Patti LaBelle

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Patti LaBelle
Patti LaBelle performing at the Alpha Kappa Alpha Centennial Celebration in July 2008.
Background information
Birth name	Patricia Louise Holte
Born	May 24, 1944 (1944-05-24) (age 65)
Origin	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Genre(s)	Doo-wop, girl group, R&B, rock 'n' roll, pop, gospel, soft rock, soul, rock, funk, funk-rock, disco, dance-pop, quiet storm, ballad, contemporary R&B
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter, actress
Voice type(s)	Dramatic Soprano[1]
Years active	1962–1976, 2008-09 (groups) 1977-present (solo)
Label(s)	Epic, Philadelphia International, MCA, Def Soul Classics, Umbrella, Bungalo
Associated acts	Labelle, Nona Hendryx, Sarah Dash, Cindy Birdsong, Sundry Tucker, Mary J. Blige
Website	www.pattilabelle.com

Patricia Louise Holte (born May 24, 1944), best known by her stage name of Patti LaBelle, is an African-American R&B and soul singer-songwriter and actress.

She fronted two groups, Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles, which received minor success on the pop charts in the 1960s, and Labelle, which received acclaim and a mainstream breakthrough in 1974 with their song "Lady Marmalade". She went on to have a solo recording career well into the 1990s, earning another U.S. #1 single in 1986 with "On My Own," a duet with Michael McDonald.

She is renowned for her passionate stage performances, wide vocal range and distinctive high-octave belting. Her biography, Don't Block the Blessings, remained at the top of the The New York Times best-seller list for several weeks.

Early life and career

Early years

LaBelle was born Patricia Louise Holte in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Henry Holte, a railroad worker.^[2] The third of four children, Holte began singing at church at an earlier age. During an audition for a school play, a teacher advised Holte to form a singing group.

As Patsy Holte, she formed a four-member girl group called the Ordettes in 1960. In 1961, when two of the original Ordettes left, Holte and fellow Ordette Sandra Tucker brought in singers Nona Hendryx and Sarah Dash, from a recently defunct rival group. When Tucker's family made Sandra leave the group, she was replaced by hometown friend Cindy Birdsong, who was at 21, the eldest member of the predominantly teenage quartet. With her mother's blessings, Patti left high school to tour with the Ordettes. The group was managed by Bernard Montague and toured from local nightclubs to honky tonks and truck stops.

During an audition with Newtown Records, the Ordettes almost didn't get a recording contract because Holte, who was the lead singer was considered "too plain" until she sang for him. Afterwards, he suggested a name change for Holte. The surname LaBelle was French for "the beautiful". Signing them in 1962, the boss also changed the name of the group to The Bluebelles, named initially after a Newtown subsidiary (Bluebell Records), which later led to threats of a lawsuit over another girl group's manager. The name was altered to Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles.

Group career: 1962 - 1977

As Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles, the group's first single, "I Sold My Heart to the Junkman", was actually recorded by The Starlets and was released as a Bluebelles single due to contract obligations the Starlets had with their own label, Pam Records. The group later recorded their own version of the song, which peaked at number fifteen on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1962. Going out on the road, the group became a successful draw on the chitlin' circuit, mainly earning national fame at The Apollo Theater where they became "Apollo Sweethearts". The group enjoyed a modestly successful recording career, which included top 40 recordings such as their gospel-styled doo-wop renditions of traditional songs such as 1963's "Down the Aisle" and "You'll Never Walk Alone" and "Danny Boy", from 1964. In 1966, the group left their old label for a brief stint at Atlantic Records recording Judy Garland's "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", a song LaBelle re-recorded as a soloist over a decade later on the 1981 album, The Spirit's In It (as "Over the Rainbow") and which later became a concert staple in LaBelle's shows since. In 1967, Cindy Birdsong shocked the group when she left to replace Florence Ballard of The Supremes. LaBelle said she kept a grudge over Birdsong, Motown and the Supremes for years following Birdsong's exit though she eventually forgave all parties for the decision. In 1970, Dusty Springfield's manager Vicki Wickham advised the Bluebelles to visit London and revised their image. The group had had a local following in England, even at one time having Elton John and his band Bluesology performing background for them. Wickham wanted the group to alter their image from their classic girl group look to a modernized casual look. Returning to America the following year, they changed their name to Labelle and released their self-titled debut on Warner Bros. Records. The same year, they gained a cult following after opening for The Who. In 1974, having changed their casual wear for space attire equipped with feathers, they released their groundbreaking album, Nightbirds, a mixture of funk and glam rock, which included the classic hit, "Lady Marmalade". This success proved to be fleeting and in 1976, after two critically-acclaimed but poor commercially-received follow-ups, the group agree to split and venture into solo careers though the group would record together off and on for the next 32 years never officially splitting up.

Solo career

Early solo career: 1977 - 1982

LaBelle released her self-titled debut in 1977 on Epic Records, which featured the top twenty R&B dance single, "It's a Joy to Have Your Love" and the modestly-charted gospel-emulated ballad, "You Are My Friend", which she co-wrote and dedicated to her son and her faith in God (hence the vamp lyric, "I've been looking around and you were here all the time"). LaBelle's performance of the song - which included her kicking off her shoes and rolling around the stage - helped to make it a stand-out performance and remains a concert staple including the modified gospel hymn, "What a Friend We Have in Jesus". The album received critical acclaim but didn't give LaBelle any solo success. Other albums such as 1979's It's Alright with Me, 1980's Released and 1981's The Spirit's in It, which included her now classic solo cover of her old Bluebelles single, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", also failed to chart. On July 21, 1979, she appeared at the Amandla Festival along with Bob Marley, Dick Gregory and Eddie Palmieri, among others. That same year, she cut a performance for Richard Pryor's Wanted concert film, however her scenes were cut. In spite of this, Pryor mentioned LaBelle during the opening of his concert. Three years later, in 1982, LaBelle and singer Al Green participated in the revival of the successful Broadway play, "Your Arm's Too Short to Box with God".

Successful period: 1983 - 2000

LaBelle didn't start to experience success until 1984 when she released her first charted hit album, I'm in Love Again, which featured LaBelle's first #1 R&B and top fifty pop hit with "If Only You Knew" and a radio hit with "Love, Need and Want You." The album became her first solo release to be certified gold. In 1985, LaBelle recorded two songs from the Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack. Those two songs - "New Attitude" and "Stir It Up" became pop hits. During this period, LaBelle began dressing as flamboyant as she did during the Labelle days. LaBelle's appearances on Motown Returns to the Apollo and the Live Aid concerts of 1985 introduced her to a new audience. During the Live Aid finale, she took the microphone for "We Are the World" and sung as if to appear she was the only one audible. Her performance on Motown Returns to the Apollo ignited some controversy after she out sung Diana Ross after Ross gave her the microphone to sing "I Want To Know What Love Is", known as the infamous mic toss. Due to this, LaBelle was often accused of grandstanding. The singer defended herself saying that she had a big voice and warned people that she was going to use it. Despite this, that same year, LaBelle gained her first television special, which became highly rated and which featured Cyndi Lauper, Bill Cosby and Luther Vandross. LaBelle's popularity increased further in 1986 with the release of her best-selling album to date with Winner in You. The album yielded her first solo #1, "On My Own" with pop balladeer Michael McDonald, the Top 40 Billboard Hot 100 hit, "Oh, People," the moderate pop chart hit, "Kiss Away The Pain" and the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart hit, "Something Special Is Gonna Happen Tonight."

LaBelle scored a moderate R&B and pop chart hit with the Diane Warren ballad, "If You Asked Me To," in 1989. The song peaked at #10 on the Adult Contemporary and R&B charts. It was later covered by Céline Dion in 1992 when it peaked at #1 on both the Pop & A/C charts. In an interview with the online magazine Monaco Revue.^[3] Patti said racism in the music industry was responsible for the difference in sales, and revealed that accepting this was the most difficult obstacle she had to face in her career.^[4] In January 1995, La Belle performed at the Super Bowl XXIX halftime show, with Tony Bennett, Arturo Sandoval and the Miami Sound Machine, in a program entitled "Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye", to promote the upcoming Disney theme park attraction.

In 1991, Patti released the gold-selling Burnin' album, which helped her win her first Grammy Award for Best R&B Female Vocal Performance. Burnin' featured the hits "Somebody Loves You Baby (You Know Who It Is)", "When You've Been Blessed (Feels Like Heaven)" and "Feels Like Another One." That album is also notable because it includes the first Labelle reunion recording with Sarah Dash and Nona Hendryx, on the track "Release Yourself". That success continued onto subsequent albums like 1994's Gems (featuring the hit "The Right Kinda Lover"), 1997's Flame (featuring the hit "When You Talk About Love"), and 1998's Live One Night Only (which won her a second Grammy).

Early millennium work: 2000 - 2005

LaBelle released the album, When a Woman Loves, in 2000, shortly after announcing a divorce from her only husband, who had also been her manager for 30 years. Four years would pass before LaBelle released a new album under Island Def Jam with the album, Timeless Journey, which saw LaBelle adding in a modern hip-hop flavor to her brand of classic R&B. The album featured the modest hit "A New Day", which became a dance hit and also became her highest-charted album in nearly twenty years reaching number-sixteen on the Billboard 200. LaBelle's 2005 follow-up, the covers album, Classic Moments, was released. Despite the modest success, LaBelle battled against Def Jam president Antonio "L.A." Reid over the album's promotion and abruptly left the label.^[5]

Current period: 2006 - present

In 2006, LaBelle issued her first gospel album on an independent label titled The Gospel According To Patti LaBelle was released.^[6] As a promotion, all copies sold at Wal-Mart have a bonus track, "The Lord's Prayer". The album debuted at #86 on the Billboard 200, #17 on the R&B chart and peaked at #1 on the gospel albums chart. A year after that, LaBelle re-signed with Def Jam Records after Reid began re-negotiating with LaBelle after he abruptly dropped her from the label. The new Def Jam release was the holiday album, Miss Patti's Christmas, released in 2007.

In 2008, LaBelle reunited with Nona Hendryx and Sarah Dash as Labelle releasing their first new album in thirty-two years with the Verve Records release, Back to Now. "Superlover", a single from the album, peaked at number sixty-seven on the R&B chart in early 2009.

In June of 2009 LaBelle was honored at New York's Harlem Apollo Theater after she was inducted to the Apollo Legends Hall of Fame by admirers such as pop stars Mariah Carey and Prince. After she was inducted, LaBelle said, "The Apollo is a national treasure, I'm overwhelmed and honored to be recognized on this stage."

Personal life

LaBelle was the third of four sisters. LaBelle often mentioned that she was the only member of the family to "make it past 50" noting that most of her siblings all died before reaching 45. Sisters Vivian, Barbara and Jacqueline "Jackie" Holte each died of cancer while her mother died of diabetes and her father succumbed to Alzheimer's disease. In 1995, LaBelle was also diagnosed with diabetes. She is a spokeswoman for the American Diabetes Association, and has published two cookbooks targeted at people with diabetes, containing low-sugar and low-fat recipes. In 2005, LaBelle began appearing in advertisements for OneTouch Ultra and later for OneTouch Ultra2, a manufacturer of blood glucose monitoring systems for people with diabetes. During the 1960s, LaBelle was dating The Temptations' Otis Williams. LaBelle said they were even engaged at one point, but broke it off due to their punishing tour schedules and LaBelle's refusal to "become a housewife" saying later she wasn't ready to handle the responsibilities of being one nor was she ready to give up her singing career as Williams had advised her to do. In 1969, LaBelle married a longtime buddy of hers, L. Armstead Edwards. LaBelle said she married Edwards because she was afraid he would "change his mind" saying Edwards had asked her to marry him three times and each time LaBelle wouldn't accept saying that she felt she had said no to the "wrong man". The singer later said that she and Edwards were "like night and day, I'm like wildfire and he's like ice cubes." After 31 years of marriage, they divorced in 2000 due to irreconcilable differences. LaBelle is currently single. She is the mother of son, Zuri Edwards (b. 1973) and is the adopted mother of her sister Jacqueline's two children, and two adopted children, sons Stanley and Dodd, whom LaBelle and Edwards adopted in the late 1970s. LaBelle still lives in Philadelphia to this day. LaBelle's Boerboel recently appeared on an episode of Dog Whisperer, and is now living within the pack of her trainer.

Discography

Albums

For Labelle albums, go to Labelle discography

• 1977 Patti LaBelle (#62 US, #16 R&B)
• 1978 Tasty (#129 US)
• 1979 It's Alright with Me (#145 US)
• 1980 Released (#114 US)
• 1981 The Spirit's In It (#156 US)
• 1982 Ms. Soul (#100 US)
• 1983 I'm in Love Again (#40 US, #4 R&B) (gold)
• 1985 Patti (#72 US, #13 R&B)
• 1986 Winner in You (#1 US, #1 R&B, #30 UK) (platinum)
• 1989 Be Yourself (#86 US) (gold)
• 1990 This Christmas (#18 US holiday, #95 R&B)
• 1991 Burnin' (#71 US, #13 R&B) (gold)
• 1992 Live! (#135 US, #15 R&B)
• 1994 Gems (48 US, #7 R&B) (gold)
• 1997 Flame (#39 US, #10 R&B) (gold)
• 1998 Live! One Night Only (#182 US, #52 R&B)
• 2000 When a Woman Loves (#63 US, #26 R&B)
• 2004 Timeless Journey (#18 US, #5 R&B)
• 2005 Classic Moments (#24 US, #5 R&B)
• 2006 The Gospel According To Patti LaBelle (#86 US, #17 R&B, #1 US gospel)
• 2007 Miss Patti's Christmas (#179 US)
• 2008 Live in Washington (#80 US)

Singles

For Labelle singles, go to Labelle discography.

• 1977: "Joy to Have Your Love" (#11 R&B)
• 1977: "You Are My Friend" (#61 R&B)
• 1979: "Music is My Life" (#81 R&B)
• 1979: "It's Alright with Me" (#34 R&B)
• 1981: "I Don't Go Shopping" (#26 R&B)
• 1984: "If Only You Knew" (#46 US pop, #1 R&B)
• 1984: "Love Has Finally Come at Last" (w/Bobby Womack) (#88 US pop, #3 R&B)
• 1985: "New Attitude" (#17 US pop, #3 R&B)
• 1985: "Stir It Up" (#41 US pop, #5 R&B)
• 1986: "On My Own" (w/Michael McDonald) (#1 US pop, #1 R&B, #2 UK pop)
• 1986: "Oh, People" (#29 US pop, #7 R&B, #26 UK pop)
• 1986: "Kiss Away the Pain" (#13 R&B)
• 1987: "Something Special (Is Gonna Happen Tonight)" (#50 R&B)
• 1987: "Just the Facts" (#34 R&B)
• 1989: "If You Asked Me To" (#79 US pop, #10 US adult contemporary, #10 R&B)
• 1989: "Yo Mister" (#6 R&B)
• 1991: "Feels Like Another One" (w/Big Daddy Kane) (#3 R&B)
• 1991: "Somebody Loves You Baby (You Know Who It Is)" (#2 R&B)
• 1992: "All Right Now (live)" (#30 R&B)
• 1992: "When You've Been Blessed (Feels Like Heaven)" (#4 R&B)
• 1994: "The Right Kind of Love" (#61 US pop, #8 R&B, #50 UK pop)
• 1994: "All This Love" (#42 R&B)
• 1995: "I Never Stopped Loving You" (#67 R&B)
• 1997: "When You Talk About Love" (#56 US pop, #12 R&B)
• 2004: "New Day" (#93 US pop, #36 R&B)
• 2004: "Gotta Go Solo" (w/The Isley Brothers featuring Ronald Isley, AKA Mr. Big) (#89 US pop, #31 R&B)
• 2005: "Ain't No Way" (w/Mary J. Blige) (#62 R&B)
• 2006: "Where Love Begins" (w/Yolanda Adams) (#68 R&B)

Tours

• 1985: Look To The Rainbow Tour
• 1986-1987: Winner In You Tour
• 1991: Burnin' Tour
• 1995: Gems Tour
• 1997-1998: Flame Tour
• 2000: When a Woman Loves Tour
• 2005: Timeless Journey Tour
• 2006: Classic Moments Tour
• 2008: Divas with Heart Tour (w/Chaka Khan, Gladys Knight and Diana Ross)
• 2008/2009: Back to Now Tour (w/Labelle)

Filmography

• 1979: Richard Pryor: Live in Concert (documentary) (scenes deleted)
• 1984: A Soldier's Story
• 1986: Unnatural Causes
• 1989: Sing
• 1994: The Nanny
• 2002: Sylvester: Mighty Real (short subject)
• 2005: Preaching to the Choir
• 2006: Idlewild
• 2007: Cover
• 2008: Semi-Pro
• 2009: Mama, I Want to Sing!

Music video

• Going Home to Gospel with Patti Labelle (1991) with Albertina Walker ("Queen of Gospel"), Barrett Sisters, Ricky Dillard and many more.

TV talkshow music appearances

• An Evening With The Stars: A Tribute to Patti Labelle
• Oprah show (Oprah's 40 Birthday) with Aretha Franklin & Gladys Knight, singing their rendition of Chaka Khan's I'm Every Woman
• Dolly Parton show
• The Viewtalk show
• The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
• The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
• The 1998 ALMA Awards

Further reading

• Labelle, Patti and Randolph, Laura B. (March 1997). Don't Block the Blessings. Thorndike Press. pp. 200. 

References

External links

• Official website
• Patti LaBelle at Allmusic
• Patti LaBelle at the Internet Movie Database
• Patti LaBelle at PhillySoulClassics.com
• Patti LaBelle at WLA