Patti LaBelle duets with Jordan Mailata on ‘This Christmas’. She’s about to play her first Philly show in years.
The Queen Diva of Philly is playing her first hometown show in four years.
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When Patti LaBelle recorded “This Christmas” as a duet with Eagles offensive lineman Jordan Mailata for the A Philly Special Christmas Special album, it wasn’t her first experience with Donny Hathaway’s song.
Back in 1990, LaBelle — who will play the Met Philly on Saturday in the Queen Diva of Philadelphia’s first hometown show since before the pandemic — made her version of the late soul singer’s revered song the title cut to her first holiday album.
“Donny Hathaway sang that song like nobody else can,” LaBelle said. “People appreciate him more now than when he was alive. They’re giving him his flowers now, which is so sad. So I was honored to be singing that song, because it’s been a staple in so many homes for so many years.”
In 1996, LaBelle had a high-profile snafu while performing the song at a White House Christmas Tree lighting ceremony, which could have been disastrous if she hadn’t been such an able improviser. The clip resurfaces on the internet every holiday season.
“It was awful,” the singer born Patricia Holte, who grew up in the Eastwick section of Southwest Philly, remembers.
“It was a freezing cold day. President Clinton was there. They called me out on the stage too soon, and then I went off, and then they called me back out again. The teleprompters weren’t working, and my backup singers weren’t allowed in the venue. So I was up there singing, ‘Where’s my backup singers?’ ” she laughs. “It was a crazy day.”
Thankfully, things went more smoothly when she went to record “This Christmas” at the Eagles practice facility in South Philly. “I’ve been an Eagles fan all my life,” she says. “And my son” — Zuri Edwards, her manager — “is the biggest Eagles fan in the world.”
The Philly Specials and LaBelle have a connection in Matt Cappy, the trumpeter who plays on both Eagles Christmas albums and is in LaBelle’s touring band.
When approached to join the Philly Special team, “I was excited,” LaBelle says. “But I was wondering if Jordan could sing. I knew him as a football player, not knowing he has the voice that he has. He can sing his face off.”
LaBelle has had many illustrious duet partners. She starts the list with Michael McDonald, with whom she topped the charts on “On My Own” in 1986. She also cites late singer Bobby Womack and late Philadelphia saxophonist Grover Washington Jr., plus Michael Bolton and the Oak Ridge Boys.
She even has a song called “I Don’t Duets,” about swearing off worthless men with Gladys Knight, who she faced off in a good-natured Verzuz webcast battle at the Fillmore in Fishtown during the pandemic.
She jokes that Mailata — who is 6-foot-8 and 380 pounds — is definitely the biggest of all those she’s paired with. “He’s a giant. I had to look all the way up to him. But his voice is beautiful. He may not be a professional musician, but when he opens his mouth, he sounds like he should be one.”
For LaBelle, who saw the 200 block of South Broad Street named after her in 2019, the keys to thriving in show business for six decades is continuing to find the joy in performing and staying connected to your audience.
”I never stopped loving it,” she says. “You realize that if you don’t keep your feet on the ground, you’re going to lose. If you think you’re too big, or too grand to take a photo with a fan, or too busy to stop, that’s when it stops for you.
“I’m 79 years young, and I know what keeps me standing and keeps me sane. Especially now when the world’s going crazy and nobody’s nice to anyone. I’ll almost miss a plane, taking a photo with a fan. They make me or break me.”
She’s looking forward to the Met. “I can’t wait to do it, I just can’t wait,” she says. The show will mix some holiday songs — like “This Christmas,” sans Mailata, who’ll be in Dallas as the Eagles get ready to play the Cowboys on Sunday — with lots of hits.
“Whenever we play in Philadelphia, it’s a special special show. It’s gonna be a little different than some of the other cities where I‘ve been performing. I don’t call it a Christmas show. I just call it a Patti Patti show.”