Patricia (song)
Patricia is the title of a piece of popular music that was composed by the Cuban musician Pérez Prado . It was distributed both instrumentally and vocal from 1958 on record.
United States
When the first record was released, Perez Prado interpreted his composition Patricia as an instrumental piece with his orchestra himself. The production was for the American record company RCA Victor . This brought a single with the title Patricia in May 1958 under the catalog number 47-7245 on the market. After a month, the title appeared in the top 100 of the US music magazine Billbord for the first time and reached the top position on July 28th. The piece of music will thus go down in Billboard history, as it was the last title to reach number one on the three-part hit list (bestseller, radio and Top 100). When the uniform "Hot 100" list was introduced on August 4, 1958, Patricia lost its top spot to Ricky Nelson's Poor Little Fool . In total, Patricia appeared in the Top / Hot rankings for 21 weeks. In addition to the Top 100 success, Patricia was also able to place herself at number one in the rhythm and blues charts and reached number 18 in the country charts . The record sold so well that it became a million seller .
When the instrumental swam on the wave of success with Perez Prado, producer Herman Diaz Jr. tried to achieve success with a text version of Bob Marcos. Again it was RCA Victor who released the Diaz production with 19-year-old singer Ray Peterson on a single (cat. No. 47-7303) in July 1958. The hopes of those involved were not fulfilled because the Peterson version could not prevail with the audience.
International
Patricia also caused a sensation abroad . With his version, Perez Prado conquered the charts in Germany (1st place), Canada (2nd), in the Netherlands (2nd) and in Great Britain (8th). Other well-known orchestras such as Edmundo Ros in Great Britain, Franck Pourcel in France or Bert Kaempfert in Germany included Patricia in their repertoire and had the piece pressed on record.
As in the USA, attempts were made in Germany to sell the audience a sung version. Hans Fritz Beckmann provided the text . The record company Polydor first released a production with Jörg Maria Berg in October 1958 , which remained without much response. Electrola / Columbia started a second attempt with the better-known singer Chris Howland in June 1959. This publication was coupled with the revue film Tausend Sterne leuchten , which came to German cinemas a few weeks later and in which Howland appeared with Patricia . But Howland's record version was also unsuccessful.
Singles discography
| Performers | Label | published | Country (version) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Perez Prado | RCA Victor 7245 | 5/1958 | USA (i) |
| Ray Peterson | RCA Victor 7303 | 7/1958 | USA (v) |
| Francis Bay | Philips 319459 | 7/1958 | Netherlands (i) |
| Perez Prado | RCA 7245 | 8/1958 | Germany (i) |
| Bert Kämpfert | Polydor 23792 | 8/1958 | Germany (i) |
| Jörg Maria Berg | Polydor 23821 | 10/1958 | Germany (v) |
| Franck Pourcel | La voix 392 | 12/1958 | France (i) |
| Chris Howland | Columbia 21190 | 6/1959 | Germany (v) |
| Edmundo Ros | Decca 6532 | 1959 | UK (i) |
literature
- Günter Ehnert (Ed.): Hit Records British Chart Singles 1950-1965 Taurus Press 1995, ISBN 3-922542-32-8 .