Labelle - Lady Marmalade (Voulez-Vous Coucher Avec Moi Ce Soir ) 1974 • ...

This is a group known as Labelle, consisting of Nona Hendryx, Sarah Dash and Patti LaBelle (left to right in the picture.)I feel it is appropriate to feature them in remembrance of Sarah Dash who passed away just over a week ago. They originally formed as a foursome with Cindy Birdsong, calling themselves the Blue Belles, later changing to Bluebelles. In 1967 Cindy left suddenly to join The Supremes and the group changed to Labelle, with Patti changing her name to Patti LaBelle (capital B). her real name was Patricia Holt. They also adopted a Glam Rock look with space suit inspired outfits seen in this clip which is a live performance of their iconic hit Lady Marmalade (pronounced Mar-mar -lah-dah). The lyrics are a mixture of English, French and gibberish. None of the ladies spoke French and so they were quite shocked to hear that the song was about a prostitute when a French speaking nun wrote to them about it! But the song was a huge hit and led to a gold award in1974. They were the first African American pop group ( actually any kind of pop group) to appear at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. They were also the first African American vocal group to appear on the cover of Rolling Stone Magazine. In 1976 they split up, with Nona achieving success as a somewhat avant garde singer, Sarah making a career as a session singer including some collaboration with Sir Keith Richards and Patti earning Grammy awards for her albums and standing ovations for live performances, often at the Apollo or an even larger venue. Patti is a standard soprano with a three octave range, but unlike many such singers whose power falls off in the higher ranges, hers gets stronger, leading to the label "high octave belter". She also has a flamboyant on stage delivery which makes her a very interesting vocalist. The threesome came back together in 2008 once more. Sarah had been in a serious vehicle accident in the interim but credits the fact that she could eventually walk without assistance to her faith in God.