Originally released by Garry Morris in 1983, the Jimmy Bowen-produced classic ‘Wind Beneath My Wings’ is perhaps better known for Bette Midler‘s take on it in 1989, lifted from the ‘Beaches‘ soundtrack one year earlier.
However, what most may not know is the significance the number has for Patti Labelle, who performed the classic before Midler did at 1985’s ‘Look to the Rainbow Tour.’
Now, the entertainer has detailed her decision to cover the song during her recent interview with ‘Conversations with Arthel Neville.’
Her emotional confession below…
When quizzed on the birth of ‘Lady Marmalade’, she explained:
“I remember going to New Orleans to record this seedy album…to do twelve songs with Allen Toussaint and we got a call on the airway to the airport to go to Bob Crewe’s house before we left. He knew we were recording and he says “I have a hit” and I say “yeah right (!)”, so we stop at his house and he played it and I say “I don’t know what that voulez vouz stuff means or whatever, but that’s a hit.”
Then, prompting an emotional response from the star, Neville asked Labelle on her feelings towards the aforementioned ‘Wings’. She shared:
“Oh my God, that’s for me. That’s a me song. I (tears up) I had three sisters, and we fought a lot and they always walked behind me, they’d follow me because I had all this glory and nobody knew them…but they were so much better than me. They never knew that were my heroes.”
She went on to share:
“And my mother and father…I never got the chance to tell them that. So if you get a chance to say something to somebody just speak it out, let them know who they are to you. They went through chemotherapy, they lost their hair, they lost their weight, they lost their minds and I watched and I said “If I ever get cancer, if I go through it the way they did I’d be a beautiful woman.” Beauty is not all that makeup and hair and clothes, it’s another beauty that they never knew that they had because I never got the chance to tell them.”