Top ten Pats in rock and pop

[Stumpy Pepys]

[Benjm]

[Stumpy Pepys]

Nearly forgot …

[Satchmo Distel]

Patricia Ann Cole aka P.P. Arnold, often addressed as Pat by friends and colleagues

[Kevin S]

[Stumpy Pepys]

[laverte]

Patricia Kaas had a strange career. Her first two albums are interesting, a slick take on the cabaret style which showcased her warm, jazzy voice. Then she got teamed up with dreary songwriters like J-J Goldman and Pascal Obispo and made a ton of 90s soft-soul dreck, which of course the French public lapped up. She went to America to record an album of blues covers in English, which was never officially released; it's actually rather good, she adds a layer of silk and shine to the muddy old standards and lends them a delicate steeliness. After that she was repackaged as a typical big-throated belter churning out sub-comédie musicale ballads, adopting a kind of Céline Dion fragile little bird personality. She still manages to add a touch of class to the work but it's naff as hell. Finally, once her label had dropped her, she went back to doing the stuff she obviously loves, the blues-cabaret stuff, and touring extensively, which is what she has always done best.

French Pats:
Patricia Kaas > Patrick Saint-Eloi (soft-voiced zouk singer) > Patricia Carli (Non ho l'eta) > Patrick Hernandez (Born to be alive) > Patrick Bruel (poker-playing pied-noir actor-singer) > Patrick Fiori (Corsican eurovision loser turned musical comedy performer).

[ursus arctos]

You have rarely been more right.

I don't know Fiori, but shudder at the idea of him being ranked below Bruel

[Jah Womble]

Not too many here that I'd place in a 'Top Ten' of anything*.

Others for consideration:
Pat Boone
Pat Metheny
Pat DiNizio (The Smithereens)
Pat Kane (Hue & Cry...yeah, I know)

I imagine that Pat Phoenix must've cut a record at some point? (Failing that, she appears on the sleeve of The Smiths' Shakespeare's Sister.)

(*Bar Patti Labelle, who's great.)

[Sporting]

Pat-trip Dispenser.

[Stumpy Pepys]

Pat Metheny

I thought of him, but decided he was too much of a jazzman to be included in 'rock and pop'.

[Nocturnal Submission]

Did Northern Ireland have a World Cup song in 1982 or 1986? If so, Pat Jennings must have warbled along. Or possibly something with Chas 'n' Dave for Spurs.

I was rather hoping that Pat and Frank Butcher had recorded some syrupy ballad during their EastEnders heyday but if they did the Internet has chosen to draw a veil over it.

[Benjm]

laverte's mention of Patrick Hernandez made me think of Patrick Cowley, best known for his epic remix of I Feel Love.

[Stumpy Pepys]

I was rather hoping that Pat and Frank Butcher had recorded some syrupy ballad during their EastEnders heyday but if they did the Internet has chosen to draw a veil over it.

Babs beat her to it.

[laverte]

I don't know Fiori, but shudder at the idea of him being ranked below Bruel

Aye, don't bother. The clip of him and Bruel emoting in Corsican to which i linked is more than anyone needs to hear.

i might have to rethink that ordering though. Bruel-Benguigui (as he's now known officially, having chosen to add his birth name to his stage name) has always sung turgid material but until recently he seemed like one of the good guys, and he's a decent actor. He became a bit of a hero in the 1990s when he refused to play gigs in towns that had elected a mayor from the Front National. In fairness, he continues to piss off Le Pen. However, he is a strong defender of Israel's blockade of Gaza; he has undergone the time-honoured shift to the right since becoming matey with Sarkozy; and he's just been #MeToo'd by multiple women in circumstances that don't look promising for him.

I just noticed that Bruel-Benguigui and Fiori sometimes sing in Corsican, Kaas sings in German, and Hernandez is known for a gay anthem sung in English. Carli is Italian and St-Eloi is from the Antilles. i described them as French Pats but it's not the kind of French that Le Pen would approve of.

I forgot the Swiss Patrick Juvet of I love America fame. He made Hernandez seem butch!

[Heliotrope]

Patty Donahue of The Waitresses. She should displace Pat Dinizio of The Smithereens, ruled out of any top list for being a Republican.

[3 Colours Red]

Mics, amps and instruments will all need to have been PAT tested... ahem.

[Felicity, I guess so]

Pat O’Banton, The Irish reggae singer

[Jah Womble]

I thought of him, but decided he was too much of a jazzman to be included in 'rock and pop'.

True, but he had a Top 20 hit with Bowie in 1985.

Did Northern Ireland have a World Cup song in 1982 or 1986? If so, Pat Jennings must have warbled along. Or possibly something with Chas 'n' Dave for Spurs.

Big Pat pre-dated Chas 'n' Dave's Spurs oeuvre, but featured on Yer Man - Norn Iron's 1982 World Cup anthem as sung by Dana:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHg2_vCmZQQ

Patty Donahue of The Waitresses. She should displace Pat Dinizio of The Smithereens, ruled out of any top list for being a Republican.

They're both deceased so their political alliances cancel one another out anyway.

[slackster]

For a popular name, there’s a surprising paucity of Pats in pop world, isn’t there?

[ad hoc]

One of the Doobie Brothers is a Patrick.

[Sean of the Shed]

Anagrams of Pat Sharp include Pap Shart and Shat Parp, both of which are equally appropriate.

[Benjm]

There's Paddy McAloon, of course, even though he's a bit more old school in his preferred diminutive.

[ursus arctos]

[ursus arctos]