Photo credit: Turner Classic Movies
The Claremore Museum of History (MoH) will unveil its new Patti Page exhibit on Saturday, June 25. The community celebration will include a live concert of Patti Page songs and free refreshments from 6p -8p at the MoH, 121 N. Weenonah Ave.
The event is free and open to the public, but guests should register attendance via the Facebook event link.
The exhibit will feature items on loan from the Oklahoma Historical Society and items recently acquired from Patti Page’s nephew, Timothy Akers. The expanded exhibit will include a new case of memorabilia, an interactive video compilation about Patti Page’s early life in Claremore throughout her career.
Born Clara Ann Fowler on November 8, 1927 in Claremore, Oklahoma, Patti Page became a pop music legend, selling in excess of 100 million records over a career that spanned seven decades. From humble beginnings as one of eleven children born to a railroad foreman and a mother who picked cotton for extra money, Patti Page would earn the distinction as the biggest selling female recording artist in pop music history.
Patti Page’s tremendous singing talent was discovered early. When the lead singer at local radio station came down with laryngitis, Patti jumped at the chance, auditioned and won the job. It was during her years at KTUL that Patti officially changed her name from Clara Ann Flower to Patti Page, a moniker inspired by the Page Milk Company, one of the program’s sponsors.
In 1999, Page won a Grammy Award for her Live at Carnegie Hall album and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013. Through all of her successes, Patti Page has always kept her home state of Oklahoma close to her heart. She performed at the Oklahoma Semi-Centennial Exposition in Oklahoma City in 1957 and returned for the state’s Diamond Jubilee in 1982. Patti once said, “You know I have been honored all over the world for my singing. I was always surprised when anyone honored me with some award or acknowledgment. But it wasn’t until the first time I was honored by my home state in 1969 when a street was named after me in Claremore that I was overcome with pure joy!” Patti Page died on January 1, 2013, in California.
