Patti LaBelle has revealed that Elton John failed to return her Tupperware after she made him food back in the 1960s.
- READ MORE: The NME Big Read – Elton John: “I’m not interested in the past – not even Elton John’s past”
During a recent interview on Sherri, the R&B/soul singer was asked to reveal the first story that came to mind about Sir Elton – who previously backed her on piano when he played in Bluesology.
“He was my piano player in London, for about a year,” LaBelle began, before recalling how the legendary artist was still known as his birth name, Reginald Dwight, at the time in the ’60s.
She went on to remember inviting Bluesology to her flat to play cards. “I took all their pounds – all their money,” LaBelle explained. The singer then said she would have to “feed” the band back then, because they had “no money to eat”.
LaBelle told host Sherri Shepherd that she won the card game. “They had no food, so I made them food to take home in my Tupperware,” she continued. “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!'”
LaBelle revealed that Sir Elton then called her two years later, asking her to go to his show. “I said, ‘Who are you opening for?’,” she added. “He said, ‘I’m Elton John now’. I said, ‘Ain’t that a witch?’. He made it before I did, right?!”
However, John did make it up to LaBelle years later, when the pair worked together on LaBelle’s 2005 cover of his classic track ‘Your Song’ from her ‘Classic Moments’ album.
She remembered that around this time, John “took his rings off and put them on the piano” when the two were performing live on stage. “When we finished, I said, ‘Elton, there’s your ring’,” LaBelle explained. “He said, ‘That’s your Tupperware’.”
She added: “But the ring is beautiful – I got that ring.”
As Consequence notes, a video of the moment in question exists – where John is seen placing a ring on LaBelle’s finger. He then kisses her hand, before she gives a shocked look to the camera. She also shows off the piece of jewellery to the camera. Check out the clip above.
Last Friday (April 4) saw Elton John release a new collaborative album with Brandi Carlile, ‘Who Believes In Angels?’. The pair then performed together on last weekend’s episode of Saturday Night Live.
In other news, Elton has said he “would have killed himself” if he had made another solo record, and shared an update on his deteriorating eyesight.
“I can see you, but I can’t see TV, I can’t read,” he explained. “I can’t see my boys playing rugby and soccer, and it has been a very stressful time because I’m used to soaking it all up.”