#16: Till You Come Back To Me by Patti Page

City: St. John’s, NL
Radio Station: VOCM
Peak Month: April 1966
Peak Position in St. John’s ~ #4
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #130
YouTube: “Till You Come Back To Me”
Lyrics: N/A

Patti Page was born on November 8, 1927. The New York Times writes “She was born Clara Ann Fowler in Claremore, Oklahoma, the second youngest of 11 children of a railroad laborer. Her mother and older sisters picked cotton. She often went without shoes. Because the family saved money on electricity, the only radio shows Miss Page heard as a child were Grand Old Opry, The Eddie Cantor Show and Chicago Barn Dance.”

When she was 13-years-old, Fowler won a scholarship to study art, and got work in a radio station art department in Tulsa. But someone at the station had heard her sing at a school assembly. Clara Ann Fowler was asked her to audition to replace a singer on a show called ”The Meet Patti Page Show” sponsored by the Page Milk Company. She got the job, becoming the fictional Patti Page of the airwaves.

She sang traditional pop music in a style common in the pre-rock ‘n roll era. In the 1950s the 5’4″ Patti Page was the top-charting female vocalist and best-selling female artist. In a six decade span she sold in excess of 100 million records as a recording artist. At her live performances she was introduced as  “the Singin’ Rage, Miss Patti Page.” In 1947 she signed with Mercury Records, and became Mercury’s first successful female artist charting several Top 20 hits in the late 1940s. Her first hit single was “Confess” in 1947, which climbed to #12. In 1948 she recorded the Cole Porter song “So In Love” from the Broadway musical Kiss Me, Kate. The single peaked at #13 on the Billboard pop chart. In early 1950, Page had a #11 hit with “With My Eyes Wide Open, I’m Dreaming”. The song was a cover of a 1934 pop standard recorded by Ruth Etting.

As well, in 1950, Page had her first Top Ten hit, “I Don’t Care If the Sun Don’t Shine” and two number one hits, “All My Love (Bolero)”, and her signature song, “Tennessee Waltz”. The latter became the fourth official song of Tennessee in 1965. She had two more number one singles, “I Went To Your Wedding” (1952) and “(How Much Is That) Doggie In The Window” (1953). She charted 14 additional million-selling singles between 1950 and 1965.

The string of Top Ten hits between 1950 and 1958 released by Patti Page included “Mockin’ Bird Hill”, “Detour”, “Changing Partners”, and “Cross Over The Bridge”. Unlike most pop music singers, Page drew from country music styles and infused them into many of her songs. This led to her crossover appeal.

However by the mid-50s on the pop charts it was a different story. With the coming of Elvis Presley and rock ‘n roll music saturating the airwaves, Patti Page struggled to succeed from 1955 onward. In 1956 “Allegheny Moon” peaked at #2 on the Billboard pop chart, but “Go On With The Wedding” and “Mama From The Train” were kept out of the Top Ten (the latter at #11 on Billboard and #14 on the Cashbox Best Selling Singles chart). In 1957 she had a #3 song on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Old Cape Cod”. In addition, the B-side to “Old Cape Cod” titled “Wondering” climbed to #17 on CKWX’s Fabulous Fifty in Vancouver (BC).

Also in 1957, Page’s recording of “A Poor Man’s Roses (or a Rich Man’s Gold)” stalled at #27 on the Billboard pop chart. In 1958, Patti Page had one more Top Ten “Left Right Out Of Your Heart”, followed by a 7-year drought of cracking the Top 10. However, Hull, Quebec, was one of the radio markets where Patti Page continued to chart well. This was the case with her 1959 single release “The Walls Have Ears”.

In 1960. Patti Page had a #31 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 titled “One of Us (Will Weep Tonight)”. Patti Page hosted her own TV show in the 1950’s and starred in the 1960 film Elmer Gantry, and in 1961 in the film Dondi, adapted from a comic strip. In 1962 Patti Page got picked to record the title song for the film Boys’ Night Out. Page was also an actor in the film. And in 1962, the rockabilly-tinged tune “Most People Get Married” climbed to #27.

In 1965, she had her final Top Ten hit on the pop charts with “Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte”. Between 1966 and 1982, Patti Page released over thirty singles. Only one of these, “Gentle On My Mind”, cracked the Top 90 singles on the Billboard Hot 100. Like most of her releases, “Till You Come Back To Me” failed to crack the Hot 100. However, it was a hit in St. John’s, Newfoundland.

“Till You Come Back To Me” was written by George Motola and Rickie Page. George Motola was born in 1919 in Hartford (CT). He wrote “Goodnight My Love” first recorded by Jessie Belvin in 1956. It was later a minor hit for the McGuire Sisters, Ray Peterson, The Fleetwoods, and a Top 30 hit for Paul Anka in 1969. Motola also wrote “Donnie” for The Bermudas in 1964, and songs for Eddie Cochran and Sunny Gale. He worked as an A&R man for several small record labels before owning several small independent labels. He died in 1991 at the age of 61.

Rickie Page was born in 1929 in rural Oklahoma. Her given name was June Evelyn Kuykendall. She was one of five children. She recalled in an interview in 2005 that she began singing from the age of two. She remembers singing along to the radio, as her family couldn’t afford a record player. They also had hoe downs. She moved to Fresno, California, and worked at a Jewish Deli. It was there that she met George Motola, an LA producer of R&B singer Jessie Belvin, The Shields and other acts. Motola left her a five dollar tip for serving him a milkshake. They were subsequently married and she began to write songs credited to Riki Page. In 1957 Page was the only singer for a recording act billed as The Georgettes. When the Georgettes appeared in concert, several other women would be hired to perform though they were never at the recording studio. The Georgettes were named after George Motola.

In 1962, Page was a backing singer for Darlene Love’s recording of “He’s A Rebel“. As well, she was a member of the Crypt-Kickers, who backed Bobby “Boris” Pickett on his number-one hit in the fall of 1962 titled “Monster Mash”. The Crypt-Kickers also included Leon Russell and Gary S. Paxton. In late 1962 Rickie Page was the lead vocalist in the Majorettes, backed by her three young daughters. They released “White Levi’s (Tennis Shoes…Surfin’ Hat and Big Plaid ‘Pendleton Shirt’)”. In early 1963 the song charted to #3 in San Francisco, #5 in San Jose (CA), #9 in Modesto (CA), and the Top 20 in several radio markets in Texas and New Hampshire.

In 1964 Ricky Page sang backup for The Bermudas, a girl group comprised of her and George Motola’s three daughters. She appeared on Hee Haw in 1967 and in 1968 did a cover of the Jeannie C. Riley song “Harper Valley P.T.A.” In 2005 when she was interviewed by blogger Dik de Heer, Ricky Page said she was “still writing and singing sporadically.”

“Till You Come Back To Me” was arranged by Ernie Freeman, who had a number-one R&B hit with the instrumental “Raunchy” in 1957. Freeman also wrote “Percolator Twist” which was a Top Ten hit for Billy Joe & The Checkmates in 1962. In 1967, Freeman arranged “It Must Be Him” for Vicki Carr, and conducted “The World We Knew” for Frank Sinatra; “This Is My Song” and “The Other Man’s Grass Is Always Greener” both for Petula Clark; “My Melody Of Love” for Bobby Vinton; As well as recordings by Art Garfunkel, The Vogues, Dean Martin, and many others. Freeman died in 1981 at the age of 58. The arrangement for “Till You Come Back To Me” resembled many pop hits of the time and was quite a departure for Patti Page. The lyrics tell of a gal who is longing, waiting for her man. She’ll be lonely until he comes back home to her.

“Till You Come Back To Me” reached #4 in St. John’s (NL), and #21 in Charlotte (NC).

Between 1970 and 1982 Page had 13 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. In a 2003 article in the New York Times, it was reported that at age 75 Patti Page was appearing in 50 concerts a year. In 2012 Patti Page stopped touring. She died in 2013 of heart and lung disease.

April 8, 2026
Ray McGinnis

References:
“Patti Page Obituary: Multimillion-selling Vocalist Dubbed the ‘Singing Rage’,” Guardian, London, January 3, 2013.
Bernard Weinraub, “Patti Page, Proving That Simple Songs Endure,” New York Times, August 12, 2003.
Dik De Heer, “Ricky Page Interview: This Is My Story,” 2005.
The Georgettes, “Love Like A Fool“, Ebb Records, 1957.
Rickie Page, “I Understand Just How You Feel“, Colin Records, 1961.
The Majorettes, “White Levi’s (Tennis Shoes…Surfin’ Hat and Big Plaid ‘Pendleton Shirt’)” Troy Records, 1962
The Bermudas, “Donnie“, American Bandstand, May 2, 1964.
Dik de Heer, “George Motola,” Black Cat, The Netherlands.

Newfoundland’s Only Official Survey VOCM 590- AM St. John’s (NFLD) | April 15, 1966