Patti LaBelle

LaBelle was born Patricia Louise Holte on May 24th 1944, in the Eastwick section of Southwest Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
She began her career in the early 1960s as lead singer and frontwoman of the vocal group Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles. Following the group’s name change to Labelle in the 1970s, they released the popular number-one hit “Lady Marmalade”. As a result, after the group split in 1976, LaBelle began a successful solo career, starting with her critically acclaimed debut album, which included the career-defining song, “You Are My Friend”. LaBelle became a mainstream solo star in 1984 following the success of the singles “If Only You Knew”, “Love, Need and Want You” “New Attitude” and “Stir It Up”. Less than two years later, in 1986, LaBelle scored a number-one album Winner in You and its number-one duet single, “On My Own”.

In 1989, Be Yourself spawned the standard “If You Asked Me To”. LaBelle won a 1992 Grammy for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for her 1991 album Burnin’, an album that featured “Somebody Loves You Baby (You Know Who It Is)”, “Feels Like Another One”, and “When You’ve Been Blessed (Feels Like Heaven)”. LaBelle earned a second Grammy win for the live album Live! One Night Only. Her 1990s albums Burnin’, Gems (1994) and Flame (1997).

In a career that has spanned seven decades, she has sold more than 50 million records worldwide. LaBelle has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame, and the Apollo Theater Hall of Fame. LaBelle was included in Rolling Stone on their list of 100 Greatest Singers.