In 1962, Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles made their debut performance at the famed Apollo Theater. The girl group eventually evolved into Labelle, the force behind "Lady Marmalade." Long before Madonna and Lady Gaga came along, Patti LaBelle, along with Sarah Dash and Nona Hendryx, made their mark with out-of-this-world space suits and over-the-top hairdos.
In the above video from "Oprah's Next Chapter," Labelle looks back at some of her wild wardrobe moments. In one photo, Dash is wearing silver breast plates. "Before Madonna," LaBelle adds. "I'm trying to say somebody better recognize."
In another photo, LaBelle has her hair in a sky-high updo. "Look at that!" she says. "It looks like I had a tree on my freakin' head.... That's Halloween -- Halloween come early."
Also in the video, Oprah and LaBelle discuss the anthem that was on everyone's lips in 1975: "Lady Marmalade," with the famous chorus, "Voulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir." It translates to "Do you want to sleep with me tonight?" -- but LaBelle didn't know it at the time.
"We recorded the song knowing that it was a hit, never knowing what 'voulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir' meant," she says. "We knew it had a hook and that it would sell a lot of records."
Two months later, LaBelle says she was told "it's all about hookers."
"And we didn't know," LaBelle says. "And so I said, 'I'm not taking it back.' What I sang is what you're gonna get. And every show since then, Oprah, if we don't sing that song, the people will get angry."
"Oprah's Next Chapter" airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on OWN.
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