Arts :: Music
Belles of the Ball by Dustin Fitzharris
Bay Windows ContributorWednesday Oct 29, 2008Patti LaBelle, Nona Hendryx and Sarah Dash, collectively known as Labelle, could just as well be known as the music industry’s Sisterhood of the Traveling Pumps. After performing together since they were teenagers, the three women went their separate ways in 1978 to pursue individual passions. But today, they’re back with a new CD titled, appropriately enough, Back to Now. As it turns out, hit solo records and travels around the world couldn’t keep these songbirds apart.
That’s not to say there wasn’t at least some initial hesitancy.
"I didn’t want to come back to Sarah and Nona," confesses LaBelle. "I didn’t think we still had it. If we went out there, half-stepping, I’d be so embarrassed. But we’ve still got it. We have a sound that no one else has."
"I don’t know how we’ve been able to stay connected," adds Hendryx, her voice speaking in a soft-spoken tone that is completely opposite the forcefulness it delivers on stage.
"We could’ve spent 50 years apart and we’d still be connected," she continues. "We are so joined together by friends, family and history, that it would’ve been impossible not to remain so close."
The trio, which is perhaps singly best known for the number one hit song "Lady Marmalade," put a lot of time and thought into making their grand return. They spent two years planning, writing and going through demos before finally heading back to the studio this past spring. It was as if they picked up right where they left off thirty years ago.
"It rings," says LaBelle, describing the sound that comes together when all three ladies combine their talent.
Hendryx dives even deeper. "[The voices] are a hybrid of colors," she says. "When they come together and it’s right, it’s edgy, moving and powerful."
Those voices have shifted slightly over the years. The group actually began in 1959 as a quartet with additional member Cindy Birdsong. After inking a record deal in 1961, they changed their name to Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles and scored their first Top 40 hit, "I Sold My Heart to the Junkman." Birdsong abandoned the group in 1967 to join The Supremes, replacing Florence Ballard.
At the dawn of the 1970s the group was in dire need of a makeover. Under the tutelage of Vicki Wickham (producer of the British show Ready, Steady Go!), they got one. After shortening their name to Labelle and changing their sweet, innocent sound to a fusion of funk, gospel and soul, the group found a new audience. By the time they performed at New York’s Metropolitan Opera in October 1974, as the first contemporary African-American act to do so, they were sporting silver space suits, feathers, and decending to the stage like birds flying down from the rafters. Labelle had sealed its place in music, daring to go where no girl group had ever gone before.
Today, they are still doing their own thing. On Back to Now, Labelle sings about everything from sex to Rosa Parks to strife, as evident in the album’s new anthem for peace, "Tears for the World." That track was written by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, the same duo behind "Lady Marmalade." Back to Now also features music by Lenny Kravitz and Wyclef Jean.
Group member Hendryx, who wrote a number of the songs herself, is excited about the album. Says Hendryx: "We’ve made a record we hope contains music our fans from the past and newbies will love on their first listen, or grow to love even more over time as we have."
However, she recognizes, that criticism is especially tough when it’s levied at high profile acts with equally high expectations.
They spent two years planning, writing and going through demos before finally heading back to the studio this past spring. It was as if they picked up right where they left off thirty years ago. "We can’t please all of the people all of the time," says Hendryx. "But we gave it a good shot... Whatever you don’t like, don’t listen to - that is the choice of everyone who lives in a free society - and cherish what you love."
Hendryx’s philosophy resonates loud and clear in the (somewhat) new song, "System." Labelle originally sang the song in 1977 and intended to record it on their next album; it may be coming three decades later, but they’ve finally made good on that promise. And yet, despite the delay the message hasn’t changed. Patti LaBelle says that "System" is about "the lies that have been told. It’s about not doing what the system tells you, but following your heart."
But who or what is "the System?"
"It’s the unspoken rules we live by," Hendryx clarifies. "It’s the false or misinformation that is distributed into the world."
She lends the example of one’s sexual preference being different from what is perceived as the norm in society.
"Every adult or person has the right to live the way he or she chooses as long as the individual is not harming others," says Hendryx.
Hendryx, who is openly bisexual, knows what the System is capable of and has become a gay-rights activist over the years. This summer, she joined Cyndi Lauper on her True Colors tour, which helps raise awareness of discrimination in the LGBT community. Hendryx believes dealing with intolerance is still the biggest challenge facing the LGBT community.
"There is this idea that you must conform to what others think is right, even though you want to live in the way you feel is naturally right," says Hendryx. "Sexual preference is not a bad thing. We’ve come a long way. Look at Ellen [Degeneres]. She is able to have a public forum, get married to her girlfriend and be accepted. That shows great change."
Next year, Labelle hopes to hit the road for a full-fledged tour. To whet their fans’ appetite, they will return to New York’s Apollo Theater on December 19.
Despite the wave of nostalgia that is bound to accompany a reunion like this, Hendryx admits that she likes to "live in the now."
"No matter what age we are, when we are together, it seems our sisterhood that began way BACK when, contains love, difference, understanding, interdependence as well as independence," writes Hendryx in one of her latest blog entries. "That is our strength as Labelle NOW."
Patti LaBelle agrees: "We were decent women then and are still decent women now."
"Back to Now" is available now on Verve Records. For the latest information and tour news on Labelle, visit the official website: www.labelleisback.com.
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