Patti LaBelle’s "Where my background singers?" Performance of "This Christmas" Is A Black Camp Classic

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Introduction and Holiday Vibes

Sir Daniel: Greetings and welcome to another episode of Queue Points podcast. I am DJ Sir Daniel.

Jay Ray: And my name is Jay Ray, sometimes known by my governments as Johnnie Ray Kornegay III. And Sir Daniel, it's [00:00:30] the holidays, and you know what we do on the holiday? We talk about foolishness.

Sir Daniel: We absolutely do, and I'm surprised. It's good that you said holidays. Because this, this particular topic will make you holler because the subject of this episode was hollering,

Jay Ray: yes.

The Infamous Patti LaBelle Performance

Sir Daniel: um, Jay Ray LaBelle's performance in at for the president in Washington, DC is as much a Christmas classic as the [00:01:00] Charlie s.

Jay Ray: I agree.

Sir Daniel: It's totally as much a Christmas classic as Charlie Brown's Christmas in the sense that every year we look forward to the memes and, and there's one specific quote that we look forward to hearing every year. Jay Ray, what is that quote?

Jay Ray: Where my background singers?

Sir Daniel: But you have to be more frantic with it. Eyes [00:01:30] protruding.

Jay Ray: What? I don't, I don't know words. I need the cue cards. Okay. We need to sell to people. What? Ha.

Behind the Scenes: What Went Wrong?

Jay Ray: Here's what we know happened. Okay. This is hilarious. Um, so one, I had never known about this until social media. I just wasn't watching CSPAN like that. CSPAN is not a station that I tune into, and if y'all don't know if you or live outside [00:02:00] of the right, it's not sexy if you live outside the United States.

CSPAN is the US Station that does all of your government related broadcasts, Senate stuff. All of that, if it's government related and they gotta do something over at the Capitol or whatever, it's on CSPAN. So in 1996, so this is, uh, during the Clinton administration, he had just been elected to his second, um, [00:02:30] uh, term as president.

He hadn't been, uh, he hadn't gone through the inauguration yet, but, so it's, it's 1996 and, uh, uh, they are having the tree lighting ceremony. Uh, to, you know, get ready for the holidays. It's what the people do. Right.

Sir Daniel: Good times.

Jay Ray: good, good times. Uh, uh, people are there, there's children, uh, uh, uh, uh, a, a a a a plethora of people are there to see the tree lighting ceremony.

And the, the musical guest [00:03:00] is a living legend. It is. The Patti LaBelle is gonna be the, the, the musical guest. So Patti LaBelle. So what I did not realize about this is, is, is this went bad from like the beginning, so. Patti LaBelle is queued to enter the stage too early, so they're actually still in the middle of the speech kind of talking about stuff.

They're not quite introducing her yet. [00:03:30] So she enters the stage and then she looks, and she's, she does it like a church, a church finger, and she's like, be right back. Whoopsies. Not my time yet. That's how we start this day. So Patty comes out too early and then it is time to play. So there is the, of course, you know, so for, for, for, uh, government things, they have the, the military bands, you know, that play the songs.

And of course they queue up. And this year they are [00:04:00] playing this Christmas, the literal black Christmas anthem. And this Christmas is playing. And so this Christmas is time. They are playing the music. Here comes Patti LaBelle. She starts. And then

Sir Daniel: She is.

Jay Ray: she's looking, she gets through like the first verse and then it's like, uh, this Christmas where my background singers, because there's no background singers. This is the band and Patty, [00:04:30] right? And then on top to add insult to. Patty don't know the words. So apparently there's a woman who has the cue cards, but apparently she dropped the cue cards according to Pat LaBelle, and she just put 'em back in the wrong.

Everything's going wrong. Everything's going wrong. It's the perfect storm of bad. So there's no background singers. There's just Patti LaBelle [00:05:00] on stage with a band. Patty doesn't know the words to this Christmas, and the person who's supposed to feed Patty the words has now gotten them out of. Order. So Pat Label Bell is at this point just kind of riffing

Sir Daniel: Do her good adlibs,

Jay Ray: doing her good This

Chris,

Sir Daniel: at the same time.

Jay Ray: right

Sir Daniel: When is somebody gonna come out here [00:05:30] help.

Jay Ray: this Christmas, right? So. Patti La There's two videos that kind of talk about this. So, uh, Patti LaBelle right after, actually, so there's a great video of her on, on the Tonight Show. So she's talking to Jay Leno and, and her and Jay are just cutting up.

Sir Daniel: Yeah.

Jay Ray: But Jay asks her like, oh, so you got to sing for the president.

I don't know that, I don't think Jay Leno knew [00:06:00] how it went. 'cause this is the nineties, like it's not like now where news travels instantly like this has to, unless you watching cspan, you don't know what happened at the tree lighting ceremony. So. Patty proceeds to tell Jay like, yeah, listen, I did sing for the president.

It was really bad. Like everything about this was bad. Like none of it went well. And she wrote, she, you know, she talked about the fact that the audience was really gracious to her and was really [00:06:30] just like cheering her on. Um, but Patti LaBelle in 1996, right after this happened, this is literally like right after is like, yeah, this performance was, was crazy.

Now. 20 years later, she was on Watch What Happens Live. She didn't remember she, according to Patty, she didn't remember this. Now Patty is older, so it's Po. Patty LaBelle has done a lot of performances, so she probably really didn't remember, but. Patty [00:07:00] definitely talked about it with Jay Leno on the Tonight Show right after it happened and talked about how much of a disaster it kind of turned out to be.

But um, so there's that video and then there is, um, uh, someone, uh, did an interview with the military, the, the band director for the military. Uh, this is recent, this is maybe in a couple of years. And they were like, oh yeah, I remember that day. And, uh, so the question was like. Well, we were background singers, right?

[00:07:30] Like,

Sir Daniel: All wanna

Jay Ray: we all wanna know. And so the band director was like, actually, we don't know. So the, the, the background singers did come on stage like two minutes into the song. So they did get there. Two minutes into the song. So Patty's like into this, right? But the band director said, well, sometimes what happens is it's really cold.

They will have people in warming tents. And he was like, what probably happened is they didn't get the cue to get the stage on time. And if [00:08:00] Patty was entering and if Patti LaBelle herself was told to go on early, we already know that that timing was like off. So it is most likely a situation where Patty's background singers did not get the cue to go on stage in time, therefore missing, uh, half of the performance of of this Christmas.

The Donny Hathaway [00:08:30] Classic, the Black Christmas anthem. So that's kind of the really random, unfortunate history of Patti LaBelle at the 1996 tree lining ceremony.

Sir Daniel: You know, it must be said that sometimes the folklore and the the mythology are a lot more entertaining and exciting

Jay Ray: Yeah.

Sir Daniel: than if she had come out there and done and done a really good [00:09:00] performance because. If she did, if it would've been just another run of the mill performance where, 'cause it's Pat the Bell, she kills it.

No, no. Big whoop. Years later we wouldn't have this gift. This is a holiday gift to us from the social media guides because of the social media guides. Because you mentioned something earlier, C-Span. There's a possibility that this performance wasn't even supposed to air, it probably didn't even air. [00:09:30] And somebody, some, some messy person in archives found this and was like, oh, this is hilarious.

I'm uploading this to the internet. And, and years later, of course, you know, generation, um. Z and YI found it and uploaded it, but it, it truly is a national treasure because Patti LaBelle is a national treasure. There isn't too many things that she can do wrong.

Patti LaBelle's Internet Moments

Sir Daniel: And, um, Jay Ray, I must say, in preparing for this, um, this topic, I, [00:10:00] I just started thinking about the other times that Patti LaBelle has broken the internet and there have been a few times that she has broken the internet. And it's so funny that, uh, these older artists have a lot of, a lot of stock and a lot of cred in these social media streets. Dionne Warwick is another one,

Jay Ray: Yep.

Sir Daniel: but we talking about Patti LaBelle right now. So Jay Ray, do you remember back in 2009 on [00:10:30] the Tyra Banks Show?

Jay Ray: Of all shows

Sir Daniel: Tyra Banks famous, famous for her, um, America's Next Top Model, um, groundbreaking show, reality, reality television show and Empire.

Um, also branched off into her own talk show. And you know, like most daytime talk shows, they have a cooking segment. Now, I don't know, was the lady, I think the lady was, um, Dr. Phil's wife. Was

Jay Ray: not, [00:11:00] no. Uh, actually, even more interesting. So the woman in question is Dan Snyder's wife, Dan Snyder of the infamous Nickelodeon controversies.

Sir Daniel: Ah, well see there you have.

Jay Ray: is Dan Snyder's wife. Now she is really famous for her skinny girl line. She had a line of, has a line [00:11:30] of wines and snacks and all of this stuff, like her brand is.

Top notch, like so she is like a person. Even in 2007, like the skinny girl brand was like a thing, but no. So she's Dan Snyder's wife.

Sir Daniel: Okay,

Jay Ray: That says a lot, actually.

Sir Daniel: so. It really does because first of all, I'm kind of wondering why do you have both of them at the same time during this [00:12:00] segment? You know, Patty's Patty, Patty should have had this all by herself. But anyway, that's, you know, hi, uh, 2020 Hindsight Vision. Of course. Um, so Todd Patty, just, they're making cupcakes and these cupcakes have these, the film paper on them, and Patty just makes a comment.

Because you know she's a black woman and she does, she was trying to cue us into the fact that child, y'all, this lady hasn't washed her hands. I ain't seen her wash her hands yet. She said, well, when you [00:12:30] wash your hands. You picked up a cupcake by the paper and allegedly, apparently this, you know, the lady just started thinking that Patty was interested in eating the paper for some odd reason.

And Patty was not amused. She was not amused. She was, she immediately went into into Philadelphia mode like.

Jay Ray: Like, what? What makes you think I wanna eat paper? Boo?

Sir Daniel: And I mean, the funny part was that Patty [00:13:00] could not let it go. Patty was like, hold up, hold up, hold up. You think I wanna eat paper? And she kept looking back at the audience because at that point we all knew, Patty knew that that lady, Ms. Ms. Ron Snyder

Jay Ray: I don't know what her name is.

Sir Daniel: had Patty all the way

Jay Ray: F up,

Sir Daniel: And

Jay Ray: fd

Sir Daniel: to let be known.

Jay Ray: And if that, and if that woman was black, they would've known like, no, no, no. Miss Pat, I'm not saying that you wanted to eat the [00:13:30] paper. I did not realize, I'm so sorry. Like, they could have shut that thing down, like, oh no, no. I'm sorry Miss Patty. I didn't mean that.

Sir Daniel: But she, she does, she did. She went into white lady mode and was like, oh, she's being aggressive. She's being aggressive over here. She's getting crazy. It was like, no, I just need you to know that I'm not trying to eat this paper dummy, like, whatcha talking about? And, and that just, and that is yet another, um, memory before [00:14:00] social media that lives on.

Now. It's like, and, and the kids are making tiktoks, um, uh, at reenacting it. And so it's just another delicious moment in time. But I also think we can't forget about, um, pat LaBelle's verses with

Jay Ray: Oh yeah. Yes.

Sir Daniel: Not because anything weird happened, but it was just so, such a delightful night. It became a very, it was, it was full of gifts and [00:14:30] memes.

Like there are hundreds of gifts from that night where, you know, Patty's flapping her wings or, you know, pushing, pushing out her hands, you know, doing Pat Theisms. And so Patty is good for that. Um, one of another moment and you mentioned watch what Happens, live with Andy Cohen. Now Andy Cohen, watch what Happens.

Live famously applies their guests with liquor and I'm pretty certain that Patty was not [00:15:00] immune to having

Jay Ray: I'm sure she was not.

Sir Daniel: that night and som. Luther Vand Draw sent during that interview. And of course, social media ran with that story like wildfire and poor Patty was under attack even to the point where in, in the Luther documentary, um, they mentioned the moment. And it kind of put a, a, a dark cloud over the wonderful [00:15:30] relationship that we know that Patty and Luther had, but her, but Luther's friends were not having it, and they really, really, really were upset about that moment. So, yeah. But onto, but I think this is a moment that will rectify everything that will just cleanse the palette of that. And Patty's not even in this moment.

Jay Ray: Mm-hmm.

Patti LaBelle's Iconic Sweet Potato Pie

Sir Daniel: It's not her, but Jay Ray, it was her pie.

Jay Ray: Oh, I forgot about [00:16:00] the pat pie, which are still on sale y'all. Y'all can still go buy Patti LaBelle Pie.

Sir Daniel: Lemme tell you something, this Walmart sensation, the patty pie, I can only, there's like a handful of moments where a food item takes the world by storm. Remember, right before the pandemic it was the Popeye's chicken

Jay Ray: Ooh, the Popeyes chicken sandwich had the people around salivating.

Sir Daniel: Y'all, y'all acted a fool over over those Popeye's

Jay Ray: [00:16:30] sandwich was good though.

Sir Daniel: It was good. It was good. I did have my fair share. We, but going back to the Patti Pie. The Patti Pie was this phenomenon and a unknown singer, hairdresser stylist made a video. You know, this is the time everybody makes videos and people, and was giving his reaction to the Patti LaBelle Pie and James Chanel Wright was singing his face [00:17:00] off.

Jay Ray: my God.

Sir Daniel: Singing his face off about this Patti Pie. And that led him to get, having a whole career or even becoming more known as a singer. 'cause I'm, he was already known as a singer in different circles. But now James, um, cha Wright is a, has a name of his own because of that moment, you know, he sings background with Tamar.

Um, and, and does his own thing, you know, became a, an internet sensation because of the Patti LaBelle pie. [00:17:30] So, you know, miss Patty, we love you. We thank you for this, this wonderful holiday gift. There are, Jay Ray, there are holiday cards, Christmas cards that people have made with, um, with that iconic silhouette of her hands out.

So where are my background singers? That's how, that's how iconic that moment is.

Jay Ray: It is, um, I'm grateful for it. Like it is something that gets a chance. We get a chance to laugh every single year. [00:18:00] Um, and it's easy to laugh at this 'cause one, Patti LaBelle has a wonderful sense of humor. We, if it's one thing you know about Patti LaBelle's, when she show up somewhere, she going cut up.

'cause that's just, she loves to cut up so. Seeing her in this moment and knowing that Patti LaBelle, if them, them cue cards was where they needed to be and if them background singers was there, would've embodied this Christmas. Like, you know, what Patti was going to give, like she would've gave it if [00:18:30] she had, if everything was in place for her to give it.

So, I agree with you, sir. Daniel, I think this is a beautiful moment, um, to, to reminisce on, but we did wanna shed some light on it and I do wanna correct myself before this show ends. The woman, Dan Sni. Dan Schneider's wife. Her name is Lisa Lillian. Her brand is called Hungry Girl. Not Skinny Girl. Skinny

Sir Daniel: Because Skinny Girl was best, was that other chick from Real Housewives in New York?

Jay Ray: Oh,

Sir Daniel: Yeah, that's

Jay Ray: Um, but yes, hungry [00:19:00] Girl is, uh, Lisa Lillian. So, um, but yeah, no, I agree with you Sir. Daniel. Uh, uh, Patty is a national treasure and this is a fun moment and we now have a new tradition.

Sir Daniel: we certainly do. If I say cue cards or backup singers, you know exactly what to do.

Jay Ray: Right.

I dunno the words.

Closing Remarks and Holiday Wishes

Jay Ray: Um, y'all, thank y'all for tuning in. Happy holidays to you. If you could see our faces or hear our voices. Uh, [00:19:30] subscribe wherever you are. Tell your friends, family, colleagues about the show, uh, because if you enjoy Queue Points, chances are they will as well. Visit our website@Queue Points.com.

We got a ton of episodes for you to check out. You can go and binge Queue Points all holiday. Um, check us out on Substack. We have a ton of good stuff over there. And shop our store@store.Queue Points.com. We appreciate y'all. We love y'all.

Sir Daniel: Absolutely. And like I always say in this [00:20:00] life, you have a choice. You can either pick up the needle or let the record play. I am DJ Sir Daniel.

Jay Ray: I'm Jay Ray, y'all.

Sir Daniel: And this has been Queue Points podcast, dropping the needle on black music history. We will see you on the next go round and happy. Happy holidays.

Jay Ray: Yes. Peace y'all.

Sir Daniel: Peace.

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