Patti LaBelle performs in Sarasota
She's done just about every kind of popular music there is, from old-school girl group pop and R&B to show tunes and standards, to disco, soft rock and glam rock. And she has some mighty tasty pies, too.
When she comes to Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall in Sarasota on Tuesday, Patti LaBelle will be doing it all, except for the pies, of course.
"It's a little bit of everything," she said in a phone interview from her Philadelphia home. "It's 75 to 90 minutes that goes back through my entire career."
It's been a much longer career than pop singers are meant to have. LaBelle first hit the charts with the Blue Belles in 1962 with a song called "I Sold My Heart to the Junkman." They had a few other hits, changed their name to LaBelle and created a classic with "Lady Marmalade" in 1974. Her solo career has produced such hits as "New Attitude," "Stir It Up" and "On My Own," a duet with Michael McDonald.
"Lady Marmalade," of course, became a hit decades after the original, in a raunchier version by Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mya and Pink. La Belle said she's a fan of the update.
"Oh, I loved it," she said. "I thought it was a tribute to us, a compliment. The people involved, Christina, you have to love it. You can't help it."
In Sarasota, LaBelle will be backed by a nine-piece band and three backing singers -- most of whom have been working with her for 20 years.
She has a jazz album, her first, already recorded, not yet titled, that should come out later this year.
"It's music," she said. "It could have been opera, it could have even been country. I just wanted to do something I've never done before."
Now, about those pies.
Walmart had been selling Patti LaBelle Sweet Potato Pies for about six months when an enthusiastic video endorsement started making the rounds on social media in the fall. All of sudden, Walmart had trouble keeping up with demand.
"That was a blessed pie," LaBelle said. "It is a blessed pie."
LaBelle has diabetes, and said the plan was to introduce sugar-free pies under her name shortly after the sweet potato pies. Those got put on hold while Walmart focused on making enough sweet potato pies to keep up. But she has sugar-free apple and cherry pies coming out soon, she said. Walmart just sent her the new pies and she said they're great.
The pies are a nice little sideline, but she's still all about music. And there's just as much joy in performing now as there was 55 years ago.
"I love it," she said. "I will always do music. I'm 71 and life is wonderful. I'm blessed beyond measure."
Details: 8 p.m. Feb. 23, Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, 777 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. Tickets: $75-$95. Information: 941-953-3368, vanwezel.org.
Marty Clear, features writer/columnist, can be reached at 941-708-7919. Follow twitter.com/martinclear.
This story was originally published February 17, 2016 at 5:37 PM with the headline "Patti LaBelle performs in Sarasota ."