Hello, Patti. Should I call you Ms. Patti, or just Patti?
Patti is fine, but a lot of people call me Ms. Patti.
As a mark of respect?
Yes, to show respect. I love it when they call me that, but they also call me Mom, Auntie, Mother … a lot of fans think of me as their mother, which I see as a big compliment.
But don’t a lot of them also thrust their phones at you so you can talk to their friends?
It’s hard to talk on people’s cellphones – I don’t care for other people’s germs. I still haven’t got a cellphone. I’m talking to you on my landline – it’s as old as me. I’m old-school, I don’t need that. I haven’t got a computer, either. I like a lot of privacy. When I’m at home, I want to be at home alone.
Where are you now?
At home in Philadelphia. I still live here. I have a house in Los Angeles that I stay in when I’m there, and a home in the Bahamas, but I live in Philly, 20 minutes from my childhood home. I went back six months ago with Mick Rock and we chit-chatted about the old neighbourhood. It was weird being back there, sitting in front of my house. I don’t know who lives there now. I thought about knocking on the door, but I didn’t.
What can you see from where you’re sitting?
A suitcase is the first thing I can see – a Louis Vuitton big bag. There’s nothing in it, and it’s beautiful. I take two onstage with me to prop my shoes on. I love my pumps [high heels]. Five-inch, six-inch, there was a time I did seven-inch, but that was back in the day.
How did it feel when Labelle became the first black vocal group to be on the cover of Rolling Stone?
We were groundbreaking, and it was an honour. It was showing other black women that they could do it. But we weren’t trying to break a record, we were just being Labelle. I don’t think at the time we thought it was special – we thought we were worthy of the cover, and it was something we should have had and we deserved it. But only when you look back do you realise how groundbreaking it was. Young black female groups gave us props – Destiny’s Child did, TLC complimented us; they said Labelle was one of the reasons they formed their groups.
Did you save your Lady Marmalade costumes?
I have them in a case in the basement. They’re beautiful. And the shoes!
Didn’t you get hot wearing them onstage?
Not at all hot. I never perspired in them. They weren’t heavy.
Is it true that when you recorded Lady Marmalade you didn’t know what it was about?
We really didn’t know at first. We thought it was a woman just walking down the street – it didn’t register that it might be about something else. We were very innocent, and I had no clue. I was very naive. Then we had some controversy about a nun being upset about the song, and we found out. I felt stupid … no, not stupid but naive. I didn’t know we were singing about a lady of the evening. Young girls today are so well versed because of the internet, so they’d never not realise, but it was different then. Thank God we did the song, anyway!
Yes, you’ll get royalties for the rest of your life.
You can call them royalties – I call them baby dollars. It’s depressing.
Do you still enjoy singing it?
Yes, I do. I have one of best bands in the world, and the way they play it, I get chills. I sing it differently every time – I can still get down at the age of 70.
A couple of years ago, you got emotional during an interview with Oprah and said: “I’ve been shut down, run down, talked about – but that never stopped me from being the true me.” What was that about?
It’s true – nothing anyone tries to do to me can bring me down. It never works. I’m so strong now, and nothing can run me down. I’m truly blessed.
When you announced your upcoming UK shows, you were worried that nobody over here wanted to see you. Why was that?
Oh, I know they want to see me, but I just haven’t been there in a long time – it’s 10 years. I’m loved more over there [in the UK] than I am here.
Barack Obama seems to love you, though. Was he self-conscious at being so close to you when you sang at the White House?
Not at all. I don’t think so. I think he was very happy to be in the room with all the talented women there. And he was sitting next to a very powerful woman.
From: https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2015/nov/12/patti-labelle-lady-marmalade-woman-walking-down-street
