Patti LaBelle

Good Times Continue to Roll Story

By By Eirik Knutzen

Sometimes Patti LaBelle isn't entirely sure if the current crop of flimsily clad female pop singers spilling cleavage are selling music or R-rated videos. Forever young, she sucks in whatever positive moves the new generation of performers have to offer-and spits out the rest. "I think a lot of them are talented," says LaBelle, painfully honest and secure in her judgment after four decades in the recording end of the entertainment business, with 50 albums to her credit-including the brand new ballad- R & B-salsa release "Timeless Journey" (Def Soul Classics).

Creating a comfort zone wherever she goes, LaBelle brings absolutely everything from her home in Philadelphia: "I bring my own candles, flowers, wine, pillows, spices and people," says the author of two cook books Patti LaBelle's Lite Cuisine: Over 100 Dishes With To-Die-For Taste Made With To-Live-For Recipes and LaBelle Cuisine: Recipes To Sing About. Additional books that Patti has written are Don't block the blessings and Patti's Pearls.

Once in control of her environment, LaBelle goes to work with a vengeance. The venue doesn't matter, whether it is the enormous stateof- the art MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas or the intimate atmosphere at the Beau Rivage Resort & Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi. The audience absorbs every fiber of her mind and body with every song. What you see is what you get wrapped in a simple, stylish package designed not to detract from the artistry of a true diva, twice a Grammy Award winner. "I never do the big production numbers anymore," she says, "because I'm happy surrounded by nothing but music. I just get the band together, get in the spotlight on the middle of the floor and sing. I love live audiences because they give you an instant response. When I deliver a song, I can see their tears and smiles."