Pat Bunch

{{Short description|American songwriter (1939–2023)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=June 2020}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Pat Bunch | image = | origin = | birth_name = Patricia Karen Bunch<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.austinandbell.com/obituaries/Patricia-Bunch-Price/#!/TributeWall | title=Patricia Karen Bunch Price Obituary - Visitation & Funeral Information}}</ref> | birth_date = {{Birth date|1939|06|22}} | death_date = {{Death date and age|2023|01|30|1939|06|22}} | death_place = Cross Plains, Tennessee, U.S. | instrument = Guitar, vocals | genre = Country | occupation = Singer-songwriter | years_active = 1976–2023 | label = }}

'''Patricia Karen Bunch''' (June 22, 1939 – January 30, 2023) was an American country music songwriter. Born in Zanesville Ohio, Patricia Karen Hendershot. After moving to Phoenix Arizona in October of 1963, she met and married her second husband. She started her songwriting career under the name Pat Bunch in 1974 which was her last name from her second marriage. She decided to keep the last name, "Bunch" since that was how everyone one knew her professionally in Nashville even though she remarried to her third husband in 1975. After seeing Kris Kristofferson at a concert in Phoenix, she met him backstage and asked him if she could successfully be in the music business without relocating to Nashville. He told her no, so in the Fall of 1974 she made the move to Nashville. Much of her earlier chart hits resulted from collaborations with fellow songwriters Mary Ann Kennedy and Pam Rose. Bunch also had multiple chart successes co-writing with Doug Johnson. Bunch's co-writing credits include the Grammy Award-nominated song "I'll Still Be Loving You" by Restless Heart.<ref name="mak">{{cite web |title=Mary Ann Kennedy biography |url=http://www.maryannkennedy.com/Bio.htm |work=Mary Ann Kennedy |accessdate=October 7, 2009 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111009035447/http://www.maryannkennedy.com/Bio.htm |archivedate=October 9, 2011 }}</ref> Other songs that she has written include "Wild One" by Faith Hill and "Living in a Moment" by Ty Herndon.

Bunch died at her home in Cross Plains, Tennessee, on January 30, 2023, at the age of 83.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://musicrow.com/2023/02/hit-songwriter-pat-bunch-passes/|title=Hit Songwriter Pat Bunch Passes|last=Oermann|first=Robert K|work=MusicRow|date=February 8, 2023}}</ref>

==Chart singles== The following is a list of Pat Bunch compositions that were chart hits. <ref name="MusicVF">{{cite web |title=Pat Bunch Chart Listing |url=http://www.musicvf.com/songs.php?page=artist&artist=Pat+Bunch&tab=songaswriterchartstab |work=Pat Bunch |accessdate=February 27, 2012}}</ref> {| class="wikitable" ! rowspan="2"| Year ! rowspan="2"| Single Title ! rowspan="2"| Recording Artist ! colspan="3"| Chart Positions |- ! width="55"| Billboard Hot 100 ! width="55"| Billboard AC ! width="55"| Billboard Country |- | 1979 | ''Ten Thousand and One'' ''co-written with Dan Mitchell'' | Connie Smith | | | align="center"| 88 |- | 1984 | ''Me Against the Night'' ''co-written with Mary Ann Kennedy & Pam Rose'' | Crystal Gayle | | | align="center"| 4 |- | 1985 | ''The First Word in Memory Is Me'' ''co-written with Mary Ann Kennedy & Pam Rose'' | Janie Fricke | | | align="center"| 7 |- | 1985 | ''Somebody Else's Fire'' ''co-written with Mary Ann Kennedy & Pam Rose'' | Janie Fricke | | | align="center"| 4 |- | 1987 | ''I'll Still Be Loving You'' ''co-written with Mary Ann Kennedy, Todd Cerney & Pam Rose'' | Restless Heart | align="center"| 33 | align="center"| 3 | align="center"| 1 |- | 1987 | ''He's Letting Go'' ''co-written with Mary Ann Kennedy & Pam Rose'' | Baillie & the Boys | | | align="center"| 18 |- | 1993 | ''Wild One'' ''co-written with Jaime Kyle & Will Rambeaux'' | Faith Hill | | | align="center"| 1 |- | 1994 | ''You Wouldn't Say That to a Stranger'' ''co-written with Doug Crider'' | Suzy Bogguss | | | align="center"| 43 |- | 1995 | ''I Want My Goodbye Back'' ''co-written with Dave Berg & Doug Johnson'' | Ty Herndon | | | align="center"| 7 |- | 1995 | ''Love Like This'' ''co-written with Mary Ann Kennedy & Pam Rose'' | Carlene Carter | | | align="center"| 70 |- | 1995 | ''Safe in the Arms of Love'' ''co-written with Mary Ann Kennedy & Pam Rose'' | Martina McBride | | | align="center"| 4 |- | 1995 | ''What If Jesus Comes Back Like That'' ''co-written with Doug Johnson'' | Collin Raye | | | align="center"| 21 |- | 1996 | ''Living in a Moment'' ''co-written with Doug Johnson'' | Ty Herndon | | | align="center"| 1 |- | 1997 | ''I Have to Surrender'' ''co-written with Doug Johnson'' | Ty Herndon | | | align="center"| 17 |- | 1999 | ''Slow Dance More'' ''co-written with Doug Johnson'' | Kenny Rogers | | | align="center"| 67 |- | 2000 | ''Santa's Got a Semi'' ''co-written with Doug Johnson'' | Keith Harling | | | align="center"| 60 |- | 2000 | ''I Need You All the Time'' ''co-written with Jimmy Price & Shane Teeters'' | Blackhawk | | | align="center"| 40 |- | 2001 | ''Even Then'' ''co-written with Shane Teeters'' | John Michael Montgomery | | | align="center"| 59 |- | 2005 | ''She Didn't Have Time'' ''co-written with Nicole Witt'' | Terri Clark | | | align="center"| 25 |- | 2006 | ''Come On Rain'' ''co-written with Doug Johnson'' | Steve Holy | | | align="center"| 35 |- | 2013 | ''Better I Don't'' ''co-written with Chris Janson and Kelly Janson'' | Chris Janson | | | align="center"|40 |}

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bunch, Pat}} Category:1939 births Category:2023 deaths Category:American women country singers Category:American country singer-songwriters Category:21st-century American women