A diva is someone who is a perfectionist, who does her best in her craft.
All I can tell you really is if you get to the point where someone is telling you that you are not great or not good enough, just follow your heart and don't let anybody crush your dream.
Always respect yourself and don't go out there disrespecting yourself.
Because I am a black woman who sings as well as the three names I mentioned, I have to wait longer and I have to do flips when I am on stage in order for them to see me.
Being honored at Berklee College of Music; I got a doctorate. I am Doctor Patti.
I ain't tryin' to go with no gorilla.
I always have to go that extra mile, and I do it and I don't mind doing it, but it isn't fair.
I am blessed with this voice and people come to hear me and part of what they are going to hear is what needs to be said about this.
I can't do some of the songs that younger girls like Mary J. Blige and Beyonce are doing. They have their own place and I have my own place.
I did a song with Carlos Santana, but of course he didn't sing - but I did sing with one of his band members, named Andy Vargas.
I don't feel as though I have to prove anything to anybody.
I guess I started by joining a choir.
I have five kids: four kids and an adopted son.
I have not paid attention to trying to keep up with the younger girl who's singing and doing their thing.
I have Patti's pots and pans coming out soon. And Patti's jewelry on Home Shopping Network and my clothing line.
I have to go 150 percent or nothing at all.
I just sing the stuff that makes me smile, makes me feel like I didn't sell myself out.
I keep showing decade after decade that I am a real performer.
I love Canadians because I don't see very much racism in Canada.
I love the sound of a full orchestra, or if it's a band, I want to see everybody playing something up there.
I never thought I would be singing for the world.
I think the race situation is getting better as far as people respecting each other goes.
I think the race situation with entertainment is not that much better.
I thought that I would just be a homebody, married with children with a picket fence.
I truly respect the people who are working.
I was a shy kid with a broom handle that I pretended was a microphone.
I was very shy. I'm still shy.
I'll perform all the way to the grave.
I'm 60, and I did 60-year-old women songs. I'm not trying to be the Hip-Hop Queen, although I am the original Hip Hop Queen.
I'm no different than you.
I'm not trying to impress the younger or the older generation.
I'm very shy in a crowd.
I'm very spontaneous.
I've had 60 years of ups and downs, and all of the downs that I've had, I'm happy that I've had them because it's taught me to appreciate all the ups.
If I can give some of the information to the young girls coming up, then I will do that and I have done that.
If it ends up sounding like a younger person's rhythm, it just so happened that I loved whatever that was.
If they want an autograph from Patti LaBelle, they are going to get it.
If you are going to do this business, really do the business.
It's true, I am a quiet woman, very quiet.
Living with a disease means you have to think about health choices every day, like it or not.
My motivation is I have the chance to show a few young girls and young men how easy or hard it can be.
Now that I am divorced, I just run away after I feed them because I know that I have probably already hooked them.
People with no humor, they're outta my life.
So if anybody wants to get me something, get me 60 crabs - one for each year. I don't want no diamonds, I don't want no shoes, I don't want no party. I want some crabs.
So if diva means giving your best, then yes, I guess I am a diva.
So when I don't record a song that I should have, I put it in my show.
That's not easy because out of 40 songs, you gotta pick 12 or 13.
The choir director told me that I had to go up front because I was not supposed to be singing the chorus because I am special.
There are so many songs I have grown to love listening to over the years.
There have been so many men in my life that I have fed and at the time I was married, and if I wasn't married, I know they would have tried to kiss me.
This time I did something that wasn't stupid - I recorded the songs, and after I lived with them for awhile, I left them behind if I didn't love them.
We all wanted to sing different music, so we all went in different directions. We are all still friends and we still plan on doing a reunion tour.
We as a people can't give enough to people living with AIDS.
When I look into the crowd, I see young and old, black and white - it's amazing that I'm able to connect with so many different kinds of people.
With me, I don't take very long in the studio.
Women are dominating the charts, and women are doing it for themselves. We're kicking butt and taking no prisoners.
You don't have to be an angel, just be someone who can give.
You know I'm a clothes girl, so I thought it made sense to have a Patti LaBelle Collection.
You know, some people are so pitiful and they can't sing at all, so the producer has to take it one word at a time or one line at a time.
You've got to know business before you go to show business.
Husband and manager of 30 years separating. [February 2000]
Received star on Hollywood Walk of Fame [1993]
Received an honorary Doctor of Music degree from Berkeley School of Music [1996]
Has five children; two of whom are adopted and the orphaned children of one of her sisters and her biological son.
Was given the name LaBelle (which in French translates to the beautiful) by a record exec whom originally thought she was too dark and unattractive to head the then all girl group The Blue Belles
Has two fragrances and a line of lipsticks and nail polishes
Owner of Chez LaBelle dinner theater in Philidelphia, PA
Known to give her devoted fans one of her fake eyelashes when performing in concert
Often takes off her shoes while performing
Authored Don't Block the Blessings: Revelations of a Lifetime and cookbook LaBelle Cuisine: Recipes to Sing About
Lost all three of her sisters to some form of cancer
Was once engaged to Otis Williams of the long time R&B singing group, The Temptations.
Godmother of Cyndi Lauper's son, Declyn (B. Nov 19 1997)
Ranked #41 on VH1's Greatest Women of Rock N Roll
All three of her sisters died of the same form of cancer before their 44th birthdays.
She has 5 children. She has a son named Zuri. She adopted her sister Jackie's son and daughter after she died of cancer. She raised her neighbor's two boys, Dodd and Stanley, after her neighbor died of pneumonia, although she and her husband were too old at the time to legally adopt them.
Godmother of Mariah Carey.
Close friend of Luther Vandross.
Oddly enough, when she and Michael McDonald first recorded the Burt Bacharach/Carole Bayer Sager song "On My Own," neither artist had even met. LaBelle recorded her part of the song in Philadelphia while McDonald completed his part in Los Angeles. Even after filming a video for the song, both singers had still not met. Not until after the song went to number one on the charts in June 1986 did the two artists finally meet when they performed *together* for the first time on _"The Tonight show Starring Johnny Carson" (1962)_
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