Patti LaBelle Biography

Fast Facts

• Awarded with numerous honors including distinctions by the Grammy Hall of Fame, Songwriters' Hall of Fame and the World Music Awards, among others
• Though shy as a child, she joined her church's choir when she was 10 years old and sang her first solo at 12
• Her group Patti La Belle and Her Bluebelles was signed by Newtown Records in 1961, but eventually changed to Atlantic Records in 1965
• Made her Broadway debut in 1984 with "Your Arms Too Short to Box with God" and later her film debut in 1984's "A Soldier's Story․"
• After almost two decades with the Ordettes, renamed the BlueBelles in 1961 and LaBelle in the 1970s, she would eventually pursue a solo career in 1977 after the group split up
• Singer and actress referred to as the Godmother of Soul whose hit songs include "Lady Marmalade," "When You Talk About Love" and "New Attitude․"
• Nicknamed LaBelle, meaning "the beautiful one" in French, by studio executive Harold Robinson in 1963