The Gospel according to Patti LaBelle 01 Did You Pray Today 02 Where Love Begins 03 Anything 04 Walk Around Heaven 05 More Than (He Loves You) 06 God Aint Through. Jan 28, 2021 Patti has fronted two moderately successful groups Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles and LaBelle, before rising to superstardom as a solo artist in the. Download Patti Labelle mp3. Patti Labelle download high quality complete mp3 albums. Login: Password. Patti Labelle - Love, Need, And Want You (Sing.mp3: 10.86 Mb.

The Gospel according to Patti LaBelle 01 Did You Pray Today 02 Where Love Begins 03 Anything 04 Walk Around Heaven 05 More Than (He Loves You) 06 God Aint Through.
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Okay, show of hands, who doesn't get a Patti Sweet Potato pie every holiday season? Sure, Sean Combs and 50 Cent have been able to launch products in the food and drink industry after finding success in the music industry, and musicians such as Beyoncé and Jennifer Hudson have been able to take to Broadway and film after beginning in music. But before all of them, there was the woman dubbed the 'Godmother of Soul,'Patti LaBelle. Before Philadelphia became the epicenter of soul music in the 1970s, Patti LaBelle and her band, LaBelle, was putting the City of Brotherly Love on the music map and infusing soul, rock, and early disco into a successful musical act. After going solo, she found even more success in and outside of music. With cookbooks, acting, and various entrepreneurial side projects, LaBelle has cemented herself as an institution.

This was not always the case for Miss LaBelle. For every success, there was a failure, and for every accomplishment, there was a loss, either personally or professionally. LaBelle has taken a number of hits in her almost eight decades on the planet and has still come out on top. Here is the tragic real-life story of Patti LaBelle.

Abuse growing up

Patti LaBelle was born Patricia Louise Holt on May 24, 1944, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Henry, a railroad worker and nightclub singer, and Bertha Holt. Despite living in relative economic comfort, LaBelle's life and childhood were far from comfortable. At the age of 12, according to Sun Signs, Bertha divorced Henry after suffering years of abuse. Despite this, Patti kept in close contact with her father until his passing.

In a documentary about the singer, LaBelle, who was referred to as 'Patsy' growing up, was described as 'timid and quiet.' LaBelle herself did not expect to be a singer, as she discussed in the documentary: 'I thought I was going to be a housewife. I was very shy and introverted, and whatever I had inside did not come out very much then.' Following her parents' divorce, Patsy would have to overcome another emotional scar after she was assaulted by a family friend, an event she would not speak of for a long time.

LaBelle said that her church became both a safe place and somewhere to mature musically. According to Black Past, in high school, LaBelle, her older sister Barbara, and three friends formed a singing group, though they broke up after one show because of fighting between the sisters. Throughout high school, Patti would continue to sing in a group named the Ordettes.

Patti LaBelle's engagement to Otis Williams

In her final semester of high school, Patti dropped out to tour with her group, now managed by Bernand Montague. Over the next few years, LaBelle would tour and build up a small following. However, the young frontwoman's life could have taken a drastic turn, thanks to an infatuation with another rising star singer.

Long before Beyoncé and Jay Z and Ashford and Simpson, there was Otis Williams and Pattie LaBelle. In the early 1960s, LaBelle was a rising singer in Philadelphia when she met Otis Williams, a member of one of the most popular groups in the country, The Temptations, when the Motown group came to her Philadelphia hometown for a show. According to HuffPost, the two singers met after the show, and their courtship began soon after. The courtship was intense, though LaBelle herself, looking back on the relationship, wondered whether she was attracted to Williams himself or if she was just starstruck by his spot in The Temptations.

Otis soon asked for her hand in marriage, but it was at this point that LaBelle ended the relationship. According to I Love Old School Music, Otis wanted LaBelle to move away from Philadelphia to his home in California and slow down her music career so they could focus on their marriage. LaBelle turned down Williams' proposal, saying she could not give up her music, something he understood. The pair remained close friends throughout the years as their two careers continued to rise.

Patti LaBelle's accusation against Jackie Wilson

Jackie Wilson was one of the greatest performers of the 1950s and '60s. Nicknamed 'Mr. Excitement' and listed at No. 69 on Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Artists list, Wilson holds a legacy as one of music history's all-time greatest entertainers. However, like many musicians, there was a dark side to Wilson.

In her autobiography Don't Block the Blessings (via the Chicago Tribune), LaBelle recalled a disturbing incident in the early 1960s when she was still an up-and-comer in the music world, and Wilson was a solidified star. While alone backstage at a theater in Brooklyn, LaBelle said a man came up from behind and started to kiss her neck. The man, it turned out, was Jackie Wilson, and, according to the Michigan Chronicle, LaBelle remembered smelling liquor on his breath. Wilson and an associate then allegedly grabbed LaBelle and attempted to carry her into a locked room. LaBelle recalled not having a weapon and wasn't strong enough to fight the two men off, but she screamed loud enough to make them let her go, allowing her to escape.

Wilson, according to Jerry Reuss, was known for having a short temper and had a number of extramarital affairs. During the early 1960s, Wilson was married to his childhood sweetheart, Freda Hood. Gladys Knight, friend to both LaBelle and the late Wilson, did not deny LaBelle's accusations, though she said Wilson was very supportive and helped her career along when she was a young musician.

Patti LaBelle's early career troubles

No musician starts at the top. Typically, it takes years of struggle, practice, and finding the right lineup before a performer can even start to get the slightest amount of commercial success. Pattie LaBelle is no different in this regard.

Once they dropped out of high school, the Ordettes toured the East Coast. According to John Clemente's book, Girl Groups: Fabulous Females Who Rocked the World, LaBelle and her bandmates Sarah Dash, Nona Hendryx, and Cindy Birdsong, performed every day at different venues. Finally, as told by Pop Dose, their big break came in 1962 and involved a cover of the song 'I Sold My Heart to a Junkman.'

Harold B. Robinson, a car dealer attempting to launch his own label, had approached another girl group, the Starlets, and convinced them to record the song. Despite the group telling Robinson they were a part of another label, he convinced them it would not be an issue, and they capitulated. When Robinson's Newton Records finally launched later that year, he released the track, credited to 'The Blue Belles.' Then he had the Ordettes, unaware of the previous recording with the Starlets, record the song during an audition. As the song began to climb in popularity, the Starlets' manager sued Robinson, with the newly named Patti LaBelle and the Blue Belles stuck in the middle.

The end of LaBelle

Following the episode with the Starlets and Harold Robinson, the Blue Belles spent the next few years fluctuating between success and failure. According to History of Rock, the group recorded a number of top 40 hits before jumping ship to Atlantic Records in 1965. During their three years with Atlantic, however, the group struggled to reach similar success, and by the end, Cindy Birdsong had left the group to replace Florence Ballard in the Supremes.

In 1970, the Blue Belles began to be managed by British television producer Vicki Wickman. Wickman renamed them 'LaBelle' and pushed the group toward the increasingly popular glitter rock aesthetic. This change helped push the women to the greatest critical and commercial success of their careers, eventually nabbing their first Billboard No. 1 single with the song 'Lady Marmalade.' According to Musicaficionado, LaBelle was the first Black vocal group to grace the cover of Rolling Stone and the first Black pop act to play the Metropolitan Opera House.

Despite being critically ac

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