Patti LaBelle Once Shaded ‘American Idol’
Patti LaBelle has been an icon for over 60 years. The Philadelphia native began her music career in the early 1960s and she hasn’t slowed down since then. She’s done iconic hits for films like Beverly Hills Cop and the Grammy Award Winner’s “Lady Marmalade” has become a timeless classic.
The chart-topping legend recently appeared on Apple TV’s Verzuz along with her good friend and fellow legend, Gladys Knight where they reminisced about their friendship and time in showbusiness while signing some of their classic hits.
With such a long legacy, LaBelle has no qualms about speaking her mind. In fact, she once hilariously shaded the musical competition show, American Idol.
Patti LaBelle began her career in a girl group
When LaBelle initially burst onto the scene, she was the frontwoman for the girl group, Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles. The 76-year-old debuted her first single back in 1962. However, the group began rising to success when they debuted their single, “I Sold My Heart To The Junkman” that same year.
In 1971, the group changed their name to LaBelle, and that same year, they garnered their very first number one hit, “Lady Marmalade.” LaBelle also became the first Black group to snag a Rolling Stone magazine cover.
However, the Godmother of Soul would skyrocket all on her own when she finally went solo in the late 1970s.
Patti LaBelle is in the Grammy Hall of Fame
After going solo in 1977, LaBelle has released 19 albums. As a member of LaBelle, she released 11 albums. In 1986 she scored her very first solo number one album with Winner In You. “On My Own” a single from the album helped it skyrocket to the top of the charts.
She went on to win two Grammy Awards, a Lifetime Achievement Award and she was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2004. Still, all of this success hasn’t prevented LaBelle from speaking her mind, especially when it comes to what’s going on in the world today.
During her Verzuz special, she dropped some gems about what’s occurring in thre world currently. However, a couple of years ago she had some interesting comments about American Idol.
Patti LaBelle once shaded ‘American Idol’
The music industry certainly isn’t what it used to be, nor are music competition shows like American Idol the same as they once were. In fact, LaBelle once shaded American Idol. In 2010 during an interview for Today she quipped, “Some of the judges, I don’t think they’re qualified to even judge.” At the time, Idol’s judges were, Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson, Kara DioGuardi, and Ellen DeGeneres.
LaBelle also said that she had asked to be a judge on the series, but never heard back. “The comments that were made, they could make you like wanna kill yourself,” she said about the judges’ remarks. “If you believe in yourself, just go for it. What do you have to lose? And when people tell you ‘You can’t,’ you have to say, ‘I can.”
Still, LaBelle doesn’t have any ill-feeling against Idol, she performed on the show’s finale in 2018.
