Sarah Dash

From the artist’s website:

She has sung with some of the greatest names in pop, rock and R&B – try The Rolling Stones, Alice Cooper, The Marshall Tucker Band, Laura Nyro, The O’Jays, Wilson Pickett and Bo Diddley among others. She has appeared on shows with hundreds of renowned recording artists – from Keith Richards to Stevie Wonder. She is, of course, a founding member of Patti Labelle & The Bluebelles, morphing into Labelle in the ’70s (now reuniting in 2008 for a new album and tour) and has had her own hits with the dance music classics “Sinner Man” and “Low Down Dirty Rhythm.” In more recent times, her 2007 appearance in San Francisco’s ‘Teatro Zinzanni’ theatrical production drew rave reviews….

Sarah Dash is a prominent vocalist, music educator and advocate for the arts in her native Trenton, New Jersey, and nationally. She is the co-producer and host for the Trenton Makes Music project.

Dash was seventh of 13 children born to Elder Abraham Dash and Mother Elizabeth Dash. Her father was a pastor and businessman; her mother was a nurse. As a child, she sang in her family church, as well as in school. Her middle school and high school music teacher, Thomas Grice, was an important early influence.

As a young teen, she started a girls singing group called the Del Capris, which included fellow Trentonian Nona Hendryx. Dash and Hendryx would soon join Patricia Holte and Cindy Birdsong as founding members of Patti Labelle and the Bluebelles. Still in high school, the quartet soon began charting hits, including “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” Here, they are introduced by Otis Redding:

After Cindy Birdsong left the Bluebelles in 1966, Dash, Hendryx and Patti Labelle spent time in England where they changed their management, music style and stage presentation. They returned to the US as Labelle,, issuing a series of critically acclaimed and commercially successful songs – especially “Lady Marmalade” in 1974. Their sold-out shows included a 1974 engagement at the Metropolitan Opera House, described thusly by People Magazine’s Curt Davis:

It was as unlikely as Callas playing the Palace or Roy Acuff headlining Harlem’s Apollo. Labelle—a group dubbed “the Sweethearts of the Apollo” and originally called Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles—was onstage, and their claque was boogieing in the aisles of Manhattan’s staid, ornate Metropolitan Opera House. Labelle was the first pop black act ever to make the Met.

Since Labelle disbanded, Dash has gone on on to a successful career as a solo artist, while still occasionally reuniting with her former bandmates. Her most recent album is a gospel album, The Seventh Child.

Dash has also been a prominent advocate for the arts and music education. In October, 2017, she was appointed Music Ambassador for the city of Trenton by Mayor Eric Jackson. She also serves on the Grammy Board of Governors, is the Grammy New Jersey Ambassador for the Advocacy Board of the Membership Committee, serves on the Board of Trustees for the New Jersey Capital Philharmonic Orchestra, and is a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame. She is the CEO of Ribbit Productions, Inc.

Sarah Dash performing Sinner Man on a 1978 television program: