Labelle’s Pioneering Legacy Garners Lincoln Center Tribute: ‘We Were All That … And a Bag of Chips!’
Categoria: Musica
‘Nightbirds: The Music of Labelle’ salutes the trio’s historic 1974 concert at the Met.
Por Billboard | 25/06/2026
More than 50 years ago, an historic occasion occurred at New York’s Metropolitan Opera House. Pioneering “Lady Marmalade” trio Labelle became the first African American female group to headline the storied Lincoln Center venue in 1974. Against the backdrop of Black Music Month, this achievement is being celebrated during a one-night reunion event (June 28): “Nightbirds: The Music of Labelle.” The tribute features Labelle founding members Nona Hendryx and special guest co-host Patti LaBelle. Among the vocal virtuosos paying homage to Labelle will be Grammy winner Ledisi, Sandra St. Victor, Kimberly Nichole and Tony Award winner Adrienne Warren. Accompanying them will be three original Labelle musicians: Eddie Martinez (guitar), Carmine Rojas (bass) and Jose Rossy (percussion). And as noted on the Lincoln Center website, attendees are being asked to “come dressed in your most iconic silver outfit” — mirroring the 1974 concert’s “wear something silver” tagline commemorating Labelle’s metallic, spacesuit costumes. Commenting on the event and Hendryx’s role as its curator, Shanta Thake, chief artistic officer of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, told Billboard via email: “We’re thrilled to have this incredible tribute as part of this year’s Summer for the City festival. The festival invites everyone to experience the fullest expression of art and community, and ‘Nightbirds: The Music of Labelle’ is a powerful reflection of that spirit. Nona Hendryx has long been a vital part of the Lincoln Center community, an artist whose work has always been ahead of its time — pushing boundaries, shaping American popular music and showing us new ways of being together.” Labelle, best known for the global hit “Lady Marmalade,” first gained notice as ‘60s girl group Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles. Rechristened as the trio Labelle in the ‘70s, members LaBelle, Hendryx and Sarah Dash (who died in 2021) added funk/glam rock and progressive soul to its R&B and gospel repertoire. Their barrier-breaking transformation yielded “Lady Marmalade” and the gold-certified breakthrough album Nightbirds. Labelle’s final album was 2008’s Back to Now . Ahead of the upcoming “Nightbirds: The Music of Labelle,” Billboard caught up with Hendryx and LaBelle via email: What does this full-circle moment mean to you? Hendryx: Lincoln Center is a world-renowned institution that has for decades decided what counts as serious American art. Bringing Labelle’s music there again isn’t nostalgia. It’s a continuation of correction. We were the Sweethearts of the Apollo first before the 1974 concert and becoming the first African American female group to headline the Metropolitan Opera House — a building that had never imagined three Black women in silver space-age armor on its stage, singing funk, rock and gospel all at once. David Geffen Hall, home of the New York Philharmonic, is part of that same lineage of rooms that weren