The Gospel According to Patti Labelle

After more than four decades in the music business, LaBelle has released her first gospel album, "The Gospel According to Patti LaBelle."

I have always been a fan of Patti LaBelle. I first got into her music with "If Only You Knew." I loved her versatility as a singer. I started frequenting her concerts in the late 80s and continued through recent times. You get your money's worth at a Patti LaBelle concert--you cry, you sing, you shout and you rock to the beat. Patti is the consummate performer who has not always received her fair share of fame and, yes, Grammys. Patti does not have a ton on number one hits like Celine Dion, Beyonce, and dare I say, Brittany Spears. Patti LaBelle finally released her long anticipated gospel album, "The Gospel According To Patti LaBelle" on November 21, 2006. The album immediately shot to the number one position on Billboard's Gospel charts. That's a major feat for someone who is not traditionally a gospel singer. She beat Kirk Franklin and Mary Mary for that number one position. A bigger problem, however, lurks in the limelight for Miss Patti.... She had to cancel her gospel tour, sponsored by DaimlerChrysler.

Patti can sell out any venue, when she is secular, but gets lukewarm reception when she sings her gospel songs. There seems to be a double standard inherent in the black churches in which she performed. People across the United States love Patti for her foot-stomping and often sentimental concerts, but how dare Patti sing a gospel song in a church. The same people who would pay to see her at Madison Square Garden, have given her lukewarm reception in the black mega churches across the United States.

While the singer canceled the concert due to problems with the promoter, there were deeper problems with the audience in general. Early in the shows she plugs her gospel roots. "I'm not coming back to gospel," she said. "I'm 62 years young. I've been singing gospel 45 years. So don't judge me. I'm not coming back to anything." LaBelle said she started singing in the choir at Beulah Baptist Church in Philadelphia when she was about 12.

LaBelle now joins a long line of singers who gained fame and made a living selling secular music before wading into gospel waters. Others such as Al Green, Aretha Franklin and Earth, Wind & Fire's Philip Bailey have spent decades recording both secular and gospel music. So, herein lies my question...... Are some churchgoers hypocrites in accepting her money in the collection plate, seeing her sing in the secular world but having an enormous issue with her singing gospel music?

I say to Miss Patti, "Girl, do your thing! Let the haters keep on hating and you keep on singing!"