Patricia Thelma Thompson (née Amphlett) OAM (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.
[1][2][3] Billed as Little Pattie, she released her debut single in November 1963, "He's My Blonde Headed, Stompie Wompie, Real Gone Surfer Boy"[1][3] which peaked at No.
[1] Little Pattie's debut single was the double A-sided "He's My Blonde Headed, Stompie Wompie, Real Gone Surfer Boy" / "Stompin' at Maroubra", both co-written by Jay Justin and record producer Joe Halford,[9][10][11][6] which used the surf music style and a dance style craze that was known as 'The Stomp'.
[13] On 16 August 1966, 17 years old and 147 cm (4 ft 10 in) tall, Little Pattie became the youngest and shortest person to entertain troops during the Vietnam War.
She was singing onstage backed by the Joy Boys when the Battle of Long Tan started on 18 August less than 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) away.
[5] From 1966, Little Pattie was performing solo in cabarets and clubs, she continued releasing singles and albums with EMI until 1970, and then signed with Joye's ATA recording label and management group.
[2] Styled as Pattie Amphlett from 1972, she released singles and albums on ATA / Festival Records and by 1977 had moved into country music.
[1] In 1973, she married Keith Jacobsen (Joy Boys' bass guitarist, ATA record producer and manager) and continued to perform on television and in clubs.
[14] As Patricia Thompson, she became an active unionist in the entertainment industry,[2] and a vocal teacher, later coaching Nikki Webster before her performance at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.
[16] 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.
[2] In addition to her music career, Little Pattie was a member of the Council for the Australian War Memorial from 1995 until 1998, and received an Order of Australia Medal in 2003 for her services (as national President) to the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance and (as vice-president) to Actors' Equity.
[3] 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.
[21][22][23] She was inducted by her cousin, Christina Amphlett of Divinyls, with former Australian Idol star, Lisa Mitchell performing "He's My Blonde-Headed, Stompie Wompie, Real Gone Surfer Boy".
[citation needed] 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.
[2] Little Pattie received a Medal of the Order of Australia on 9 June 2003 for her services to the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (as National President) and to Actors Equity (as vice-president).
[20] 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.