Two-time Grammy award-winning singer and former “Dancing With the Stars” contestant Patti LaBelle will headline the second day of city’s annual gay pride festival on May 17.
Long Beach Lesbian and Gay Pride, the nonprofit group that organizes and runs the annual event, which includes a parade and two-day festival, made the announcement on its website.
“Patti has always been LGBTQ friendly and an advocate for the LGBTQ community,” said Denise Newman, copresident of Long Beach Pride.
“Some people have called her a diva, but I have never considered her a diva, just someone who can sing her face off,” Newman said. “She has a big personality. When Patti steps on stage, she has an immediate connection with the crowd and the crowd with her.”
LaBelle, who had a guest-starring role on “American Horror Story: Freak Show” and played herself on an episode of the FOX primetime soap opera “Empire,” was seen last month on ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars.” LaBelle, 70, and her professional partner, Artem Chigvintsev, 32, were voted off the show during its sixth episode on April 20.
Born Patricia Louise Holte-Edwards in Philadelphia, LaBelle spent 16 years as lead singer of Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles, who changed the trio’s name to Labelle in the early 1970s and released the iconic disco song “Lady Marmalade.”
In the early 1960s, Newton Records President Harold Robinson gave Holte-Edwards the nickname Patti La Belle (La Belle is French for “the beautiful one.”)
At one point, the group opened for The Who and The Rolling Stones.
After the trio split in 1976, LaBelle went solo and charted numerous singles and albums, including the hits “New Attitude” and “Stir It Up.”
She’s been Grammy nominated 13 times.
In 2002, LaBelle appeared on the 44th Grammy Awards ceremony with Christina Aguilera, Lil’ Kim, Mýa and Pink in an updated version of “Lady Marmalade,”
The following year, LaBelle was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for “Lady Marmalade.”
Contact Phillip Zonkel at 562-714-2098.
