Patti LaBelle: ‘I was actually terrified of going solo’

Exactly 50 years have passed since the funky, French-infused Bourbon Street raveup “Lady Marmalade,” by the R&B trio Labelle, topped the Billboard pop charts. Although the group had scored a number of minor hits in an earlier incarnation, the BlueBelles, it wasn’t until “Lady Marmalade” and its oh-so-suggestive hook line – “Voulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir?” – that the world at large got an earful of Patti LaBelle’s stratospheric vocal range and powerful delivery.

Fifty years and 50 million in record sales later, Patti LaBelle is one of the most respected (and imitated) divas in all of popular music. She returns to St. Pete’s Mahaffey Theater Wednesday with the 8065 tour (“Celebrating 80 years and 65 years in the biz”).

It was 1970 when LaBelle, Nona Hendryx and Sarah Dash decided to give up the old-fashioned girl-group songs and go for the grit – hitching their wagon to rock ‘n’ roll and funk.

Labelle (from left Sarah Dash, Nona Hendryx and Patti LaBelle). Photo: Epic Records.

“Sarah, Nona and I were all for it,” LaBelle told the Catalyst. “It was our idea, along with our manager Vicki Wickham, to change our name from the BlueBelles to Labelle and to reinvent ourselves. We felt that the outrageous costumes and everything would get people’s attention, then they would pay attention to our music. And it worked.”

Before the trio broke through, they backed legendary singer/songwriter Laura Nyro on her landmark Gonna Take a Miracle album in 1971.

It’s a collection of soul and R&B cover songs, produced by top-shelf Philadelphia producers Gamble & Huff. It’s still regarded as a high-water mark for Nyro, who died in 1997.

“Laura,” said LaBelle, “was one of my best friends. We did everything together. And I’m her son’s Godmother. I miss her.

“We loved collaborating with her on Gonna Take a Miracle because she was a true artist. She had a strong vision of what she wanted to do. And that album introduced us to a different audience.”

Next came “Lady Marmalade” and the gold LaBelle album Nightbirds, produced by New Orleans’ resident musical wizard Alan Toussaint.

The trio split in 1976, and LaBelle launched her solo career. “I was actually terrified of going solo, because everything is on your shoulders … whether you succeed or whether you fail. I wasn’t so sure that I would be successful.”

She needn’t have worried. By the early ‘80s, she was a near-constant presence on the charts: “If You Only Knew,” “Love Has Finally Come at Last,” “On My Own” (a No. 1 pop hit), “New Attitude,” “Somebody Loves You Baby,” “The Right Kinda Lover,” “When You Talk About Love” and numerous others. It’s a long list.

“Your songs are like your children,” she said, “so it’s really hard to pick a favorite. For me, it’s always changing. But, some of the ones I really love are ‘If Only You Knew,’ ‘Love, Need and Want You’ and ‘If You Asked Me To.’”

As for personal achievements, the two-time Grammy winner and six-time recipient of the NAACP Image Award is quick with an answer: “I’m most proud of being a mother to my son, Zuri. That’s my greatest hit!”

She’s also done extremely well with a line of frozen, eight-inch pies. At one point, Walmart reported sales of 36,000 Patti LaBelle sweet potato pies in a single day.

“The sweet potato pies are part of my Patti’s Good Life brand, which I started in 2008,” the singer explained. “And I introduced the pies in 2016.

“Now I have pies, cobblers, frozen dishes and breakfast items. I have wine coming soon too. Everything is doing very well – and I’m grateful for that.”

LaBelle is also a viral legend – a video of her performance at the 1996 National Tree Lighting ceremony in Washington, D.C. entered the national zeitgeist almost immediately, and for millions has become a holiday season tradition.

She was there to sing Donny Hathaway’s “This Christmas,” and everything that could go wrong, did. She was mistakenly introduced at the wrong time – embarrassing moment No. 1. The song’s lyrics were printed on cue cards, which were shuffled in the wrong order – No. 2. Her trio of background singers was late (No. 3), as were members of the military band that was to accompany her (No. 4).

All of which left LaBelle alone onstage, vamping, rolling her eyes but never losing her cool. The video has become famous under the title “Where My Background Singers?,” something LaBelle said repeatedly as things went downhill.

To add insult to injury, President Bill Clinton (and wife Hillary) arrived onstage – without introduction – as LaBelle was still center stage at the microphone.

She can laugh about it now. “It was just one of those things that you try to get through the best way you can,” she said. “The teleprompter wasn’t working and my background singers couldn’t get through security.

“People ask me about it all the time. And I can laugh about it now because so many people love that moment!”

Yes, but will LaBelle sing “This Christmas” at Wednesday’s show in St. Petersburg? “It’s a possibility for sure!”

Wednesday’s showtime is 8 p.m. Find tickets here.