Patti LaBelle is a Grammy Award-winning singer, actor, and businesswoman who has dominated the music business with her incredible talent and powerful vocals. Patti LaBelle was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on May 24, 1944. Throughout her six-decade career, she has achieved multiple chart-topping songs, such as “Lady Marmalade” and “On My Own.”
She has built an empire in acting, writing, and cooking in addition to her musical accomplishments. Patti LaBelle’s diverse success is reflected in her net worth as of 2023, which is a monument to her longevity and adaptability in the entertainment industry.
Patti LaBelle Net Worth
Patti LaBelle is a well-known singer, actress, and entrepreneur with a $60 million fortune. Patti LaBelle and the Blue Belles was the ensemble that brought her initial fame. After that, she had great success both as a solo performer and as an actor in motion pictures and television series.
Patti LaBelle’s Early Life
On May 24, 1944, Patricia Louise Holte was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is the daughter of Henry and Bertha Holte, and she has four siblings. Her mother was a domestic helper, and her father was a club performer and railroad worker. When she was twelve years old, her parents separated.
Patti LaBelle’s Personal Life
LaBelle left John Bartram High School in Philadelphia just one semester before she was set to graduate in 1962. In her mid-thirties, LaBelle went back to school and eventually received her diploma.
In her memoirs, LaBelle claimed that in the 1960s, Jackie Wilson had s*xually attacked her in the Brooklyn Brevoort Theatre. LaBelle was engaged to The Temptations founding member Otis Williams in the early 1960s.
Patti ended the engagement after a year because she thought Williams would make her relocate to Detroit and put an end to her touring career. LaBelle wed her lifelong friend and schoolteacher Armstead Edwards on July 23, 1969.
Edwards became LaBelle’s manager when she began her solo career, a role he held until 2000. LaBelle and Edwards were divorced in 2003 after officially divorcing in that same year. Zuri Kye Edwards, their son, was born on July 17, 1973, and he currently works as her manager.
Following Zuri’s birth, LaBelle experienced a year-long postpartum depression. She claimed that singer-songwriter Laura Nyro assisted in caring for Zuri while she recovered. Through Zuri, LaBelle is a grandmother of two girls and one boy (her name means “good” in Swahili).
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Patti LaBelle’s Career Beginnings
When LaBelle joined the Beulah Baptist Church choir at the age of ten, she started singing. Two years later, she gave her first solo performance with the chorus. Then, as a student at John Bartram High School, she won the talent competition when she was sixteen years old.
She and her classmates founded the Ordettes, a singing group, in 1960 after she won. As the trio gained popularity in the community, Harold Robinson, the owner of a local record business, invited them to audition.
Robinson had the group record under the Blue Belles’ name after signing them. Subsequently, the group’s name was changed to Patti LaBelle and The Blue Belles. The hit song “Down the Aisle” became their first smash record in 1963.
Patti LaBelle’s Career
With hits like “You’ll Never Walk Alone” and “Danny Boy” in 1964, Patti LaBelle and the Blue Belles were able to maintain a reasonable level of success. Following the closure of their first label, Cameo-Parkway, the trio signed with Atlantic Records in New York in 1965.
The group languished after a few lineup changes, including Cindy Birdsong leaving to join The Supremes, and by 1970, both their management and Atlantic Records had dropped them.
That year, the group changed their name to merely Labelle, and producer Vicki Wickham became their new manager. They also changed the direction of their music, emphasizing rock, funk, and psychedelic soul.
Their career took a turn for the better after these actions, and they signed with Track Records, a Warner Music label. Their second album, “Moon Shadow,” was released a year later in 1972, after they had previously published their debut album, “Labelle,” in 1971.
After their third album, “Pressure Cookin’,” came out in 1973 and didn’t do well, the band signed with Epic Records and put out their fourth album, “Nightbirds,” in 1974. “Nightbirds” is their best-performing album and was favorably appreciated by listeners.
Actually, the album’s single “Lady Marmalade” went on to sell over a million copies and peak at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 list. The trio was asked to appear on the cover of Rolling Stone Magazine in 1975 as a result of the popularity of “Nightbirds” and “Lady Marmalade.”
The band put out two more albums, “Phoenix” (1975) and “Chameleon” (1976), although they were never as successful as “Nightbirds.” The group finally broke up in 1976 due to growing disagreements about the direction of the music.
In addition to receiving multiple Grammy Award nominations, LaBelle was elected into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2004 for her song “Lady Marmalade,” winning the 1994 Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and the 1999 Best Traditional R&B Performance awards. In addition, she has received numerous NAACP Image Awards and has been shortlisted for two Emmy Awards.
