The voice of the holidays comes from Oak Cliff

IIn a strong, clear voice, the singer shouts that no presents are needed this year. The only thing she wants for Christmas is her boyfriend.

It’s a simple wish that most of us know as the theme of one of the most popular Christmas songs of all time: “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” And no, it’s not Mariah Carey’s version.

Long before the Queen of Christmas sang her classic in the early 2000s, Americans were hearing a similar tune. What Cliffites may not know, however, is that the original singer, Lisa Layne, grew up in Oak Cliff, graduated from Kimball High School and began her career here.

Just another Oak Cliff success story to add to the list.

Layne’s love of music began at home with her family. She began singing at the age of 4 with her father, who is still a professional musician.

“We were all musically inclined,” she says. “But not all of us performed professionally. That’s just what we all do for the most part.”

Her family lived in the Lenora Kirk Hall neighborhood, but because she was diabetic, Layne attended Martin Weiss Elementary School, where her mother worked.

“Mom wanted to keep a closer eye on me,” Layne says.

Then we went on to LV Stockard and Kimball.

“No teacher really influenced my music,” says Layne. “I had a choir teacher in middle school who told me I couldn’t really sing, but I decided not to listen to him.”

Layne and her family lived near Westmoreland and Kiest boulevards. “It was very nice living there in Oak Cliff,” she recalls. “We had a creek and a park that ran through the whole neighborhood. And we had a lot of friends there, too.” “Oak Cliff is much nicer than North Dallas.”

“We ate at Tippy’s Taco House a lot,” says Layne. “My brother Brett and I also worked there during high school.”

In addition to her part-time job, she sang as a member of the New Tyme Singers and took part in the school musical “Bye, Bye, Birdie” in 1979. After graduating from high school in 1980, she joined a guitar trio called Beaver Creek with Marsha Britton – a friend from Oak Cliff – and a male singer/musician from California.

“Beaver Creek played all over North Texas,” says Layne. “Most of the clubs and stuff, well, I can’t remember any names. We played a lot on Johnnie High’s Country Music Revue in the early ’80s.”

In 1986, she answered a newspaper ad from Vince Vance and the Valiants, who were looking for three female singers to sing the songs of the three girl groups. It turned out to be a life-changing event.

During her five-year collaboration with the band, Layne attracted quite a bit of attention with her mature voice and passionate tone, which perfectly matched Vance’s vision for recording what has now become a Christmas classic.

The song peaked on the Billboard country charts six times in the 1990s and was covered by both LeAnn Rimes and Kelly Clarkson.

Layne then moved to Nashville, where she joined a successful beach music band and did a fair amount of demo work on the side. In early 1993, she landed the role of Patsy Cline in the first national tour of “A Closer Walk with Patsy Cline.” After touring with that troupe for nearly two years, she joined the Nashville troupe as a featured performer in the same show. Her next move was a performance at the Texas Troubadour Theater in Nashville, where she performed in the Patsy show from 1998 to 2000.

Layne is one of only three women to receive an official tribute from the Patsy Cline Association in honor of the late singer. Dressed in her “Patsy costume” – including signature white leather boots – she belts out familiar Cline tunes to an enthusiastic audience full of fans, young and old. Layne has performed with Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Hall and Oates, Julio Iglesias, Little Eva, Larry Gatlin, Fats Domino and Chicago.

Since her debut, Layne has re-recorded her signature Christmas song along with 12 other holiday classics in an album aptly titled “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” She is accompanied on all tracks by the world-famous Jordanaires.

Your latest project? The new album, A tribute to Patsy Cline.

“These are some of my favorite Patsy songs,” says Layne, “(the ones) I wanted to record.”

She also sings as Patsy in the show “Always, Patsy Cline” at the God and Country Theater in Branson, MO, where she has performed for seven years.

So this Christmas season, when her song blares on the radio, remember that Lisa Layne is one of us – she’s from the Cliff.