The legendary Patti LaBelle

It's a Sunday Morning for Memorial Day weekend. And here again is Lee Cowan. [MUSIC - PATTI LABELLE, "ON MY OWN"] Patti LaBelle has been singing hits like "On My Own" for more than 60 years now, which gives her plenty of reason to celebrate any time she wants. Even so, as Tracy Smith explains, today is extra special. [MUSIC - PATTI LABELLE, "NEW DAY"] (SINGING) It's a new day Hey, guys.

What do you get out of performing live now? Excited every night. We just pray that you give us a truly wonderful show. Before we go on, we all pray. And I'm saying I hope I gain fans tonight. I'm hoping that I'll let them hear me in a way that they'll say, I'll buy another ticket from that heifer. [LAUGHS] Come on, woo!

"Heifer" is hardly a word anyone would use to describe Patti LaBelle. Legend is more like it. [MUSIC - LABELLE, "LADY MARMALADE"] (SINGING) Hey, sister Go, sister Soul sister Go, sister She's been singing for six decades-- [MUSIC - PATTI LABELLE, "SHOE WAS ON THE OTHER FOOT"] (SINGING) As you would have them do to you --earning hit records, Grammys-- [MUSIC - PATTI LABELLE, "SOMEBODY LOVES YOU BABY (YOU KNOW WHO IT IS)] (SINGING) Somebody loves you, baby --and the nickname, "The Godmother of Soul." [VOCALIZING] (SINGING) Somebody loves you And just like her high notes, she has staying power. This story will air on your 82nd birthday. Woo! [LAUGHS] What are your thoughts as you approach 82? I'm just going to be still. At 82, I am really living it down, not up, but having fun living it down. I play cards. We have card games on Saturday nights. How easy is it to play cards and take other folks' money?

[LAUGHS] That's what I do, and I love it. You're talking about how you're living it down, you're going mellow, but you are still professionally singing. You're out there. Girl, I better.

[LAUGHS] I have to sing. Singing is my life. [MUSIC - PATTI LABELLE AND THE BLUEBELLS, "OVER THE RAINBOW"] (SINGING) Somewhere over the rainbow How would you describe your voice? It's big. [MUSIC - PATTI LABELLE, "NEW ATTITUDE"] (SINGING) So high, so low It's loud. [MUSIC - PATTI LABELLE, "ALL THIS LOVE"] (SINGING) And all l that I have It's soft (SINGING) I give my all to you It can rap. It can do opera, on a good day. (SINGING) A-B-C-D-E-F-G H-I-J-K-L-M

It can even jazz up the ABCs. [VOCALIZING] (SINGING) Oh, yeah Woo! Yeah. So this is it, huh?

She spent her childhood here, in Philadelphia, a city she still calls home. This is my beginnings. This is where it all started, right here. Do you have mainly happy memories of this place? Oh, mainly happy.

Back then, she was Patsy Holt. Were you a shy kid?

Oh, my goodness. My mother had to pay me to go outside. I was very, very, very shy. I would sing in my bedroom, with the broom as a microphone. So I knew I had a voice. And my mother and father loved my voice.

At age 10, she joined a church choir, where a duet unlocked the magic of performing. Do you remember that feeling, when everybody stood up in church-- Mm.

--and said, hallelujah? Chills, chills. I said, oh, we're doing it. We're just doing it. [MUSIC - PATTI LABELLE AND THE BLUEBELLS, "ALL OR NOTHING"] (SINGING) All or nothing, baby It's all or nothing

As a teen, she started singing with a group, and a record exec suggested she change her name to LaBelle, meaning "beautiful." But with that advice came a nasty assessment. It's hard to believe this now, but a record label owner called you plain? What did he say? No, he called me quite ugly. He didn't say plain. He said the word. Did it give you kind of a steel inside of you? It gave me hurt. Just total-- total hurt because I knew how much he loved my voice. And I knew, no matter what anyone said about me, I am who I am. I'm not going to change. The only thing I changed was my nose because it was not pleasing to me.

When Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles became simply LaBelle, they changed more than just their name. [MUSIC - LABELLE, "SOMETHING IN THE AIR (THE REVOLUTION)"] (RAPPING) The revolution will not be televised (SINGING) No

LaBelle's style was outrageous-- crazy, crazy hair, crazy outfits. We were singing about the revolution and sexual things before any Black girl or white girl group. [MUSIC - LABELLE, "LADY MARMALADE"] (SINGING) Lady Marmalade, down in old New Orleans Strutting her stuff on the street

Their classic hit, "Lady Marmalade," was a song about a Creole prostitute. (SINGING) She said Voulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir

When we sang it, we didn't know what "Voulez-vous coucher avec moi" meant. It means, "Will you sleep with me, tonight?" So we got a lot of flack, from the nuns and different people. And I was saying, at that time, well, a hooker has to make money, too, so.

[LAUGHS] The group split in 1977, but remain friends. [MUSIC - PATTI LABELLE, "ON MY OWN"] (SINGING) I'm on my own Why did it end this way? On my own Do you remember going, like stepping out on your own, for the first time, solo Patti LaBelle? Petrified. I had to seek help. Girl, I had to see people. I had to talk to people, just to get my mind right. Did therapy help? It helped a whole lot. What did you learn?

I learned that I'm never going to stop singing. And if it's with a group or alone, that's what I'm going to do for the rest of my life. I'm going to add black pepper to this.

Patti's other talent is cooking. I need you, Trace. I need you to drag this spinach out.

We first met in her kitchen, a dozen years ago. [SCRAPING] She's written several best-selling cookbooks and has her own line of products, Patti's Good Life. What's the goal behind Patti's Good Life? That it's reasonable for people to eat, and it's great food. Hi. [CROWD CHEERING]

When she visited a Philly ShopRite to hand out some pancake mix-- Thank you so much, my dear. Thank you. [CROWD REACTS]

--she caused quite a stir. We love you! Thank you.

her hometown is filled with fans. (SINGING) --avec moi ce soir. Yeah.

And her home is filled with reminders of a life well lived. I love that your house is filled with all these memories! Oh, gosh, so many memories. Everybody's in this room, everybody that's close to me. Mm. Nelson Mandela--

Oh, wow!

--at his home and his wife, Winnie Mandela.

Oh, my goodness.

Mariah Carey, my goddaughter.

Have you two ever had a contest, when you see who can-- who can hit those? Heck no, I wouldn't sing with her for nothing. [LAUGHS] That little heifer has a triple, triple what I have. ["GOT TO BE REAL" PLAYING]

Patti's joking, of course. Their "Got To Be Real" duet was a showstopper. (SINGING) Our love is here to stay Hey, hey, hey [CROWD CHEERING] [VOCALIZING] Truth is, she's still got it. And she's not planning to give it up.

Some people say they're retiring-- this is my last show and all that jazz. It's never my last show. I'll be singing, until I can no more. [LAUGHS] [MUSIC PLAYING]

And on her 82nd birthday, maybe the real gift is that Patti LaBelle knows exactly who she is-- a mother, a grandmother, and yes, a legend. What do you think of that word, "legend"?

I love it. I should be called legend, legend, legend, legend, OK? [LAUGHS] Yes, I love it. You've earned it. I have earned it. Yes, I have.