Patti LaBelle - Biography

Born Patricia Louise Holte on May 24, 1944, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the celebrated singer and actress came to be widely recognized as the Godmother of Soul. She began her professional journey in the early 1960s fronting the vocal group Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles. After renaming themselves Labelle, the group scored a massive US number-one hit with Lady Marmalade.

Following the group's disbandment in 1977, LaBelle embarked on an acclaimed solo career. In 1986, she reached the top of the charts with both her US number-one album Winner in You and her chart-topping duet with Michael McDonald, On My Own. Her solo musical excellence earned her a 1992 Grammy for Burnin' followed by another Grammy in 1999 for the live recording Live! One Night Only.

Beyond her music, she proved her versatility as an actress with an appearance in the Academy Award-nominated film A Soldier's Story and television roles in series such as A Different World. Over a dynamic career spanning seven decades, she has achieved sales exceeding 50 million records globally. Her extraordinary vocal power and dramatic soprano range led to her induction into both the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the Apollo Theater Hall of Fame.