Paay, Patricia (7th April 1949-Present)

She is a singer and television personality born Patricia Anglaia Margareth Paaij in Rotterdam, Netherlands, whose sister is the singer Yvonne Keeley.

When she was a child she took ballet lessons and studied the piano but concentrating more on the singing aspect of things she performed with her father’s jazz group, The Evergreens, while still a teenager. She made her debut with them in 1965 and not too much later she formed a group with Anita Meyer and her sister Yvonne who became much sought after as backing singers.

In 1967 she got her first recording contract and appeared on television for the first time. That same year, her single “You’re Not Hip” became a national hit and she was soon touring The Netherlands, Germany and Belgium. This success was short lived though as none of the ensuing singles released, either in her own name or under pseudonyms such as Honey Bee and Harborlites, saw the same popularity.

She went back to working as a backing vocalist, sometimes with her sister. She appeared on commercials and did sessions with groups such as Golden Earring, The Cats and Tee Set.

In 1971 she decided to put together her own group so formed Himalaya with Niko Christiansen, Okkie Huysdens and Gerard Visser. They released the single “Put Your Hand in the Hand” which was a hit in Sweden but only had mediocre success in The Netherlands. In 1973 Himalaya evolved into Heart and they saw chart success with “Hang On” and “Love Maker”. They disbanded in 1975 after Patricia decided she wanted to concentrate on her solo career.

She went to Abbey Road Studios in London to record her solo album Beam of Light which was produced by her sister Yvonne’s boyfriend Steve Harley and had performances by acclaimed session musicians such as the bass player Herbie Flowers and the drummer Stewart Elliott. Unfortunately the album wasn’t as successful as she would have wanted.

This didn’t hold her back though as in 1977 she released the album The Lady Is a Champ which produced the hit songs “Livin’ Without You”, “Now (Is The Moment)” and “Someday My Prince Will Come”. Also from the album came “Who’s That Lady With My Man” which became her biggest hit at home and abroad.

Very active in the studio she released Touch Malibu in 1978, which gave her the further single releases of “Malibu” and a duet with her sister Yvonne, “The Best Friend I Know”. In 1979 she hit the charts again with the award winning “ You Make It Alright”, which was a duet with the singer Jacques Kloes.

In 1981 her album Playmate came out and even more hits arrived in the form of “Saturday Nights” and “Who Let the Heartache In”. She repeated these successes with the 1983 album Dream World and the hits “Tomorrow” and “Solitaire”.

1983 was a busy year for Patricia when she, Yvonne and Sylvana van Veen (who had been preceded by Patricia and Yvonne’s mother) sang in the trio The Star Sisters who were thought up by Jaap Eggermont of Stars on 45 fame. They released the Andrews Sisters tribute “Stars on 45 Proudly Presents The Star Sisters” which reached the top of the charts. The singles “Hooray For Hollywood” and “A Tribute to Marilyn Monroe” followed this up and later they released the album Danger. The trio split up in 1987 after their popularity began to wane.

She went back into the studio as a solo artist and released the single “Stop Me” but this met with much less interest than she had been used to. This would be a time of change for her though and after her partner Adam Curry had landed a job with MTV in the United States she relocated. Her busy working schedule quietened down but she still managed to perform a duet with Rob de Nijs called “The World” which entered the Dutch charts and bring out the 1995 album Time Of My Life. The album found her singing another duet, this time with David Hasselhoff on the title track.

After spending several years in America, Patricia and Adam returned to The Netherlands with ideas about having their own reality show, “Adam’s Family” which came from the inspiration of the already successful “The Osbournes”.

She backed out of the music scene for a while but returned in 2000 when she performed on a jazz recording with her father. Also in 2000 she and her sister got together to establish the company La Paay Cosmetics. The company came to an end in early 2005.

2007 came around and The Star Sisters returned with a remixed version of their Stars on 45 single and made an appearance on the Dutch Version of Dancing With The Stars. Two years later and she and Adam got divorced, with her living in their home in London while he returned to America. Although dealing with her break-up, 2009 also had an upside to it when she became a judge on the Dutch shows Popstars and Holland’s got Talent. She also released a remix of “Who’s That Lady With My Man” and the duet “Verliefd” with Diego. She ended 2009 by appearing in Playboy for the third time and becoming the oldest ever covergirl.

Sources:

Paay, Patricia (7th April 1949-Present)

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