La Diva Labelle

Rip It Up, Issue 110, 1 September 1986, Page 14

La Diva Labelle

Patti Labelle; a Winner

One year on, one image remains fresh from the video overdose of the Live Aid weekend. It’s of Patti Labelle, stunning her hometown crowd of

Philadelphia and the satellite-linked world with her titanic, explosive performance at the end of the show. Eye-boggling in black and white polka dots, five foot four on six inch heels, capped with a Paul Revere hat and wrapped in ribbon, Labelle’s impact was instantaneous. If any competition remained after her solo set of ‘Forever Young’, ‘lmagine’ and ‘Stir It Up’, it was quickly devastated when her vocal gymnastics swamped the all-star choir during the ‘We are the World’ finale.

The next day, the question was on everybody’s lips. Who was that woman, and where did she spring

from? Patti Labelle had broken through to householdname status — an “overnight success” after 25 years in show business.

In the 60s, she was a member of the respected girl group Patti Labelle and the Blue Belles, whose one major hit was 1962's ‘I Sold My Heart to the Junkman’. In the 70s they transformed into Labelle, the influential and funky queens of glam rock, most famous for 1975’s ‘Lady Marmalade’. Finally, halfway through the 80s, her solo career has taken hold after singing the theme songs for The Soldier’s Story anti Beverly Hills Cop, a starring role in a stage musical with Al Green, and her latest album, Winner in You, with its hit single ‘On My Own’.

Patti Labelle is known for her extraordinary voice, which can almost whip the roof off a concert hall in one bar, then drop to a whisper in the next. Plus there are her sensational costumes — which need a volume control of their own — and her powerful stage act, in which her emotions can take over and she loses control, lying on her back and rolling over the stage while singing. According to Labelle, there are three sides to her character, the most prominent of which is Patti, the over-the-top stage performer. Then there is Priscilla, who’s responsible for the wacky and wonderful costumes and hairstyles. On line from Philadelphia we have Patricia, the quiet-spoken but giggly mother of three.

You’re known for your energy on stage, yet off-stage you’re supposed to be quiet. How come there’s such a contrast? “I don’t know — once I see the lights and the audience and hear the cheers, I just go all out. I become this other person that I can’t control. And then when I’ve finished I become this boring homely looking ... worm." Do you just turn it on and off like that?

“It just happens — I turn on and off. I don’t go out and say, Well I’m going to do it this way or that way. All the things in my life just happen very spontaneously. I don’t plan them or rehearse them, it just happens. Your exhuberance caused quite a lot of talk after the the Live Aid

show... “You know what? I like to talk about this because I don’t want people to think that I try to hog the microphone, or try to take over or anything. If someone asks me to sing, I think my job is to use the mike. God has given me, thank god, a talent, and if I hold back and save it and not share it with the world, I think that’s being very selfish. I think if you have something to give, give it the way you feel good in giving it. And I feel good singing it... loud sometimes. Not singing like a little punk. You know I’m not a little person, I’m a big girl, with a big mouth, and for me to hold the microphone and sing [she squeaks like a mouse] me me me me me it would not be Patti Labelle.

“I don’t mean to offend anyone, or take over. (Laughs) I don’t mean to

be the biggest mouth around but I happen to have a very strong set of lungs and I can’t sing little, I can’t sing down. I can — I mean I have done it before — but on a song like that, you’re not supposed to sing it little, you’re supposed to feel proud, and sing loud'.’

Priscilla But you're quite small in build, aren’t you? “I’m kinda small — I weigh about 140 pounds and I’m about five foot four..."

It’s your hairdos that make you look ta11...

“I have big hairdos — not all the time, I don’t wear it all the time. I’ve had the same hairstylist for 15 years,- Norma Harris. She sprays it with a lot of hairspray and she uses a hot comb to get it into shape.”

I read that President Reagan thought your hair was a hat. “I know! A lot of people did. A lot of people think it’s a hat, but it’s hair — it’s not all my hair, I’m not gonna lie, some of it is bought, some of it is mine.”

Did Reagan talk to you after the Ford Theatre benefit?

“He sure did. He came up and said something (giggles)... he, ah, I guess he was a little shocked with the hair (laughs)... the hair and the white gown!”

New Attitude After so many years in music, you’ve become very prominent over the last couple of years. What has been the most significant thing that has brought this new energy to your

career? "I think it’s a combination of things that have made me more visible. Beverly Hills Cop did a lot for me [Labelle’s theme tune 'New Attitude' was a hit], and Live Aid certainly did. To be seen around the world, for a lot of people who hadn’t really heard of me, for them it was like ‘Where has this lady been all my life?’. ”

It’s taken a while for your album Winner in You to come out since Live Aid though. What took the time?

“Well, it took me a long time to record it, because I was trying to get good material and taking my time and not rushing." There are many different producers on the album, ranging from Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager (who wrote the single 'On My Own’ with Neil Diamond), Richard Perry, Howard Rice and Ashford and Simpson. . Why did you work with so many producers? "Well, it wasn’t planned, it just happened that way. Everytime I would turn around, one of the producers would come up with something wonderful for me, and I would say, ‘Of course, I have to do this. Would you produce it for me?’ And they'd say, yes of course — and that’s how it happened with all those producers. I didn't plan to do it with that many, but it sure did end up that way.” With your powerful voice, did they have to sit on your voice in the mixing? . . “Yes they do. They sit on me all the time! They tell me to stand 10 feet back from the microphone or whatever — anything to condense it.”

One person who has been constantly involved with your music is Bud Ellison, your musical director... "He’s been with me 13 years as musical director, and he’s been involved with everything I’ve recorded with Labelle, and with myself. He’s like behind-the-producer—he gives them a lot of input. And a lot of times he’s not given the credit he should get, but he’s like the other

side of Patti Labelle. All the music that I’ve been doing for 13 years, he’s been the reason that I’ve been doing most of it.” With the single ‘On My Own’, why did you choose to sing with Michael McDonald (ex-Doobie Brothers)? Well, after I had finished recording it I wasn’t pleased with it, and I wanted to do it with a male. I’d always wanted to sing with Michael McDonald and so Burt Bacharach called him, and he said yes, he’d love to do it. So he recorded his part after I’d done mine. We met about two or three months after we had

recorded the song. I've always loved his voice and wanted to record with him, and my dream came true." It didn’t seem strange doing it separately?

I did it about a month before he did his part, and after listening to him, it sounded as if we did it together in the same studio, so it didn't matter at all.”

Patti Blue Belle Patti Labelle’s earliest significant group was Patti Labelle and the Blue Belles, a girl group which also featured Nona Hendryx, Sarah Dash

and Cindy Birdsong (who later replaced Florence Ballard in the Supremes). During the 60s they toured America as part of soul revues, often on the same bill as Sam Cooke, James Brown, or the Stax and Motown artists.

Was it daunting as a young girl to work with such figures?

“It was wonderful. I was amazed when we got to the theatre to see who was on the show... I would look at the marquee to see who we’d be performing with, and it would impress me very much that we would be with Otis Redding, Joe Tex and all those wonderful legends. I was just like a kid, I guess. I looked at them all with awe.”

Last year, Labelle returned to the renovated Apollo Theatre, the legendary venue in Harlem, New York, for a television special Motown Returns to the Apollo (which, along with the Motown 25 Years special, would be perfect for 12 O'Clock Rock...). The Apollo is now a legend to soul lovers — did it have the same aura to you in its heyday? “Well, you know, when we did that Motown Returns to the Apollo it felt really special, very much like it did when we used to perform there. I got chills and I cried, it made me think about when we were there before, and it felt the same to me, except it was painted — it was nooer but it still felt the same.”

La Belle Trio In 1971, following the advice of their manager, exßeady Steady Go producer Vicki Wickham, the Blue Belles became Labelle, changed their look and toughened up their music. With their space-age glittery costumes and bikinis, they predated Kiss:

“We decided that we had to change our image and our sound, and just become three outrageous ladies. Because as the Blue Belles, we were looking very much like the Supremes and the Vandellas and the Marvelettes, and we were all looking and sounding alike. So we went to London and regrouped and stayed there for three months and changed our attitude and our way

of singing and dressing. We came back to America and we were Labelle'.’

You’re all quite strong, but very different singers. Did this cause problems in Labelle? “No — when we were all singing together we all loved what we did and we all agreed to everything. We were all in agreement as far as the music we were doing, but after a while we realised that we couldn’t sing the same thing anymore, that we had to go our separate ways. So we left as friends and we’re still friends. We talk to each other all the time — we didn’t leave as enemies.”

Labelle’s biggest hit was ‘Lady Marmalade', a song about a friend of Dusty Springfield’s (who happened to be a prostitute) with the unforgettable hookline “Gitchee gitchee ya-ya-ya”. Where did you find it?

“Oh we were on our way to New Orleans to record, and we went to Bob Crewe’s house the night before, and he played this song for us. When I heard it, I knew it was a hit, and he gave it to us. We took it to New Orleans where we were recording with Allen Toussaint.” The song off your new album ‘Sleep With Me Tonight’ is very reminiscent of ‘Lady Marmalade’s catchphrase, “Voulez vous couchez avec moi ce soir’.’

“Oh yes ... (laughs) No, it’s not a sequel. Though that did strike me, and you know, I love that song, but I wondered if people will think funny or strangely of me saying that line...”

Back then?

“Oh, then and now (laughs). But, (wistfully) there are certain things you have to say in life ...”

Patricia How important is your attitude in survival? “You have to really believe in yourself, and not let anyone tell you that you can’t make it or you can’t do this or that. You have to believe that you can do almost anything, and just go out and show the world that you can.” What are your goals now? “Oh, to become a household word! (Laughs) I’ve just sold so many platinum albums that I just can’t sell any more! I mean, just to make so much music and so much happiness for people — that’s what I want to do.” . You want to succeed, although it’s said you don’t want any part of the trappings of show business. “I’m not crazy about the show biz, what people call show biz. The parties and the drugs and the fun things — they’ve just never been fun to me. I find a lot of peace and happiness after a show just to go to the hotelroom suite to cook and watch TV, go to sleep and do the next show. I’m not really what you’d call a show biz type.” Nevertheless, a Patti Labelle show is a show. According to Patti, plans are in motion to come here in October or November. She says she can’t wait...

Chris Bourke