Soul · R&B · Pop
The Godmother of Soul — a voice that could shake the rafters and soothe the soul.
The Godmother of Soul
Born Patricia Holt in Philadelphia, Patti LaBelle began her career in the early sixties with the Bluebelles, then reinvented herself with the trio Labelle — whose 1974 hit “Lady Marmalade” brought her a space-age sound and a worldwide audience. When she went solo in 1976, she carried with her one of the most powerful voices in popular music and a stage presence to match.
The late seventies and eighties made her a solo star: the aching ballad “If Only You Knew” (1983), the chart-topping duet “On My Own” with Michael McDonald (1986), the exuberant “New Attitude” (1984), and the film hit “Stir It Up” (1984) from Beverly Hills Cop. Each showed a different facet — the balladeer, the belter, the dance-floor commander — all delivered with that unmistakable, church-trained power.
LaBelle’s voice is an instrument of extremes: it can whisper a prayer and then lift a whole arena. The five stories below follow her from the French Quarter strut of “Lady Marmalade” to the joyful self-reinvention of “New Attitude.”