The singer and founder of R&B group Labelle, Sarah Dash has died at the age of 76 on Monday (September 20).
“We were just on stage together on Saturday [Sept. 18] and it was such a powerful and special moment,” Patti LaBelle said to Billboard, “Sarah Dash was an awesomely talented, beautiful and loving soul who blessed my life and the lives of so many others in more ways than I can say. I could always count on her to have my back. That’s who Sarah was … a loyal friend and a voice for those who didn’t have one. She was a true giver, always serving and sharing her talent and time. I am heartbroken, as I know all of her loved ones and fans are. But I know that Sarah’s spirit and all that she has given to the world live on. And I pray that her precious memory brings us peace and comfort. Rest in power, my dear sister. I love you always!”
Sarah Dash died on Monday (September 20). She was an American singer and actress. She first appeared on the music scene as a member of Patti LaBelle & The Bluebelles. Dash was later a member of Labelle and worked as a singer, session musician, and sideman for The Rolling Stones, and Keith Richards.
Dash created a vocal duo called the Capris before relocating to Philadelphia in the mid-‘60s. It was there that she teamed up with Nona Hendryx, Patti LaBelle (neé Patricia Holte) and Sundray Tucker as members of a quartet called The Ordettes.
When soon-to-be Supremes member Cindy Birdsong replaced Tucker, the group changed its name to The Bluebelles in 1962. After another moniker switch to Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles, the group garnered attention with R&B ballads, including a reinterpretation of “Over the Rainbow” which has since become a LaBelle concert fave, and also opened for the Rolling Stones in the early ‘60s.
