Patricia "Little Pattie" Thelma Thompson (née Amphlett) OAM (born 17 March 1949) is an Australian singer who started her career as a teenager in the early 1960s, recording surf pop, with her backing group The Statesmen, she subsequently went onto to record adult contemporary music. Billed as Little Pattie, she released her debut single in November 1963, "He's My Blonde Headed, Stompie Wompie, Real Gone Surfer Boy" which peaked at No. 19 on the national Kent Music Report and entered No. 2 in Sydney. She appeared regularly on television variety programs, including Bandstand, and toured as a support act for Col Joye and the Joy Boys. Little Pattie was entertaining troops during the Vietnam War in Nui Dat, Vietnam, as an Australia Forces Sweetheart (in the vein of Lorrae Desmond, Dinah Lee and others), when the nearby Battle of Long Tan began on 18 August 1966. In 1994 she received the Vietnam Logistic and Support Medal "in recognition of her services in support of the Australian Armed Forces in operations in Vietnam." Beginnings Patricia Thelma Amphlett was born in March 1949 in Paddington, New South Wales, and has an older brother, Joe. She is the cousin of the late Chrissy Amphlett, frontwoman of Australian band Divinyls. She was educated at King Street Primary School and Sydney Girls High School. She was nicknamed "Little Pattie" at school as she had two taller friends also named Patricia. At eight years old, she commenced piano lessons with Gwen Parsons, and then singing lessons when 11 years old. Parsons also taught Noeleen Batley, a popular singer called "Australia's Little Miss Sweetheart". Both persuaded her to audition for the Nine Network TV teen variety show Saturday Date, where she was a hit. She first appeared on TV, singing on the Opportunity Knocks series, when she was 13. While a third-year high school student, at the age of 14, she performed weekly at the Bronte Surf Club as lead singer of the Statesmen with Nev Jade, Peter Maxworthy, Duncan McGuire (on bass guitar), Mark Rigby and Peter Walker. Singer-songwriter Jay Justin was impressed with her vocals and recommended her for a recording contract with EMI. Teenage singing star 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, which used the surf music style