

'Only If You Want To' 1977 ATA

'Moments Like This' 1995 La Brava Music

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Pattie

http://top100singles.blogspot.com.au/