IN: Labelle is an American all-female singing group who were a popular vocal group of the 1960s and 1970s. The group was formed after the disbanding of two rival girl groups in the Philadelphia/Trenton areas, the Ordettes and the Del-Capris, forming as a new version of the former group, later changing their name to The Blue Belles (later Bluebelles). The founding members were Patti LaBelle (formerly Patricia Holt), Cindy Birdsong, Nona Hendryx and Sarah Dash. As The Bluebelles, and later Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles, the group found success with ballads in the doo-wop genre, most notably "Down the Aisle (The Wedding Song)", "You'll Never Walk Alone" and "Over the Rainbow".

In 1959, a fifteen-year-old teenager, Patricia "Patti" Holt won her first talent contest in high school. Following this, she sought to form her own singing group the following year called the Ordettes. Holt formed the group with singers Jean Brown, Yvonne Hogen and Johnnie Dawson. The group gained a local following. Dawson was eventually replaced by Sundray Tucker. By 1961, Jean Brown and Yvonne Hogan had ditched the group to get married and Patti and Sundray carried on as soloists. Later in 1961, Patti and Sundray's manager Bernard Montague contacted two singers from the Trenton, NJ singing group the Del-Capris, Nona Hendryx and Sarah Dash. Eventually Hendryx and Dash became official replacements for Brown and Hogan as the Ordettes. The group soon began working diligently by musician Morris Bailey. Bailey and Montague's schedule led to Tucker's parents to disband her from the group. Eventually, another singer, Cindy Birdsong, from Camden, New Jersey, was allowed to join the group after an audition, under the advice of Patti. The group soon toured the chitlin' circuit, gaining a following in the eastern U.S. In 1962, Chicago-based group The Starlets had traveled to Philadelphia to do sessions for producer Bobby Martin and record label owner Harold Robinson, president of Newtown Records. One of the sessions included a cover of the standard, "I Sold My Heart to the Junkman". At the time of the song's release, the group had a hit with the song "Better Tell Him No" and were unable to promote the song due to them being signed to another label. The song was credited under the name "The Blue Belles". The Ordettes auditioned by singing the song. Before hearing the group, Robinson turned them down due to being unimpressed with Patti's looks but upon hearing Patti singing, he changed his mind and signed the group to Newtown. When "I Sold My Heart" became popular, Robinson sent the Ordettes to promote it under the assumed name of the Blue Belles. After a televised performance at American Bandstand featuring the Ordettes, the Starlets' manager sued Harold Robinson and Bobby Martin. Around the same time, Robinson was also sued for having another group use the name "Blue Belles". Following the aftermath of the ordeals, Robinson gave Patti Holt a new name, "Patti LaBelle", and the group's name was rechristened as "Patti LaBelle and The Blue Belles".

Were there any other members along the way?

OUT: Eventually Hendryx and Dash became official replacements for Brown and Hogan as the Ordettes.

IN: Blonde on Blonde is the seventh studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released in mid 1966, on Columbia Records. Recording sessions began in New York in October 1965 with numerous backing musicians, including members of Dylan's live backing band, the Hawks. Though sessions continued until January 1966, they yielded only one track that made it onto the final album--"One of Us Must Know (

Most accounts of recording Blonde on Blonde, including those by Dylan scholars Clinton Heylin and Michael Gray, agree that there were two blocks of recording sessions: February 14-17 and March 8-10, 1966. This chronology is based on the logs and files kept by Columbia Records. Dylan and the Hawks performed concerts in Ottawa, Montreal, and Philadelphia in February and March, and then Dylan resumed recording in Nashville on March 8. On that date, Dylan and the musicians recorded the take of "Absolutely Sweet Marie" that Dylan selected for the album. Historian Sean Wilentz observed that "with the sound of 'Sweet Marie', Blonde on Blonde entered fully and sublimely into what is now considered classic rock and roll". The same day saw the successful takes of "Just Like a Woman", and "Pledging My Time", the latter "driven by Robertson's screaming guitar". According to Wilentz the final recording session, on March 9-10, produced six songs in 13 hours of studio time. The first number to be recorded to Dylan's satisfaction was "Most Likely You Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine", when McCoy reinforced on trumpet a musical phrase Dylan played on his harmonica, changing the sound of the song radically. Dylan and his band then quickly recorded "Temporary Like Achilles". The session atmosphere began to "get giddy" around midnight when Dylan roughed out "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" on the piano. Johnston recalled commenting; "That sounds like the damn Salvation Army band". Dylan replied; "Can you get one?" Johnston then telephoned trombonist Wayne Butler, the only additional musician required, and Dylan and the band, with McCoy again on trumpet, played a high-spirited version of the song. In quick succession Dylan and the musicians then recorded "Obviously 5 Believers" and a final take of "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat" powered by Robertson's lead guitar. The session concluded with "I Want You" on which, as Wilentz notes, "Wayne Moss's rapid-fire sixteenth notes on the guitar" are an impressive element of the recording.

What was one of their songs?

OUT:
Just Like a Woman", and "Pledging My Time",