Patti LaBelle had a searing cover of Dylan's "Forever Young" at Live Aid

Dreadful cover - screeched and whined her way through it. That's too bad, because she can have a beautiful voice.

PLaB was at Live Aid? Must have been on a coke break, don't remember that.

For the overly bothered tastes of Miss R1, the Tonight Show version

I love it.

R3 Bonnie Franklin was on that same show promoting her tap dancing VHS tape.

She's just horrible. She screeches more than Aretha Franklin.

r3 Equally dreadful. Seriously. Go to 1:10. What the absolute fuck.

I love it

Here, R7. Here's some white horseshit for you.

Ur welcome.

Opera singers have a lot of respect for Patti Labelle. They feel for someone of her vocal type (Dramatic Soprano) she had the best technique out of any singer in popular music. Even at 80 she can hit soaring notes that singers half her age could only dream of.

r9 Ha, silly. But really - you watched that little blip at 1:10? and you think that's good "singing?"

This is Patti's best song.

Now THIS is a great Patti song

R11, that was supposed to be "white bread" - not just "white".

But that is more to your taste, isn't it? Fucking Leslie Gore and sunshine, lollipops and whatever horseshit you listen to. Partridge Family, is it?

Blah!

r14 You have an active, yet inaccurate imagination.

Patti is almost always left out of discussions for the best voices in music. But she deserves to be included. She just never had the kind of success Whitney, Mariah or Celine had, which is why she tends to be forgotten.

Hello, hey 👋🏻 Joe, you wanna give it a go?

r16 "She just never had the kind of success Whitney, Mariah or Celine had, which is why she tends to be forgotten."

She never had control of her voice anywhere near the way those ladies did.

r10 "Opera singers have a lot of respect for Patti Labelle. They feel for someone of her vocal type (Dramatic Soprano) she had the best technique out of any singer in popular music"

HAHAHA, that was a good one. What an odd thing to make up.

R18, that's probably true, Patti isn't exactly restrained with her singing lol.

r20 Or even in control whatsoever

I prefer MY cover of this song.

[quote] HAHAHA, that was a good one. What an odd thing to make up.

It's true. Many of them on YouTube regard her as having incredible technique. You don't have to like the sound of her voice—that's your preference—but she has maintained her voice for 60+ years without much damage due to proper singing and taking care of her voice.

r23 Great links to proof of all these opera singers - many of them!

Patti's best vocals were with the group Labelle.

Patti is 80 years old and played the Hollywood Bowl a few weeks ago. She can still hit all the high notes -- at 80 years old!!! She is a wonderful singer with a remarkable instrument. If Mariah and Celine see 80, I doubt they'll still be singing.

Amazing voice, love how Patti kept singing as she went backstage. She a true entertainer.

The white bread queens on this thread were busy listening to Melissa Manchester at this time, Patti was too much soul for them.

R27, Patti Labelle is magnificent and so is Melissa Manchester. Melissa is very soulful and not at all white bread.

Oh god. Teafcakes is back.

Her improv with those vocals is just messy. Not in Aretha’s league. You’d have to be quite a committed Patti fan to think this is something amazing.

Forever Young is a gorgeous song that benefits from a more faithful engagement with the melodic line. Listen to Patti again… then listen to Chrissie Hynde. Chrissie got it right.

that's a dying in a grease fire voice.

She tries to give 500% every time she sings, but it just sounds like nonstop screaming, and caterwauling to me.

Patti covered the Pretenders I'll Stand by you. She said Chrissie threw her arms around her at some event and lauded Patti for her performance.

Patti doing You Are My Friend like no one else can.

A little Patti goes a long way. The only time she ever seemed to understand that was "If You Asked Me To". She followed someones advice. Once. The peach cobbler she sells at walmart sucks.

Agreed R35, that was one of Patti's best. "New Attitude" was a good high energy pairing for her whoop-and-wail ad libs, though.

I remember Jamaica Kincaid entertainingly ripping LaBelle (the group) a new one in Ms. Magazine.

Why r37? They were fabulous.

[quote] A little Patti goes a long way. The only time she ever seemed to understand that was "If You Asked Me To". She followed someones advice. Once. The peach cobbler she sells at walmart sucks.

Patti reined it in for that recording so that pop radio would pick it up, it did not. Then Celine Dion came right along and recorded Patti's vocal arrangement lick-for-lick and had a massive, career making pop hit. After that Patti was like "f*ck it!"

Forever Young isn't supposed to be searing.

Patti LaBelle has fantastic vocal control when it comes to command of her instrument (much better than Mariah, who even in her prime, was always visibly white-knuckling it through her register shifts when she sang live), but she is too “de trop” for mainstream pop and has a strident and over-bright quality to her voice that can tick over into sounding affected and almost comic. I adore her though!

R39 I did feel bad for Patti when that happened. When I first heard her version played over the (I think it was) the end credits of "License to Kill", I thought she had a guaranteed hit on her hands.

R38, she essentially accused them of performing minstrelsy for white gay audiences. Kincaid is a complicated woman.