While still keeping both a packed touring schedule and a packed product line at Wal-Mart, getting Patti LaBelle to sit down for an extended chat might seem like a daunting task. That is exactly what she did though, with the popular Drink Champs podcast recently, offering up an extensive interview packed with the pure honesty that we have come to expect and love from Ms. Patti herself. Not only did LaBelle speak about her friendships with famed superstars like Luther Vandross and Elton John, but LaBelle chatted about some of the female titans of the music industry that she has come to consider close friends.
LaBelle also finally spoke out publicly on that buzzed about moment between she and “The Queen of Soul” Aretha Franklin during the 2014 Women of Soul concert at the White House. According to LaBelle, it was much ado about nothing. Of the moment, LaBelle said “Me and Aretha, we were good,” LaBelle went on to say “The time that she did the White House, she wasn’t feeling great. After the White House, we spoke on the phone — she called me because she was very interested in having her items in Walmart. We talked about food, we talked about recording together — this is after the White House”. LaBelle went on to speak about the close relationship that she had with Franklin, so close in fact that Franklin hand picked LaBelle to perform “Ain’t No Way” during the Kennedy Center Honors in the mid 1990’s.
LaBelle went on to say that “I sang ‘Ain’t No Way’ because she wanted me to” LaBelle explained. “She loved me. It wasn’t love/hate, it was love, and when I’m not feeling well, you might get another side of Aretha. So that’s all it was”. LaBelle called Franklin her “number one hero — always has been, always will be”.
@jazzibepodding THEEE MS. Patti LaBelle joins NORE and DJ EFN on their popular hip-hop culture podcast, Drink Champs. Here, she speaks of a mysterious top-10 industry girl who apparently wasn’t fond of the legend. #podcast #hiphop #rnb #soulmusic #pattilabelle #drinkchamps #blackmusic
While LaBelle did speak of an unpleasant story she previously told about a performer she saw at an awards show who would “remain nameless” but she would “never make friends with her”, LaBelle did speak extensively about some of the female performers that she does love. She spoke about hearing Cardi B & Megan Thee Stallion’s “WAP” (she said “you go girls”) and chatted about Jazmine Sullivan, who admitted that LaBelle initially thought “hated” her. LaBelle said “Last week, she made my heart pound — hard. She called me. The same gentleman, Marquese, who made this outfit and the outfit that I wore for Essence last couple weeks ago, he’s good friends with Jazmine. So he said ‘Jazmine and I always used to talk about ‘who’s coming to Patti LaBelle’s party first? You or me?’” Now, she and Sullivan are talking about possibly stepping into the recording studio together.
At the conclusion of her epic chat on Drink Champs, LaBelle seemed to truly be a fan. She said “I cleansed myself today on this show. I said a lot of things that I probably shouldn’t have but I don’t care. I said it and I feel good about being here”.
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