Patti LaBelle: 'Beyoncé and Destiny's Child were patterned after LaBelle'
theGRIO VIDEO - Music legend Patti LaBelle is opening up about how she helped influence the careers of Beyoncé and Destiny’s Child, Rihanna, and Toni Braxton...
Music legend Patti LaBelle is opening up about how she helped influence the careers of Beyoncé and Destiny’s Child, Rihanna, and Toni Braxton.
In part 2 of her interview with theGrio’s Chris Witherspoon, LaBelle, who currently stars in the Broadway hit musical After Midnight, opened up about being a wise elder in the music industry.
“Beyoncé used to talk to me for advice,” LaBelle said. “All these young ladies ask questions of me, and I can give them the honest truth.”
“[Beyoncé] said [Destiny’s Child] patterned themselves after LaBelle back in the day. I felt it was an honor for her to say that, and I’ve always loved her voice and she’s just killing it all over the world, and she knows who she is.”
Patti LaBelle triumphs on Broadway after battling depression and losing voice
LaBelle recalled her first time meeting Rihanna.
“It was at the Grammys or Billboard Awards. Rihanna said, ‘Miss Patti, watch me. I’m singing for the first time.’ And she blew it up.”
The 70-year-old Grammy winner also talked about receiving phone calls from Toni Braxton seeking advice early on in her career.
LaBelle opened up about her legacy, and said she wants to be remembered as “a good thing.”
“I want to be remembered as a decent person who cared about the world. We’re in such a bad place in the whole wide world … the kidnappings in Africa with the girls, the killings all over the world. I really would love to be a peacemaker wherever I can be.”
LaBelle stars in After Midnight from June 29.
Follow Chris Witherspoon on Twitter @WitherspoonC.
