Patti LaBelle & the Bluebelles had a minor Top Twenty R&B/pop hit with "I Sold My Heart to the Junkman" in 1962 and, after signing with Atlantic Records, continued to score hits in a variety of sounds, ranging from girl group pop to '70s funk ("Lady Marmalade") to disco to lush pop and R&B ballads while going through a visually stimulating metamorphosis from the Bluebelles to LaBelle. Soul diva Patti LaBelle -- the group's longtime leader --- continues to enjoy one of the most successful solo careers in contemporary R&B.
Patti LaBelle (b. Patricia Holt in Philadelphia on October 4, 1944) grew up singing in a local Baptist choir and teamed with friend Cindy Birdsong to form the Ordettes in Philadelphia in 1960. A year later, they added vocalists Nona Hendryx and Sarah Dash and the group was re-christened the Bluebelles.
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