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Show business came naturally to Patt Holt. She grew up amid glamor and luxury on the West Coast, where her father, Harry Quinn, managed many hotels, including the famed Hollywood Roosevelt, where the family lived for several years.
Such were the times it was not unusual for Patt to rub elbows with celebrities – big band musicians, actors, and even her father’s friend, Howard Hughes.
This impressed the young girl with a growing penchant for song and dance, and she thought that someday she might somehow be involved in entertainment.
Today, Patt Holt runs a double-tiered talent agency, based in St. Charles. Quinn Productions books local and national bands for any occasion, from weddings to festivals to nightclubs to ampitheaters. Through Quinn Productions, she sent as many as 50 groups to military bases throughout the world from l988 until 9/ll.
Still going strong after nearly 40 years, the Patt Holt Singers entertain throughout the Midwest and beyond. The ensemble comprises three distinct groups, ranging from kids to adults, and offering three show options – a Veterans Show, a Rock Show, and a 1904 World’s Fair Show. Entertainment style and content appeals to veterans groups and they have been invited to the White House to perform on several occasions. Several Patt Holt Singers alumni have gone on to become accomplished musicians, actors, models and opera singers.
Patt Holt graduated from the University of New Mexico and went on to do graduate work in business at both Maryville University and NEMO State, now called Truman University. She has received numerous awards for her work with The Patt Holt Singers groups including a Lifetime Achievement Award from the city of St. Charles, and multiple commendations from the Department of Defense for her USO Shows.
In addition to running Quinn Productions and the Singers Groups, Patt worked for 10 years part-time for TWA and American Airlines. She has two daughters; Jennifer works for Express Scripts, and Lynn is a staffer at Alco Controls, a division of Emerson Electric. Margaret is a daughter deceased. To top off a busy schedule, Patt enjoys bridge, gardening and spending time with a grandson, Sammy. Presently, she is writing a book about her life and times.
Looking at your website, I see what you have a large pool of local talent available. How does it work? Someone calls and says, “What do you have in a bagpipe player?” Or, “I need something in a Motown cover band”?
“Exactly. Then I contact the band or performer and, once I see their availability and their price, then I get back with the client. If the client still wants them, I send a contract to each party.”
That’s interesting, and you got into it a quite a while back?
Yeah, 30-something years ago, I can’t even remember. You see, the Patt Holt Singers were going first, then people would call me and say they don’t need the Patt Holt Singers for this particular event, but they needed a dance band, or they needed a jazz band. So I started adding performers to my list and pretty soon I started to have quite a thing going. And it just grew and grew. Then, I got calls for national acts and so I booked national acts, too. I can book anyone, anywhere.”
There are many recognizable names on your list of locals. Do you look them up, or do they look you up?
“Both. If I see a band that is good, I usually give them my card. Then they call.”
Are you only involved in musical entertainment?
“I do comedians, magicians, and clowns – what we call ‘walk-around entertainment’. People who walk around, blowing up balloons, doing magic tricks, or being a mime, whatever.”
In a year, how many performances are you responsible for?
“I’d say a hundred, maybe more. Sometimes we do five a week, sometimes two a week, sometimes none. I’m talking about the Patt Holt Singers, now. In the past, we performed regularly at conventions that came to St. Louis. Almost anything there was, we did shows for it. We’ve performed at the State Fair for several years in a row, and we’ve been to the White House five times. But with the economy the way it is, there are less shows now than there used to be.”
The Patt Holt Singers is your baby, your lifelong work, yes?
“It sure turned out to be that way. It will be 40 years next year.”
How many comprise the Patt Holt Singers in all their various incarnations?
In the ‘Just Kids’ group, who are all between ages 8 and 14, there are 16. ‘The Connection’ has about 20, and they are ages 14 to 21. The Patt Holt Singers has about 14 adults.”
How does one audition for The Patt Holt Singers?
“We post our audition times and you show up to sing and dance. Yes, we dance. We don’t require that you be a great dancer, but you do have to be a good mover.”
What is your cut for the service of hooking up performing artists with venues?
“I don’t get a cut unless I book it and, if I book it, then I get 10 or 15 percent. It depends on the circumstances.”
Is there a standard contract or do you tailor the contract to the situation?
“I have a standard contract which guarantees certain rights to both parties, which guarantees the artist is going to get paid. It may or may not contain a cancellation clause for weather. The buyer takes the risk, that is the standard, and if it rains the buyer has to suffer the result of that. The artist still gets paid unless I have arranged something else. If you remember back to Kenny Rogers, he was scheduled for the VP Fair when it rained and they still had to pay him his $50,000.”
And he didn’t have to perform at all?
“Right, but he had to be there. He had to give up his day. You can’t know in January if it is going to rain in July, but you book that date and it is the buyer’s risk that you don’t know if it’s going to rain or not. There is rain insurance available for festivals. It’s a bit pricey, but it’s not as pricey as losing the act entirely. But, you know, a lot of the fairs and other outdoor venues have suffered just this summer due to the heat. Attendance has been down a lot. Then, you add the poor economy, and you see that the kind of business I have has really been hurt. People are not throwing lavish parties and companies are not spending on entertainment like they used to do. So, really, bad weather cancellations are probably the least of my worries.”
Tiny Tim, you booked him?
“Oh yes [laughs]. I booked him for a week at the Playboy Club. This was twenty years ago at least. That was quite an experience, I’ll tell you. I had to pick him up at the airport and babysit him for the whole week.”
Did he stay at your house?
“No, no. I wouldn’t have anyone at my house. They put him up at the South County Ramada, where the playboy club was at the time. They gave him a room, they paid all of the expenses, it was their act. I was the caretaker, so to speak, and Tiny Tim was hilarious, just hilarious. He was just a really strange man. He called me ‘Miss Patt’ and I called him ‘Mister Tim.’ I took him to the grocery store once. We got inside, he told me, ‘Wait here, I’m going to do this by myself.’ He was a huge man, and he attracted a lot of attention. People would look at me and mouth, ‘Is that Tiny Tim?’ I would notice that while shopping, he would pick up strange things, like a shopping cart full of paper towels and fruit and nuts. I mean, he probably had 50 rolls of paper towels sticking out of that cart. I finally couldn’t stand it so I asked, ‘Mister Tim, why do you have so many rolls of paper towels?’ He said, ‘I can’t use the towels at the hotel, they are germy.’ He was germ-a-phobe. On the other hand, he wanted to go over on the East Side, and I told the Ramada I was not going to take him to the East Side.”
He’s at the Playboy Club and he wants to go to the East Side?
“Exactly. I took him to radio and TV interviews, and we met a lot of people. He was never very good, but he was a unique person and people wanted to see him.”
And some of your favorites that you have met?
“I put Charlie Daniels up there, because he is so genuine and so friendly. Most of the older acts like his, who’ve been out there a while, they’re the ones who are really nice. Some of the new bands really think they are something and get a little attitude, but that mellows out after a while. Most of the performers on the road are very decent people, most of them. There are some that are not, but I’m not going to name them.”
Oh, come on, they’re public figures.
“There was an artist who was once very popular, who thinks she is the Queen of Everything still, and she didn’t want to speak to anybody like me. I’ve also had people who wouldn’t give autographs. I’ll cite one of them, only because he’s gone now. Porter Wagoner was big, but he was just too busy to sign autographs for his fans. Now, at least, that was my experience here at the [State] Fair. And though Porter did well, I never booked him again, because for people in these little towns that Fair is their Big Deal, and having these artists is a big occasion for them, and they want to have their autograph or shake hands or something. The artists that sit out there for hours and greet the public, those are the ones that I love dearly, and who usually last the longest in this business. Loretta Lynn, for instance. A lovely lady who would sign autographs forever. And that is what they should do, give back to the people who gave them their stardom.”
When you see raw talent, say, someone auditioning for your group, do you try to help that talent flourish? Would you offer to give them voice lessons?
“I don’t teach voice lessons. They have to get that on their own. I teach them how to use what they have learned at the voice lessons. I teach them how to be a performer. That isn’t something that you can learn at the studio taking your dance lessons or vocal lessons. Performing is entirely different than just singing. It is selling your song, it’s making the audience happy, and that is what I try to teach: How to communicate yourself to your audience. Just having a good voice is not enough. Granted, there are areas of performance – the opera, for one – where a good voice is everything, but even then they have to act and do the things that are necessary to surround their voice with whatever the act is. I try to help our people grow in their skills, and a lot of our kids do audition for other shows. You see them in the Young People Theaters, and performing at The Muny and in the Lindenwood [University] productions.”
You’ve had a long run in the business, and have discovered a lot of talent along the way. Do you still get excited about new talent coming along?
“Yes, that’s the only way that I can keep doing this. I’m always excited when my kids and my groups perform well and work so hard, I mean, hard. The hard work is in the rehearsals and it makes me very excited when I see the finished product and see them feeling good about themselves. That’s part of what we are doing, making them feel good about themselves as well as making the people who are watching them feel good. At least I hope so. Otherwise I don’t know why I’m doing this.”
