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Fantasia slays Jennifer Hudson at 'An Evening of Stars'
To whom did Patti LaBelle pass the mic while singing "A Change Is Gonna Come" during the finale at Saturday's "An Evening of Stars" at the Kodak Theatre, the annual benefit for the United Negro College Fund, which honored the down-home diva this year? The stage was crowded with LaBelle's spiritual daughters, from Jennifer Hudson to Yolanda Adams, LeToya Luckett to Chrisette Michele, but who did Mama think could match her glorious high notes?
Who did the night's producers task with LaBelle's most famous song, the definitive funk-rock jam "Lady Marmalade"? And who returned later in the long program (taped live for television, with all the gaffes and replays that process requires) to bring tears to LaBelle's eyes with a spirit-touched take on the Bunny Sigler-penned ballad "Somebody Loves You Baby (You Know Who It Is)" -- earning standing ovations for both?
Fantasia Barrino, that's who.
When Fantasia throws down at a multi-artist extravaganza, she nearly always steals the show. She had some stiff competition Saturday. Hudson took the silver in the night's rafter-shaking contest, with a dramatic and earthy rendition of that "American Idol" fave "Over the Rainbow," but was stiff opening the show with "Stir It Up," and then refused the microphone as the night's stars reprised "Lady Marmalade" at evening's end.
Did the young movie star not know the words, beyond "Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?" Fantasia's probably got them tattooed on some hidden part of her body. But then, she'd already proved that if Nona Hendryx and Sarah Dash (who also slayed, performing "Somebody Somewhere" from the great album "Nightbirds") need a fill-in for Patti on the upcoming LaBelle reunion tour, they need look no further than the woman introduced that evening as "our American Idol."
The declaration that Fantasia was so hotly embraced by this event's glittery audience -- a gathering of the African American elite -- was telling, especially when considering whether she might, in fact, become the next Patti LaBelle. LaBelle has had many crossover hits, even dueting with 1980s blue-eyed soul king Michael McDonald. But unlike her peers Aretha Franklin and Diana Ross, she's remained more an icon of black America than a symbol of the 1960s counterculture or 1970s disco glamour. Her gospel-true performances are some of the most intense in pop, yet in some ways she remains a treasured semi-secret, a black icon who deserves to be acknowledged by all.
This could be Fantasia's future too. Since winning "Idol," she's moved more and more toward hip-hop-flavored R&B; the first single from her self-titled second album was called "Hood Boy" and featured Outkast's Big Boi. That release sold less than half of what her debut album did. Even accounting for the decline of the music industry, that's a serious drop. Her split earlier this summer from 19 management, the company that handles the biggest stars to emerge from "Idol," suggests that she's either lost interest in claiming the huge audience a star like Carrie Underwood (or, potentially, Hudson) demands, or that the pros advising her feel she can't maintain that kind of fame.
Yet this evening proved that Fantasia still has the power to conjure devotion and embody excellence. It's the larger public's loss if the crosssover pop machine turns away from her. Meanwhile, she's still going to be throwing down amazing performances, onstage and in the recording studio. And she'll still be getting blessings from matriarchs like LaBelle, who knows a voice for the ages when she hears it.
-- Ann Powers
Photo by Earl Gibson III
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