UNCF Tribute to Patti LaBelle - A Change Is Gonna Come

well ur a drag... so i can't say i have much respect for your opinion either

And if your high school teachers don't know who Patti LaBelle is, despite the fact she's been all over the media, performing at award shows, to having her videos played countlessly on BET, VH1 and MTV in the 80s and early 90s, to having hit albums and songs, then that speaks more on the ignorance of your school teachers than of Patti's success. As for your generation, they're responsible for making Britney Spears and Rihanna popular, so I don't hold their opinion to be significant.

Most people in the music world don't label Aretha's other rivals as high as her either, whether its Gladys Knight, Dionne Warrick, Etta James, Diana Ross, etc. So I don't see your point in mentioning that. But let's not forget the fact that Aretha was fortunate enough to have a good team of people behind her at Atlantic Records who helped make her the legend she's known today. Everyone isn't afforded a Jerry Wexler and Arif Mardin to steer their careers in the right direction, musically.

Wrong, Zeb, wrong again. Patti is an icon in America and is revered. Just this past decade along she received countless tributes, BET Walk A Fame, UPN gave her a tribute (hosted by her former arch nemesis daughter, Tracy Ross Ellis), World Music Awards honored her with a lifetime achievement award, her recent UNCF, and many others. Sure, Aretha is more popular and revered in the mainstream, but Patti is always placed on a pedestal in the R&B community, that's a fact!

Yawn. Your drag queen remark is getting quite tired and dated, Zeb, time to pick something else, especially when ALL MAJOR Divas have a gay and drag following. Many divas recongize the fact that when you have a huge gay following, you're doing something right. I told you that I like Patti because I feel vocally she has incredible range, she's extremely versatile, and she's a great stage performer, up there with Tina Turner and James Brown. The fact she has great music is icing on the cake for me

You turn sour when someone talks about Patti's lack of success. You claim i'm a self professed soul music expert, I am just stating that in the world of music, everyone else hasn't labeled Patti near as high as Aretha. And you cannot deny that.

Despite being a drag queen prestonpowell.... you cannot account for anything but liking patti fro the fact she is flash and has obnoxious stage antics

Patti is nowhere near as popular as any other artist from herr time period. And I can account, for being someone in a high school, no one at my school knows who patti labelle is, even teachers, but everyone knows who Aretha Franklin is

And by the way, if people didn't know about Patti's music, why are so many Hip Hop artists sampling the mess out of her old music from the 70s? And while I love Jennifer Holliday (have one of her videos posted in my profile) to compare their success is very silly. All of Patti's albums throughout the 80s and 90s went Gold. Plus, Patti is given far more tribute shows than many of her peers, so he needs to stop acting as if she's some obscure diva.

I was going to mention them, but I continue to forget that he really doesn't know much about Patti's catalogue, despite being a self-professed "soul music expert" *rolls eyes*. She scored many top ten R&B hits during the 80s and 90s, which was around the time she completely blew up and broke through the pop scene. Oh and Joss Stone and Yolanda Adams also remade Stir It Up on Happy Feet soundtrack. Perhaps Zeb means people of his age don't know of Patti's music. The young are often clueless.

Love, Need, Want You, Stir It Up from Bev.Hills Cop(I recently heard them use that song on The View). And you know, she has so many more songs that could've been hits if they were her singles. Like "I Think About You", "I Fell In Love Without A Warning", "I'm In Love Again", "Joy To Have Your Love", her ENTIRE Timeless Journey album, so many...

It's really useless, LaBelleOfTheBall, he has an intense hatred for Patti LaBelle, for reasons I don't understand. It's one thing to have a preference, but he acts as if Patti is a hate-filled person who makes enemies with his favorites, when she's one of the most down to earth celebrities one can ever meet. She's FRIENDS with Aretha and Gladys, yet he still lashes out at her. I wished I never brought up his name here. I apologize for turning the comment section into this bickering mess.

Are you honestly trying to make the case that people associate Lady Marmalade (a horrible remake that was panned by critics across the board) more with Aguilera, Pink, Maya and Lil Kim than LaBelle? Since you like bringing up Grammys a lot, Lady Marmalade was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame -- LaBelle's version! And Patti also has On My Own, a number one hit covered by countless artists from country to pop. There's also You Are My Friend and Somebody Loves You Baby.

Gladys Knight also has "I Heard it through the grapevine", "Midnight Train to Georgia", "I've Got To Use My Imagination", "Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me". Excluding Lady Marmalade (which is famous today not because of it'S**t status back in the day, but because of a cover by aguilera and others, "New Attitude", "If Only You Knew" are actually hits that are timeless as most of them aren't even known my people today.

It's not about stagnant notes. Preston means her overall image or vocal tonality and technique. But honestly Zeb, there's no right or wrong way to sing, but many ways to perceive ones interpretation. The beauty of music, of song, of a singer, is that there is no blueprint on how to be or sound. There is no "oversinging" or "undersinging" and no way to measure. We decide what works for us and become "fans". So if a Miley Cyrus vid was tagged "Patti Labelle" I wouldn't go out my way to raise hell.