Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
Editorials & Other Articles
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
On this day, December 9, 1996, Patty Donahue of The Waitresses died.
Patty Donahue
Patty Donahue onstage, 1982
Background information
Birth name: Patricia Jean Donahue
Born: March 29, 1956
Origin: Akron, Ohio, U.S.
Died: December 9, 1996 (aged 40); New York, New York, U.S.
Genres: New wave
Instrument(s): Vocals
Years active: 1978–1996
Patricia Jean Donahue (March 29, 1956 – December 9, 1996) was the lead singer of the 1980s new wave group the Waitresses. She is best known for the band’s singles "I Know What Boys Like" and "Christmas Wrapping."
{snip}
Patricia Jean Donahue was born on March 29, 1956 in Akron, Ohio. Her parents divorced when she was two years old, and she told an interviewer that her mother raised her to be an independent woman.
Like her mother and sister, Donahue attended St. Joseph Academy in Cleveland. She studied at Ohio State University but had to drop out for financial reasons, and tried to finish at Cleveland State University but left there too, dissatisfied with the school. She eventually graduated from Kent State University. In her early 20s, prior to singing with the band, she did work as a waitress.
Music career
Donahue met Chris Butler while at Kent State. Butler was in the art rock band Tin Huey but he had written a number of songs that were not used in their repertoire. As he later explained in the liner notes of The Best of the Waitresses (1990), he met Donahue in a barroom challenge: "One day I write this song, and then it's noon and the liquid lunchers are packed into a ... bar. I stand on a chair and bang a beer bottle for attention and declare: 'I need a chanteuse to coo a tune. The song is funny and stupid and cool and different, and is anybody interested?' A voice in the back says 'uh-huh.' It's Patty."
Donahue was counted among the new breed of performers who developed a new standard for women in rock music during the new wave era. Although Chris Butler was the leader and songwriter, fans and music journalists often singled out Donahue as the band's primary asset. Butler wrote the lyrics but, as Rolling Stone asserted, "Donahue is no pop-band puppet". She rejected the notion that she was simply singing another person's words: "I'm relating my experiences too" she told an interviewer; "He wrote the songs, but I'm not just singing what he feels". Syndicated music columnist Hugh Wyatt considered her an exceptional artist despite her lack of formal training, calling her "one of only a handful of rock singers who has truly harnessed the attitudinal approach of post-punk".
During the recording of the second and final Waitresses' album Bruiseology, Donahue left the band and was replaced temporarily by Holly Beth Vincent before Donahue rejoined soon afterward. Donahue was sought personally by Alice Cooper to duet with him on the single "I Like Girls". He exuberantly told an interviewer: "I'd be driving in the car ... and every time I'd want to turn up the radio, it was Patty Donahue." "I Like Girls" appears on Cooper's album Zipper Catches Skin with Donahue credited for "vocals and sarcasm".
Soon Donahue stepped away from performance altogether. She took work as a talent scout for MCA Publishing, and later became an A&R rep for MCA Records.
Death
Grave of Patty Donahue and her mother Joan
On December 9, 1996, Donahue, who had been a heavy smoker most of her adult life, died of lung cancer in New York at the age of 40. Donahue was interred in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Brook Park, a suburb of Cleveland.
{snip}
Patty Donahue onstage, 1982
Background information
Birth name: Patricia Jean Donahue
Born: March 29, 1956
Origin: Akron, Ohio, U.S.
Died: December 9, 1996 (aged 40); New York, New York, U.S.
Genres: New wave
Instrument(s): Vocals
Years active: 1978–1996
Patricia Jean Donahue (March 29, 1956 – December 9, 1996) was the lead singer of the 1980s new wave group the Waitresses. She is best known for the band’s singles "I Know What Boys Like" and "Christmas Wrapping."
{snip}
Patricia Jean Donahue was born on March 29, 1956 in Akron, Ohio. Her parents divorced when she was two years old, and she told an interviewer that her mother raised her to be an independent woman.
Like her mother and sister, Donahue attended St. Joseph Academy in Cleveland. She studied at Ohio State University but had to drop out for financial reasons, and tried to finish at Cleveland State University but left there too, dissatisfied with the school. She eventually graduated from Kent State University. In her early 20s, prior to singing with the band, she did work as a waitress.
Music career
Donahue met Chris Butler while at Kent State. Butler was in the art rock band Tin Huey but he had written a number of songs that were not used in their repertoire. As he later explained in the liner notes of The Best of the Waitresses (1990), he met Donahue in a barroom challenge: "One day I write this song, and then it's noon and the liquid lunchers are packed into a ... bar. I stand on a chair and bang a beer bottle for attention and declare: 'I need a chanteuse to coo a tune. The song is funny and stupid and cool and different, and is anybody interested?' A voice in the back says 'uh-huh.' It's Patty."
Donahue was counted among the new breed of performers who developed a new standard for women in rock music during the new wave era. Although Chris Butler was the leader and songwriter, fans and music journalists often singled out Donahue as the band's primary asset. Butler wrote the lyrics but, as Rolling Stone asserted, "Donahue is no pop-band puppet". She rejected the notion that she was simply singing another person's words: "I'm relating my experiences too" she told an interviewer; "He wrote the songs, but I'm not just singing what he feels". Syndicated music columnist Hugh Wyatt considered her an exceptional artist despite her lack of formal training, calling her "one of only a handful of rock singers who has truly harnessed the attitudinal approach of post-punk".
During the recording of the second and final Waitresses' album Bruiseology, Donahue left the band and was replaced temporarily by Holly Beth Vincent before Donahue rejoined soon afterward. Donahue was sought personally by Alice Cooper to duet with him on the single "I Like Girls". He exuberantly told an interviewer: "I'd be driving in the car ... and every time I'd want to turn up the radio, it was Patty Donahue." "I Like Girls" appears on Cooper's album Zipper Catches Skin with Donahue credited for "vocals and sarcasm".
Soon Donahue stepped away from performance altogether. She took work as a talent scout for MCA Publishing, and later became an A&R rep for MCA Records.
Death
Grave of Patty Donahue and her mother Joan
On December 9, 1996, Donahue, who had been a heavy smoker most of her adult life, died of lung cancer in New York at the age of 40. Donahue was interred in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Brook Park, a suburb of Cleveland.
{snip}
This is such a wonderful tune. It should be on Vevo, but I can't find that one right now.
The Waitresses - Christmas Wrapping (Music Video)
scamparoo
10.6K subscribers
5,686,325 views Dec 1, 2014
Clip video for Christmas Wrapping by The Waitresses using some of their other videos and live performances. Originally taken from the 1981 album A Christmas Record on ZE Records.
scamparoo
10.6K subscribers
5,686,325 views Dec 1, 2014
Clip video for Christmas Wrapping by The Waitresses using some of their other videos and live performances. Originally taken from the 1981 album A Christmas Record on ZE Records.
The Waitresses I Know What Boys Like
stuck0n80s
660 subscribers
23,902 views Mar 10, 2009
The Waitresses I Know What Boys Like
stuck0n80s
660 subscribers
23,902 views Mar 10, 2009
The Waitresses I Know What Boys Like
Sat Dec 9, 2023: On this day, December 9, 1996, Patty Donahue of The Waitresses died.
Fri Dec 9, 2022: On this day, December 9, 1996, Patty Donahue of The Waitresses died.