Patricia Thelma Thompson (née Amphlett), (born 17 March 1949), known professionally as Little Pattie, is an Australian singer who started her career as a teenager in the early 1960s, recording surf pop, with her backing group The Statesmen. She subsequently went on to record adult contemporary music.

Billed as Little Pattie, she released her debut single in November 1963, "He's My Blonde Headed, Stompie Wompie, Real Gone Surfer Boy"

She appeared regularly on television variety programs, including Bandstand, and toured as a support act for Col Joye and the Joy Boys.

Beginnings

Patricia Thelma Amphlett was born in March 1949 in Paddington, New South Wales, and has an older brother, Joe. She was nicknamed "Little Pattie" at school as she had two taller friends also named Patricia. Parsons also taught Noeleen Batley, a popular singer called "Australia's Little Miss Sweetheart". Both persuaded her to audition for the Nine Network TV teen variety show Saturday Date, where she was a hit. which used the surf music style and a dance style craze that was known as 'The Stomp'. and "Dance Puppet Dance" (#9 in October).

On 16 August 1966, 17 years old and tall, Little Pattie became the youngest and shortest person to entertain troops during the Vietnam War. in Nui Dat. She was singing onstage backed by the Joy Boys when the Battle of Long Tan started on 18 August less than away.|Patricia Amphlett, 17 August 2009, Radio Australia Today

In the days after the battle, Joye and Little Pattie visited injured soldiers in hospital to comfort and sing to them. Little Pattie featured on Episode 1, "Bed of a Thousand Struggles 1956–1964", where she discussed her early surf music and 'The Stomp' dance craze. The TV series inspired the Long Way to the Top national concert tour during August–September 2002, which featured a host of the best Australian acts of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s including Little Pattie and Col Joye and the Joy Boys. In 2004, General Peter Cosgrove invited her to be patron of FACE (Forces Advisory Council on Entertainment) and she was invited to go to Iraq to perform for Christmas 2005 and New Year 2006. She performed at the "Salute to Vietnam Veterans" held at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra on 19 August 2006.

She is currently a singing teacher at various high schools in Sydney, including St Joseph's College and Burwood Girls High School. As from October 2023 Little Pattie was performing on the nostalgia circuit as the Good Old Days of Rock'n'roll, with fellow veterans, Digger Revell, Dinah Lee and Lucky Starr.

Personal life

In 1973, Little Pattie married Joy Boys' bass guitarist and ATA record producer and manager Keith Jacobsen, 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.

Discography

Releases by Little Pattie unless otherwise indicated:

Albums

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" border="1"

|+ List of albums, with Australian chart positions

! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:20em;" | Title

! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:20em;" | Album details

! scope="col" colspan="1" | Peak chart<br />positions

|-

! scope="col" style="text-align:center;" | <small>AUS</small><br />

|-

! scope="row" | The Many Moods of Little Pattie

|

  • Released: 1964
  • Format: LP
  • Label: His Master's Voice (OCLP-7621)

| align="center"

|-

! scope="row" | Pattie

|

  • Released: 1965
  • Format: LP
  • Label: His Master's Voice (OCLP-7651)

| align="center"

|-

! scope="row" | Little Things Like This

|

  • Released: 1965
  • Format: LP
  • Label: His Master's Voice (OCLP-7666)

| align="center"

|-

! scope="row" | The Best of Little Pattie

|

  • Released: 1968
  • Format: LP
  • Label: Columbia Records (OSX-7877)
  • Compilation album

| align="center"

|-

! scope="row" | I Will Bring You Flowers (as Pattie Amphlett)

|

  • Released: 1972
  • Format: LP
  • Label: Ata Records (SATAL-934579)

| align="center"| -

|-

! scope="row" | Sunshine of My Life (as Pattie Amphlett)

|

  • Released: 1974
  • Format: LP
  • Label: Ata Records, Mushroom Records (L-35292)

| align="center"| -

|-

! scope="row" | Only if You Want to (as Pattie Amphlett)

|

  • Released: 1977
  • Format: LP
  • Label: Ata Records, Mushroom Records (L-36298)

| align="center"| -

|-

! scope="row" | A Little Bit of Country (as Pattie Amphlett with Col Joye)

|

  • Released: 1978
  • Format: LP
  • Label: Pisces Records (L 27031)

| align="center"| 86

|-

! scope="row" | 20 Stompie Wompie Hits!

|

  • Released: 1980
  • Format: LP, Cassette
  • Label: EMI Music (EMY.504)
  • Compilation album

| align="center"| -

|}

Extended plays

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" border="1"

! Title

! Details

|-

! scope="row" | Little Pattie

|

  • Released: 1964
  • Format: 7-inch EP
  • Label: His Master's Voice (7EGO 70044)

|-

! scope="row" | Pushin' a Good Thing Too Far

|

  • Released: 1965
  • Format: 7-inch EP
  • Label: His Master's Voice (7EGO 70050)

|-

! scope="row" | Dance Puppet Dance

|

  • Released: 1965
  • Format: 7-inch EP
  • Label: His Master's Voice (7EGO 70057)

|-

! scope="row" | I'll Eat My Hat

|

  • Released: 1967
  • Format: 7-inch EP
  • Label: His Master's Voice (7EGO 70077)

|}

Singles

Charity singles

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"

|+ List of charity singles

! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:18em;"| Title

! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:1em;"| Year

! scope="col" colspan="1"| Peak chart positions

! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:30em;"| Notes

|-

! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;"| AUS<br>

|-

! scope="row"| "I Touch Myself" <span style="font-size:85%;">(as part of the I Touch Myself Project)</span>

| 2014

| 72

|style="text-align:left;"| The I Touch Myself Project launched in 2014 with a mission to encourage young women to touch themselves regularly to find early signs of cancer.

|}

Film

{| class="wikitable"

|+

!Year

!Title

!Role

!Type

|-

| 1988 || Breaking Loose: Summer City II || Moondoggy (as Little Patty Amphlett) || Feature film

|}

Television (as self)

{|class="wikitable"

!Year

!Title

!Role

!Type

|-

| rowspan=2|1964

| Ampol Stamp Quiz

| rowspan=11|Singer (as Little Pattie)

| 1 episode

|-

| Teen Time

| 1 episode

|-

| 1965–1968

| Bandstand

| 9 episodes

|-

| 1966–1967

| The Go!! Show

| 10 episodes

|-

| rowspan=2|1970

| The Ed Sullivan Show

| 1 episode

|-

| Sounds Like Us

| 1 episode

|-

| 1972

| Carry On Spike in Australia

| TV special

|-

| rowspan=2|1973

| The Bert Newton Show

| 1 episode

|-

| Matt Flinders and Friends

| 2 episodes

|-

| 1973–1975

| The Graham Kennedy Show

| 3 episodes

|-

| 1974–1975

| The Ernie Sigley Show

| 5 episodes

|-

| 1975

| The Norman Gunston Show

| Singer (as Little Pattie) (with Norman Gunston)

| 1 episode

|-

| 1976

| Bandstand '76

| rowspan=4|Singer (as Little Pattie)

| 1 episode

|-

| 1976; 1977

| Countdown

| 1 episode

|-

| 1977

| Countdown

| 1 episode

|-

| 1978

| Young Talent Time

| 1 episode

|-

| 1980

| Countdown

| Singer (as Pattie Keith)

| 1 episode

|-

| 1980; 1981

| The Don Lane Show

| rowspan=2|Singer (as Pattie Keith / Little Pattie)

| 2 episodes

|-

| 1981

| The Mike Walsh Show

| 1 episode

|-

| 1982

| The Daryl Somers Show

| Singer (as Little Pattie)

| 1 episode

|-

| 1985

| Natural Causes

| Patricia Amphlett

| TV film

|-

| 1988

| The N.S.W. Royal Bicentennial Concert

| rowspan=4|Singer (as Little Pattie)

| TV special

|-

| 1993–2005

| Good Morning Australia

|

|-

| 2002

| Long Way to the Top: Live in Concert

| Concert special

|-

| 2012

| Long Way to the Top 10th Anniversary Concert Special

| TV special

|-

| 2016

| Australian Story

| Self

| 1 episode

|-

| 2024

| Anzac Day Concert

| Singer (as Little Pattie)

| TV special

|-

| 2025

| Anzac Day Sunrise Concert

| Singer (with Normie Rowe)

| TV special

|}

Notes

|-

| 1967

| 5th

|-

| Mo Awards

| John Campbell Fellowship Award

| Little Pattie

|

|-

| 2018

| Australian Women in Music Awards

| Lifetime Achievement Award

| Patricia Amphlett

|

|-

| 2024

| Australian Women in Music Awards

| AWMA Honour Roll

| Patricia Amphlett

|

|}

Honours and awards

100px Vietnam Logistic and Support Medal

100px Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM)

References

;General

  • Little Pattie, ATA Allstar Artist profile
  • Brief biography, Long Way to the Top, ABC
  • Reach For The Stars Performing Arts Website
  • Australian War Memorial archive: copyright photographs of Pattie preparing for, and performing in, Vietnam (August 1966): [http://cas.awm.gov.au/TST2/cas_disp_pkg.pr_detailed_scr?surl=1618195656ZZMVBBDJSSHZ&acid=2000&pi_query_id=15241181&pi_umo_id=490446&ps_selected_coll=ALL&ps_view_type=BRIEF&current_page_number=1&ps_access_level=Public] [http://cas.awm.gov.au/TST2/cas_disp_pkg.pr_detailed_scr?surl=1618195656ZZMVBBDJSSHZ&acid=2000&pi_query_id=15241181&pi_umo_id=490447&ps_selected_coll=ALL&ps_view_type=BRIEF&current_page_number=1&ps_access_level=Public] [http://cas.awm.gov.au/TST2/cas_disp_pkg.pr_detailed_scr?surl=1618195656ZZMVBBDJSSHZ&acid=2000&pi_query_id=15241181&pi_umo_id=477815&ps_selected_coll=ALL&ps_view_type=BRIEF&current_page_number=1&ps_access_level=Public] [http://cas.awm.gov.au/TST2/cas_disp_pkg.pr_detailed_scr?surl=296461036ZZZFAHQQPJCFR&acid=2000&pi_query_id=15244336&pi_umo_id=477813&ps_selected_coll=ALL&ps_view_type=BRIEF&current_page_number=1&ps_access_level=Public]
  • Other copyright photos: PopArchives, Operation Catalyst, Iraq, December 2005