Lady Marmalade is a song by American girl group Labelle, written about a prostitute from New Orleans, Louisiana. The song’s inspiration was from Bob Crewe’s observations of New Orleans. It was originally recorded by the group Eleventh Hour for their greatest hits album.

LaBelle’s producer Allen Toussaint decided to record the song for Labelle’s album Nightbirds.

Patti LaBelle expressed about the song’s lyrics, saying:

I didn’t know what it was about. Nobody, I swear this is God’s truth. Nobody told me what I’d just sung a song about.“

The song topped the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot Soul Singles chart. It also topped the RPM singles chart in Canada and was certified Gold by the RIAA with sales of 1,000,000 copies

Twenty-seven years later in 2001, Christina Aguilera, Mya, Pink and Lil Kim covered the song for the movie Moulin Rouge which topped the Billboard Hot 100.