LaBelle
Labelle was an American band that originated out of The Blue Belles, a girl group who were a popular vocal group of the 1960s and 1970s. The original act was formed after the disbanding of two rival girl bands in the area around Philadelphia, in Pennsylvania, and Trenton, in New Jersey: The Ordettes and The Del-Capris, forming as a new version of the former, then later changing their name to The Blue Belles (and further Bluebelles). The founding members were Patti LaBelle (born Patricia Louise Holte), Cindy Birdsong, Nona Hendryx, and Sarah Dash.
As the Bluebelles, and later Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles, the band found success with the ballads "Down the Aisle (The Wedding Song)", "You'll Never Walk Alone", and "Over the Rainbow" and as a consistent performing act, most notably at the Apollo Theater. After Birdsong departed to join The Supremes in 1967, the group, following the advice of Vicki Wickham, changed its look, musical direction, and style to re-form as the progressive soul act Labelle in 1971. Their recordings of that period became cult favorites for dealing with subjects not typically addressed by female black bands. After adapting glam rock and wearing outlandish space-age and glam costumes, the group found success with the proto-disco single "Lady Marmalade" in 1974, leading to the album Nightbirds achieving gold certification. They were the first contemporary pop and first black pop band to perform at the Metropolitan Opera House. They were also the first black vocal group to appear on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine.
Each of the band members later went on to begin solo careers after the end of a tour in 1976, going on to have significant solo success. Nona Hendryx followed an idiosyncratic muse into a solo career that often bordered on the avant-garde, but reaching a new audience with the respected 2017 release "Shine", by Soul Clap, which was widely played in the UK, US and Ibiza clubs while being picked and released by the famous label Defected Records; Sarah Dash became a celebrated session singer; and Patti LaBelle enjoyed a very successful Grammy-winning career, with several top-20 R&B hits between 1982 and 1997, a No. 1 pop hit with "On My Own", and lifetime-achievement awards from the Apollo Theatre, World Music Awards, and BET Awards.
The group reunited for their first new album in 32 years, Back to Now, in 2008. They performed together regularly until the death of Dash on September 20, 2021, at the age of 76.
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