5
Patti LaBelle and her former Bluebelles sure had
changed. Instead of the prim gowns the Philly
quartet modeled onstage when they rode the
charts during the early ‘60s with
I Sold My Heart
To The Junkman
(they weren’t even on the
record) and
Down The Aisle (Wedding Song)
,
their wardrobe was now utterly outrageous, the
shocking concept of their new manager, Vicki
Wickham, the former producer of the legendary
U.K. rock TV program ‘Ready, Steady, Go’ and a
very close friend of group member Nona Hendryx.
Their name had been changed to Labelle,
indicating a switch in artistic direction to a rock-
oriented mindset. And they were now working
with famed producer Allen Toussaint in New
Orleans.
Powerhouse lead soprano LaBelle (born Patsy Holte on May 24, 1944 in
Philadelphia) teamed up with Trenton, New Jersey natives Hendryx (born
October 9, 1944) and Sarah Dash (born August 18, 1945) and Cindy Birdsong,
born December 15, 1939 in Mount Holly, N.J., to form The Blue Belles (original
spelling). Their first hit in 1962 for Harold B. Robinson’s Newtown label,
I Sold
My Heart To The Junkman
, didn’t even feature their voices (it was performed
1. Labelle
Lady Marmalade
(Bob Crewe-Kenny Nolan)
Epic 8-50048
