Nona Hendryx (born October 9, 1944), is an American vocalist, record producer, songwriter, musician, author, and actress. Hendryx is known for her work as a solo artist as well as for being one-third of the trio Labelle, who had a hit with "Lady Marmalade." Her music has ranged from soul, funk, and R&B to hard rock, new wave, and new-age.
Hendryx was born in Trenton, New Jersey in 1944 where she met fellow New Jersey native Sarah Dash and later met Philadelphia-born singer Patricia Holte (Patti LaBelle). After a short-lived tenure as a member of the Del-Capris, Hendryx and Dash formed a singing group with Holte (once the lead singer of a girl group in Philadelphia called The Ordettes). In 1961, Cindy Birdsong, from Camden, New Jersey, became the fourth member of the group, who became the Bluebelles and signed their first deal with Newtown Records. After the release of their debut hit, 1962's "I Sold My Heart to the Junkman", their name altered again to Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles. Hendryx's husky alto differed from Dash's sharp soprano, LaBelle's mezzo-soprano and Birdsong's second soprano. During this tenure, the group became known for their emotional live performances and their renditions of classic standards such as "You'll Never Walk Alone", "Over The Rainbow", and "Danny Boy". The group often found themselves competing against girl groups such as The Chantels, Shirelles, and The Supremes. In 1967, Hendryx, LaBelle, and Dash were shocked to discover that Birdsong had secretly joined the Supremes after Florence Ballard was ousted from the group by Motown. Different members of the group were in touch with Birdsong over the years. Birdsong's relationships with the Bluebelles healed and they came together again for the ceremony when the group won an R&B Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999.
For the next three years, the group struggled to compete against the changing musical landscape for which their girl group sound had fallen out of favor with popular audiences. In 1971, they moved to England, where they had a cult fan base, and on the advice of Vicki Wickham, changed their name to Labelle and ditched the dresses and bouffant wigs for jeans and Afros. Releasing transitional albums including 1971's Labelle and 1972's Moon Shadow, the group recorded material that included sexual and political subject matter – unheard of for an all-female black group. The transition was hard for lead singer LaBelle, who was a fan of the group's early-era ballads, but she eventually gave in. Member Dash remained neutral throughout the tenure of the group. Shortly after releasing Labelle, the group became the opening act for The Who, whose producer Kit Lambert had produced the group's Warner debut. They also opened for Laura Nyro during that same time and sang backup on her album Gonna Take a Miracle. After the release of Moon Shadow, Hendryx became the chief songwriter for most of the group's records while LaBelle and Dash occasionally wrote their own material. After successfully opening for The Rolling Stones during the group's American tour in 1973, the group released Pressure Cookin', where they once again adopted a new look as "glam rock, space-age divas". As a songwriter, Hendryx subsequently wrote powerful ballads ("You Turn Me On" and "Nightbird" from Nightbirds, "Going Down Makes Me Shiver" from Labelle's final album, Chameleon), and a wealth of more uptempo numbers ("Space Children," "Messin' with My Mind," "Gypsy Moths," and "Who's Watching the Watcher"). Her themes were unconventional, diverse, and often experimental. Her composition "A Man in a Trenchcoat (Voodoo)" from Chameleon also marked Hendryx's first time singing lead vocal on an album. In 1974, the group hit gold with the release of Nightbirds following the release of the smash hit "Lady Marmalade". In her memoir Don't Block the Blessings, Labelle frontwoman Patti LaBelle attributed the band's 1976 breakup to musical and personal tensions within the group. Labelle, Dash, and Hendryx all embarked on solo careers; Wickham stayed on with Hendryx to manage her solo career.
In 1977, Hendryx released her first solo album, a self-titled collection. A blend of soul and hard rock, it contained notable tracks such as "Winning" (later recorded by Santana) and the ballad "Leaving Here Today". It quickly disappeared from the shelves, and Hendryx was dropped from Epic. Subsequently, she recorded four singles for Arista (London), which also did not achieve chart success. She did find success doing session work during this period, most notably providing background vocals for Talking Heads and touring with them, appearing first at the major Heatwave festival in August 1980. In the early 1980s, Hendryx fronted her own progressive art rock group, Zero Cool, which included guitarist Naux (China Shop, Richard Hell), bassist Michael Allison (Darshan Ambient), guitarist Kevin Fullen and drummer Jimmy Allington. Simultaneously, she sang with experimental funk group Material, achieving a giant club hit with "Busting Out." She had two other major club hits soon after: a dance remake of The Supremes' "Love Is Like an Itching in My Heart," and, in a lead vocal guest spot for the Cage, "Do What You Wanna Do." Material also produced her second album Nona in 1983. The hip, contemporary dance sound of this album proved to be more charts-compatible, with the disco music times, and the single "Keep It Confidential" becoming a modest R&B hit written by Ellie Greenwich, Jeff Kent, Ellen Foley, and a remix of "B-boys" finding major success on the dance charts. "Transformation" became a Hendryx staple, and later was covered by Fierce Ruling Diva. Another particularly noteworthy track on the album is the ballad "Design for Living," which featured guests Laurie Anderson, Gina Shock of The Go-Go's, Valerie Simpson of Ashford & Simpson, Tina Weymouth of Tom Tom Club and Talking Heads, Nancy Wilson of Heart, and former bandmate Patti LaBelle.
In 1985, Hendryx wrote and recorded "Rock This House" with Keith Richards from her album The Heat. The song was nominated for a Grammy Award. The same year, the MTV broadcast of the video "I Need Love" stirred some controversy for featuring drag queens. As a result, it quickly was removed from MTV's playlist. She lso took part in the Artists United Against Apartheid project with the song Sun City, one of the greatest and strongest protest songs against South Africa's Apartheid during those days.
Her biggest commercial success came with 1987's single "Why Should I Cry?", a top 5 R&B hit which also reached #58 on the Billboard 100. The accompanying album, Female Trouble, boasted an impressive list of contributors, including Peter Gabriel, Prince ("Baby Go Go"), George Clinton, David Van Tieghem and Mavis Staples. Around this time, she became a member of the Black Rock Coalition, founded by Vernon Reid of Living Colour. Hendryx took a detour from commercial music with Skin Diver, a new age record produced with long-time Tangerine Dream member Peter Baumann. The album generally was greeted with positive feedback from critics, but was commercially unsuccessful. The title track did attract some attention, as did "Women Who Fly", which later was covered by Jefferson Starship.
She has been involved in many musical collaborations, both for her vocals and her songwriting. One of her early collaborations was with Jerry Harrison's (Talking Heads) The Red and The Black album in 1981. In 1992, she recorded a duet with Billy Crawford, "Urgently in Love,". In 1998, she performed in the video of the rap hit "It's a Party" with Bounty Killer. She has written songs for Dusty Springfield and Ultra Nate. She has produced albums for Lisa Lisa and The Bush Tetras. Other artists with whom she has recorded with over the years include David Johansen, Yoko Ono, Cameo, Talking Heads (3 albums), Garland Jeffreys, Dan Hartman, Afrika Bambaata (performing a duet of "Giving Him Something He Can Feel" with Boy George), Rough Trade, Curtis Hairston, and Graham Parker on "Soul Christmas."
