Jul 3
On 3 July 1975, Labelle "became the first African-American vocal group to make the cover of Rolling Stone."
Sarah Dash, Nona Hendryx, and Patti LaBelle had been performing together since 1961 (first as the Ordettes, then the Blue Belles, then Patti LaBelle and The Blue Belles, before recording as Labelle in 1970) before achieving enormous success with "Lady Marmalade," released in November 1974.
Written by Bob Crewe and Kenny Nolan, and produced by Allen Toussaint, "Lady Marmalade" topped the Billboard singles chart in the US in March 1975 19(replacing Franki Valli's "My Eyes Adored You," also written by Crewe/Nolan).
