After decades of hit records, sold-out shows, and one of the most recognizable voices in music history, Patti LaBelle is fully embracing a title she says she’s worked for. Speaking with CBS News ahead of her 82nd birthday, the singer made it clear she has no issue being called a legend. “I love it,” she said with a laugh. “I should be called, ‘Legend, legend, legend, legend.’ Yes. I love it. I have earned it.”
The moment arrives just months after LaBelle finalized a major royalty agreement with Primary Wave covering the income stream from her catalog. The deal includes royalties tied to her entire body of work, spanning 18 studio albums and three live releases.
While financial details were not made public, the agreement placed LaBelle alongside a growing list of artists whose catalogs and royalty rights have become increasingly valuable in the music business.
LaBelle’s career stretches across more than 60 years, from her early days growing up in Philadelphia as Patsy Holt to becoming the face of the groundbreaking group Labelle and later a solo superstar.
During the CBS interview, she reflected on being painfully shy as a child and using a broomstick as a pretend microphone while singing in her bedroom.
She also revisited difficult moments from her rise in music, including a record executive telling her she was “quite ugly” while encouraging her to change her name to LaBelle.
“It gave me hurt, just total, total hurt,” she said. “No matter what anyone said about me, I am who I am, I’m not gonna change.”
As Labelle, the group helped push boundaries in the 1970s with theatrical fashion and songs that challenged expectations for women in pop and soul music. Their biggest hit, “Lady Marmalade,” became a cultural landmark, eventually earning a second life decades later through the Moulin Rouge! soundtrack remake featuring Christina Aguilera, Mya, Pink, and Lil’ Kim.
The original recording was later added to the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress.
Outside of music, LaBelle has expanded into food, cookware, and bestselling cookbooks through her Patti’s Good Life brand. But she says performing remains non-negotiable.
“It’s never my last show,” she said. “I’ll be singing until I can’t no more.”
