Interview: Labelle (Sarah Dash, Nona Hendryx and Patti LaBelle) - R&B's Pioneering Female Trio - Page 2

On Back to Now, we have a song called "System," which will be out in time for the 2008 presidential election. Hopefully, a lot of people are going to think right politically. "System" is about the undecided voter and Sarah is the undecided voter in the song. It's more like a Broadway piece – you will have to see the performance to know what we're doing. Nona is sort of like McCain and I'm sort of like Obama. I'm trying to get Sarah on my side and Nona's trying to get her on her side. But Sarah's not sure. It's something that the undecided voter needs to hear. We don't know which way we're going to go in this world, but we know that Barack Obama is a great chance for us to make a change for the better and maybe get out of some of this mess that has been made for us. 

Over the course of your career, did you ever find yourselves fighting to maintain your artistic integrity?

Nona Hendryx: I don't think we had to fight very hard. We were really much more about how our fans saw us. We had really supportive fans who supported us even if we didn't have records on the radio, and who'd come to see us because they loved us and our music. They loved what we brought to our performance. So I don't think we had to fight in terms of what we wanted to make. The only people we had resistance from were record company executives, simply because we weren't making music that fit the mold. 

In 1970, the turning point of the group's career, Vicki Wickham forced you to "push the envelope"—musically and artistically. What is the best advice that she ever gave you?

Patti LaBelle: Vicki encouraged us to never be afraid to change. When we were Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles, I didn't want to become Labelle because I was afraid that we'd lose our fan base. I didn't think our act was broken or needed to be fixed. But we went to London for six months or so, and when we got back to the States to perform, we got lots of standing ovations. Labelle's new direction was a necessary change, but I was just one of those people who was afraid of change. I've grown since then and learned that just because I'm thinking one way, doesn't mean your idea is not better than mine. 

Having spent three decades in various levels of the business, what's your opinion of the current state of R&B and the music landscape in general?

Article Author: Clayton Perry

Clayton Perry's mission parallels that of John Hope Franklin, Marcus Garvey and Carter G. Woodson. As the founder of the NUBIANO Project, Perry facilitates the design of projects that give voice to the Black diaspora, empower the Black community, …

Visit Clayton Perry's author page — Clayton Perry's Blog