The Pop Corporation

Patti LaBelle is one of the finest singers to ever grace a stage, but what really makes her so magnetic is her presence away from it. She’s lived enough lives for all of us combined, and knows exactly how to tell us about it.

The latest, involves Elton John and some Tupperware.

“He was my piano player in London, for about a year,” LaBelle kicked off, while he was still called Reg and playing in Bluesology. “I took all their pounds – all their money,” explaining that she had to feed the group, because they had “no money to eat”.

“They had no food, so I made them food to take home in my Tupperware – so my Tupperware is very important to me – I don’t give it out. So I gave them some food to take back home, and they never paid me back. And I said to Elton, ‘I want my durn Tupperware!‘”

Of course, ol’ Reg went onto make quite the name for himself and rang Patti some years later, asking if she’d come to his show.

“I said, ‘Who are you opening for?’ He said, ‘I’m Elton John now’. I said, ‘Ain’t that a witch?’. He made it before I did, right?!”

Riotous! And then, in 2005, Elton worked with Patti to cover ‘Your Song’, and during a performance, Elton “took his rings off and put them on the piano.”

“When we finished, I said, ‘Elton, there’s your ring’,” LaBelle explained. “He said, ‘That’s your Tupperware’.”

Here’s Patti in full, glorious flow and, even better, there’s video evidence of Elton giving Patti the ring!