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Patti LaBelle's 50 things.
1. Patricia Louise Holte-Edwards better known under the stage name Patti LaBelle, is an American singer, author, and actress who has spent over 50 years in the music industry.
2. Patti LaBelle spent 16 years as lead singer of Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles, who changed their name to Labelle in the early 1970s and released the iconic disco song "Lady Marmalade".
3. Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles were the first African-American vocal group to land the cover of Rolling Stone magazine.
4. Her solo career began shortly after the group disbanded in 1977 with the release of her self-titled and critically acclaimed debut album.
5. In 1984 she achieved her first number one R&B hit with "If Only You Knew", while later in the year, she crossed over to pop music with singles such as "New Attitude" and "Stir It Up", both becoming pop radio staples.
6. Her success continued with the number one single "On My Own", a duet with Michael McDonald which was taken from her triple platinum selling album Winner in You as well as 1989's "If You Asked Me To" (which was later covered by Celine Dion for her 1992 eponymous album).
7. Labelle's tenth album Burnin' earned her first Grammy.
8. Patti LaBelle maintained commercial appeal and gained a younger audience with albums such as 1994's Gems and 1997's Flame.
9. In 1998, Labelle earned her second Grammy award for her Live! One Night Only CD.
10. Her 2004 release Timeless Journey earned her another top five RnB album.
11. In 2008, the group reunited after more than 32 years releasing the acclaimed Back to Now which was followed by a successful reunion tour.
12. More of LaBelle's most notable songs include, "You Are My Friend", "Love, Need and Want You" (which was famously sampled on the #1 song "Dilemma" by rapper Nelly and Destiny's Child member Kelly Rowland), "Somebody Loves You Baby (You Know Who It Is)", "When You've Been Blessed (Feels Like Heaven)" and "The Right Kinda Lover".
13. The singer has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Apollo Hall of Fame, and the Songwriters' Hall of Fame.
14. In 2005, the World Music Awards presented her with the coveted Legend Award. Labelle has sold more than 50,000,000 records worldwide.
15. Rolling Stone has included her in its 100 Greatest Singers List.
16. Patti LaBelle possesses the vocal range of a soprano.
17. Patti LaBelle has been called the "High Priestess of Good Vibrations", and the "Queen of Rock 'n' Soul".
18. Patti LaBelle is also a noted actress having a supporting role in the Oscar nominated drama A Soldier's Story as well as being a recurring character in the acclaimed sitcom A Different World.
19. Patti LaBelle guest-starred in the fourth season of the Emmy Award winning American Horror Story, subtitled Freak Show.
20. She also competed on ABC's Dancing with the Stars.
21. Patricia Louise Holte was born on May 24, 1944 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
22. Her father, Henry Holte (alternatively, Holt), was a railroad worker and lounge singer.
23. Her mother, Bertha Holte, was a domestic housewife. Patti was third of four daughters (Vivian, Barbara, and Jacqueline).
24. Patti LaBelle recalls having a happy childhood but said her parents had an unhappy marriage.
25. When she was twelve, her parents divorced and Bertha Holte raised her daughters as a single mother.
26. Despite her shyness, Labelle was known for her gifted voice even as a child.
27. After first joining her church choir at ten, she sang her first solo at the Beulah Baptist Church at twelve.
28. Growing up, she listened to gospel, jazz and rhythm and blues.
29. By her teens, "Patsy", as friends and family called her, began listening to doo-wop and was encouraged to form a girl group in the late fifties.
30. In 1958, she formed The Ordettes with three other friends. The following year, Cindy Birdsong left the group to join Diana Ross and the Supremes.
31. Months after they were being noticed all over and ran into a Newtown Records president Harold Robinson. After hearing Holte's voice during an audition, Robinson, who nearly ditched the group due to their looks - he allegedly thought Holte was "too plain and dark" to lead a singing group - agreed to sign the group, renaming them The Blue Belles (the name would simply be "The Bluebelles" by the mid‑1960s), after a Newtown subsidiary label.
32. In 1965 Atlantic Records president Ahmet Ertegun signed the group to the label, working with the group for a year.
33. The group issued their first studio album (as Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles) entitled Somewhere Over the Rainbow in 1966.
34. While they had a modest pop-charted hit with "All or Nothing" and its b‑side, a pop cover of Judy Garland's "Over The Rainbow", the group was not as successful as the label predicted.
35. In 1967, their second release, Dreamer, issued two singles, "Take Me For A Little While" and the Curtis Mayfield standard "I'm Still Waiting". In the middle of touring for that album, Cindy Birdsong suddenly left the group to join The Supremes, replacing Florence Ballard.
36. In late 1970, the group returned to the United States changing their name to Labelle and signing a contract with MCA imprint, Track Records. Wickham then had the group open for rock group The Who.
37. In October 1974, the group made history by becoming the first pop group to perform at the Metropolitan Opera House.
38. In late December, Epic issued the single "Lady Marmalade". Within six months, the record became a smash hit and reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, the group's first to do so.
39. LaBelle released her self-titled album in 1977 on Epic. The record was a critical success, with the highlights being the dance singles "Joy To Have Your Love" and "Dan Swit Me", and the pop-R&B ballad "You Are My Friend", a song she and her husband co‑wrote.
40. LaBelle found success outside music, performing in the Broadway revival of Your Arms Too Short to Box with God, with Al Green.
41. In 1982 she recorded the Grover Washington ballad "The Best Is Yet To Come", which led to her first top-20 R&B hit and her first Grammy nomination in the spring of 1983.
42. Later in 1984, LaBelle appeared in her first film, A Soldier's Story.
43. In the fall of 1984, LaBelle recorded the songs, "New Attitude" and "Stir It Up", later issued for the soundtrack of Beverly Hills Cop, released in December 1984.
44. LaBelle garnered headlines in 1985 for her showstopping performances, first at Motown Returns to the Apollo where she opened the show with Joe Cocker singing You Are So Beautiful in which she received very high praise.
45. Her 1991 album, Burnin', resulted in LaBelle's first Grammy win in 1992 for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, an honor she shared with noted singer Lisa Fischer.
46. She won a second Grammy in 1998 for her live album, One Night Only!
47. On September 14, 2010, LaBelle made a return two decades after her last Broadway performance to star in the award-winning musical Fela! about Afrobeat legend Fela Anikulapo-Kuti.
48. A longtime resident of Philadelphia, LaBelle currently lives in the Philadelphia suburb of Wynnewood.
49. In 1969, she married Armstead Edwards. In July 1973, their first and only child, Zuri Kye Edwards, was born. In the late 1970s, Labelle and Edwards adopted two teenage boys, Stanley and Dodd, the children of their next-door neighbor, after their mother died of cancer.
50. Following the death of her youngest sister Jackie Padgett, president of her sister's fan club in the early 1980s, the couple raised Padgett's teenage children.
Source: Wikipedia.org
