Today in our History – May 24, 1944 - Patricia Louise Holte (Patti LaBelle) is born.

GM – LIF – Today’s American Champion is a friend of my Mother’s side of the family and would often see her at one of my Aunt’s houses in Berlin, NJ back in the day. I always enjoyed it when two (2) of my hometown, Trenton, NJ’s best singers were with her the great Nona Hendryx, and the outstanding Sarah Dash. Who made up the Blue Bells and backup singers for our American Champion. They were at one time the hottest group in the Trenton/Philadelphia area. As I got older and dating I would stop by her restaurant so the people could taste some of the best food in Philadelphia. So let me get to her story.

She is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and businesswoman. She began her career in the early 1960s as lead singer and frontwoman of the vocal a group, Following the group's name change in the early 1970s, they released the iconic disco song "Lady Marmalade" and the group later became the first African-American vocal group to land the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. The group and its leader is commonly identified as the "Godmother of Soul".

After the group split in 1976, she began a successful solo career, starting with her critically acclaimed debut album, which included the career-defining song, "You Are My Friend". She became a mainstream solo star in 1984 following the success of the singles, "If Only You Knew", "New Attitude" and "Stir It Up", with the latter two crossings over to pop audiences and becoming radio staples.

Less than two years later, in 1986, she scored with the number-one album, Winner in You and the number-one duet single, "On My Own", with Michael McDonald. She eventually won a 1992 Grammy for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for her 1991 album, Burnin', followed by a second Grammy win for the live album, Live! One Night Only. Her 1990s albums, Burnin', Gems (1994) and Flame (1997), continued her popularity with young R&B audiences throughout the decade.

Following the release of two mildly receptive solo albums in the early new millennium, she reunited with her past bandmates for the album, Back to Now, followed by a briefly well-received promotional tour. Her success has extended as an actress with a notable role in the film, A Soldier's Story, and in TV shows such as A Different World and American Horror Story: Freak Show. In 1992, she starred in her own TV sitcom, Out All Night. A decade later, she hosted her own lifestyle TV show, Living It Up on TV One. In 2015, she took part in the dance competition, Dancing with the Stars.

In a career that has spanned fifty years, she has sold more than 50 million records worldwide. She has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and the Apollo Theater Hall of Fame. She was included in Rolling Stone on their list of 100 Greatest Singers. She is a dramatic soprano and is noted for her vocal power, range and emotive delivery.

Today in our History – May 24, 1944 - Patricia Louise Holte (Patti LaBelle) is born.

LaBelle was born Patricia Louise Holte on May 24, 1944, in the Eastwick section of Southwest Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was the second youngest child of Henry and Bertha Holte's three children, and the next-to-youngest of five children overall. Her siblings were Thomas Hogan Jr. (b. 1930), Vivian Hogan (1932-1975), Barbara (1942-1982) and Jacqueline "Jackie" (1945-1989).[8] Her father was a railroad worker and club performer and her mother was a domestic.

Despite enjoying her childhood, LaBelle would later write in her memoirs, Don't Block the Blessings, that her parents' marriage was abusive. Shortly after her parents' divorce, when LaBelle was twelve, she was sexually molested by a family friend. She joined a local church choir at the Beulah Baptist Church at ten and performed her first solo two years later. While she was growing up, she listened to secular music styles such as R&B and jazz music as well.

When she was sixteen, LaBelle won a talent competition at her high school, John Bartram High School. This success led to her first singing group, the Ordettes, in 1960, with schoolmates Jean Brown, Yvonne Hogen and Johnnie Dawson. With LaBelle as front woman, the group became a local attraction until two of its members left to marry, while another was kicked out of the group by her religious father.

In 1962, the Ordettes included three new members, Cindy Birdsong, Sarah Dash and Nona Hendryx, the latter two girls having sung for another now defunct vocal group. That year, they auditioned for local record label owner Harold Robinson. Robinson agreed to work with the group after hearing LaBelle sing the song "I Sold My Heart to the Junkman". Initially, Robinson was dismissive of LaBelle, believing she was "too dark and too plain".

Shortly after signing them, he had them record as the Blue Belles and they were selected to promote the recording of "I Sold My Heart to the Junkman", which had been recorded by The Starlets, but was assigned as a Blue Belles single due to label conflict. The Starlets' manager sued Harold Robinson after the Blue Belles were seen performing a lip-synching version of the song on American Bandstand.

After settling out of court, Robinson altered the group's name to "Patti LaBelle and The Blue Belles". Initially, a Billboard ad cited the group as "Patti Bell and the Blue Bells". In 1963, the group scored their first hit single with the ballad "Down the Aisle" which became a crossover top 40 hit on the Billboard pop and R&B charts after King Records issued it.

Later in the year, they recorded their rendition of the "You'll Never Walk Alone"; the single was later re-released on Cameo-Parkway Records where the group scored a second hit on the pop charts with the song in 1964. Another charted single, "Danny Boy", was released that same year. In 1965, after Cameo-Parkway folded, the group moved to New York and signed with Atlantic Records where they recorded twelve singles for the label, including the mildly charted singles "All or Nothing" and "Take Me for a Little While".

The group's Atlantic tenure included their rendition of "Over the Rainbow" and a version of the song "Groovy Kind of Love". In 1967, Birdsong left the group to join The Supremes and by 1970 the group had been dropped from Atlantic Records as well as by their longtime manager Bernard Montague.

In 1984, LaBelle recorded the songs "New Attitude" and "Stir It Up" for the soundtrack to the Eddie Murphy film, Beverly Hills Cop. Following the release of the film, "New Attitude" was released as a single in late 1984 and became LaBelle's first crossover solo hit, reaching number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100 and becoming a signature song.

"Stir It Up" found similar success on pop radio and as a staple in dance clubs. In 1985, LaBelle performed on the TV special, Motown Returns to Apollo and also as part of the all-star benefit concert, Live Aid. LaBelle's notoriety from performing on these two specials made her a pop star and led to having her own television special later that same year. Also in the same year, a video of a performance from her tour of that year was issued on VHS.

During this period, LaBelle ended her contractual obligations to Philadelphia International and signed with MCA Records.

In 1986, LaBelle released her best-selling solo album to date with Winner in You with the album reaching number one on the pop charts. The album included the international number-one hit, "On My Own" and the hit ballad "Oh People".

The success of Winner in You would prove to be the peak of her solo success, though she continued her acclaim with the 1989 release of Be Yourself, which featured "Yo Mister" and the hit ballad "If You Asked Me To", which found bigger success in a remake by singer Celine Dion. In the year of that album's release, LaBelle began a successful stint in a recurring role on A Different World, the success of which spawned a brief sitcom of her own, titled Out All Night, which only lasted a season.

In 1991, she recorded a hit duet version of the Babyface composition, "Superwoman" with Gladys Knight and Dionne Warwick. The trio had previously appeared in the Sisters in the Name of Love TV special in 1987. The same year of the release of "Superwoman", LaBelle issued the solo album, Burnin', which went gold, with three successive top five singles on the R&B charts.

This success led to LaBelle winning her first Grammy Award in the Best Female R&B Vocal Performance category in the 34th Annual Grammy Award Ceremony of 1992, sharing the win with singer Lisa Fischer, who won for her hit ballad, "How Can I Ease the Pain", in a rare tie in the history of the Grammys.

LaBelle later accounted in her memoirs that she was sexually assaulted by Jackie Wilson while at the Brooklyn Fox Theatre in the 1960s. Around 1964, LaBelle was engaged to Otis Williams, founding member of The Temptations. In 1969, LaBelle married a longtime friend, Armstead Edwards. After LaBelle started a solo career, Edwards became her manager until the couple separated in the late 1990s.

In 2000, the couple announced they had legally separated. Three years later, their divorce was finalized. They have a son, Zuri Kye Edwards (born 1973), who is now her current manager. Through Zuri, LaBelle is a grandmother of two. In addition to Zuri, LaBelle has two people in her life who are like sons to her, Todd and Stanley. LaBelle came to know them after the death of their mother, Veaunita, a neighborhood acquaintance.

In 2010, LaBelle went into a rage that resulted in her verbally and physically attacking a mother and her 18 month old daughter. The singer threw water, yelled obscenities, and attempted to assault the mother during a 10-minute tirade in the lobby of the Trump Place Apartments in Manhattan, NY. LaBelle agreed to a settlement of $100,000 and attempted to get her son's deposition, where he lied that no altercation took place, destroyed following the settlement. The family donated the award to a charity.

Patti LaBelle has been described as "the greatest gay icon of all time and a prime example of the intersection of the LGBT community and black female artists". In a 2017 interview, she said: "when I think about it, the gay fans are some of the reason – one big reason – I’m still standing, ’cause they loved me when other people tried not to.

Everybody always says, “What makes gay men like you?” “I have no clue,” I say. I still don’t. But I know that love has lifted me up for many, many years." Research more about this great American Champion and share it with your babies. Make it a champion day!