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This holiday season, Patti LaBelle returns with her extraordinary Christmas CD 'Miss Patti's Christmas.' In a one-on-one interview with Black Voices a vibrant Miss Patti dishes on current R&B singers, living with diabetes and much more.
You're a pioneer in R&B. How do you think the music industry has changed for black women in R&B versus today?
Patti: Versus today... these woman can come out and do anything, sell records and can't do a show. That's the difference! Back in the day we could sing the record, perform the song on stage and give you a great show. There aren't many Gladys Knights left today who are doing it and doing it well. The only one I can say and I know for a fact - Beyonce kicks butt!
Do you think R&B has downgraded from the point where you started?
Patti: Yes because most of the R&B singers are gone. I was listening to some Teddy Pendergrass the other day and all the Philly International music, like Phyllis Hyman.
I recently did a story on Phyllis Hyman a few months ago. I know you guys were friends. Could you give some reflections on Phyllis?
Patti: We were buddies. There was nobody like her. She was one of the craziest people I knew but that's because she had so much fun. I think she had a feeling she was going to have a short life. She lived like it was her last day. Every day I saw her she was trying to get me in trouble with her. I said, "Girl, I ain't doing no drugs!" I'm not going out like that in no way. Her and my sister Jackie, they were close because my sister did drugs. They didn't do heavy drugs, but they were smoking that pot. I said, "First of all, if I smoke I won't sing again" or at least I thought I wouldn't so I never did anything.
What is your hands-down best recipe?
Patti: Macaroni and cheese! In January my cooking DVD is coming out and I do it with eight cheeses, shrimp and lobster. You have to have it!
You've been open about having a nose job. Would you ever consider more plastic surgery?
Patti: No, my friend, she wants me to go with her to get that permanent eye thing, you know, the tattoo. I went to get the eyebrows done the first time, honey that lady has been waiting seven months for me to come back. I ain't going back - I'm afraid of the needle. It's hard enough for me doing my blood sugar and sticking myself seven times a day for insulin. I don't want anymore pain. To get stuff taken off you've got to get cut. Do I look like a cutter to you? I can't even go back to finish my eyebrows!
November is American Diabetes month and you're an ambassador for diabetes. Can you give us some information and why it's important to be aware of it?
Patti: I've been diabetic for 14 years. It's so important for you to check and see if you're diabetic. If I hadn't passed out on stage 14 years ago - I probably would've found out, but maybe later. When it came back with my diagnosis he said, "Did you know you're diabetic?" I had flash backs of my mother who was diabetic, my aunt, my uncle. I'm on insulin seven times a day and pills. Diabetes is no joke; I check my blood sugar like five times a day. Being a diabetic is being a person sort of in prison, but you won't hurt and it's a quiet death. That's why you have to check yourself and make sure you take your medicine. Make sure you eat those five meals a day, if you can. Just take care of yourself, exercise, I have a pool and I can't swim, but I can get in and kick. I have a trainer, who I want to fight every time she comes in the house, I can't stand her, but she jumps and gets me moving. Once you start a routine, continue probably for the rest of your life.
You look incredible. What advice can you give to our readers to age gracefully?
Patti: Get a beautiful man, look at him. If you can't do anything with him just look at him. It will keep you feeling beautiful. You can't look at no moose all day, all night and wake up looking happy! You look at somebody beautiful, you wake up with a smile on your face. Not that you're going to have sex or anything, it's just you need beauty in your life. You don't need nothing old and decrepit, nobody with maggots and worms - you don't need this! Girls, look for somebody healthy, strong, beautiful, but somebody first with a heart of gold and who loves you for you. Believe in yourselves and that'll keep you healthy and young looking. No matter what people say about you, know that you're the baddest thing out there. Know it, claim it!
