Ottilie Patterson

Ottilie Patterson

Patterson (& Chris Barber Band),
The Netherlands, 14 Febr. 1957
Background information
Birth name Anna Ottilie Patterson
Born (1932-01-31)January 31, 1932
Comber, County Down, Northern Ireland
Died 20 June 2011(2011-06-20) (aged 79)
Genres
Occupation(s) Singer
Instruments
Years active 1955–1983
Labels
Associated acts Chris Barber's Jazz Band

Ottilie Patterson (31 January 1932 – 20 June 2011) was a Northern Irish blues singer best known for her performances and recordings with the Chris Barber Jazz Band in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Biography

Anna Ottilie Patterson was born in Comber, County Down, Northern Ireland, on 31 January 1932. She was the youngest child of four. Her father, Joseph Patterson, was from Northern Ireland, and her mother, Jūlija Jēgers, was from Latvia. They had met in southern Russia.[1] Ottilie's name is an Anglicised form of the Latvian name "Ottilja".[1] Both sides of the family were musical, and Ottilie trained as a classical pianist from the age of eleven, but never received any formal training as a singer.[2]

In 1949 Ottilie went to study art at Belfast College of Technology where a fellow student introduced her to the music of Bessie Smith, Jelly Roll Morton and Meade Lux Lewis.[3] In 1951 she began singing with Jimmy Compton's Jazz Band, and in August 1952 she formed the Muskrat Ramblers with Al Watt and Derek Martin.

In the summer of 1954, while holidaying in London, Ottilie met Beryl Bryden, who introduced her to the Chris Barber Jazz Band.[4]

She joined the Barber band full-time on 28 December 1954,[1] and her first public appearance was at the Royal Festival Hall on January 9, 1955.[5] Between 1955 and 1962 Ottilie toured extensively with the Chris Barber Jazz Band and issued many recordings: those featuring her on every track include the EPs Blues (1955), That Patterson Girl (1955), That Patterson Girl Volume 2 (1956), Ottilie (1959), and the LP Chris Barber's Blues Book (1961); she also appeared on numerous Chris Barber records.

She and Barber were married in 1959.[1] They divorced in 1983.[1]

From approximately 1963 she began to suffer throat problems and ceased to appear and record regularly with Chris Barber, officially retiring from the band in 1973. During this period she recorded some non-jazz/blues material such as settings of Shakespeare (with Chris Barber) and in 1969 issued a solo LP 3000 years with Ottilie which is now much sought by collectors.

In early 1983 she and Chris Barber gave a series of concerts around London, which were recorded for the LP Madame Blues and Doctor Jazz (1984). This is her most recently issued recording.

Ottilie is buried in Movilla Abbey Cemetery, Newtownards, Northern Ireland in the Patterson family grave. Her gravestone, marked Ottilia Anna Barber, is by the wall adjacent to the car park.

In February 2012 a plaque marking her birthplace in a terraced house in Comber was unveiled, and the same evening a sell-out musical Tribute was performed at the La Mon Hotel in Comber.

Discography

Dates below are issue dates - if the recording date is very different it is noted. Deleted CDs have the catalogue number struck through. The principal source for this discography is Bielderman and Purser's Chris Barber discography.[6]

Singles

EPs

Solo LPs

LPs with Chris Barber

Other LPs featuring Ottilie Patterson

CDs

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Ottilie Patterson - Telegraph". The Daily Telegraph. London. 15 July 2011. Retrieved 26 December 2011.
  2. ↑ 3000 years with Ottilie sleeve notes, Marmalade 608 011, 1969
  3. ↑ Irish Folk, Trad & Blues - A Secret History, Colin Harper & Trevor Hodgett, 2005 ISBN 1-901447-40-5, p159
  4. ↑ Chris Barber's Blues Book - Volume One sleeve notes, Columbia 33SX 1333, 1961
  5. ↑ Vacher, Peter (8 July 2011). "Ottilie Patterson obituary". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 26 December 2011.
  6. ↑ A Life in Music: Chris Barber discography 1949-2001, Gerard Bielderman & Julian Purser, published by Gerard Bielderman, December 2001
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