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(upbeat music) - Welcome to Remember Them, Steve Adubato, with my co-anchor, our co-anchor, the creator, frankly, and the executive producer of Remember Them, Jacqui Tricarico.

Hey Jacqui, let's set this up.

All about Whitney Houston.

Talk about someone worth remembering.

Talk about it.

- I mean, vocal powerhouse, someone, the name Whitney Houston, if you don't know that, I don't know who you are or where you're from, but how can you not know the name Whitney Houston?

Born in Newark.

And her family history, and who her family was, really is what helped put her on trajectory of stardom and fame.

And she had her mother, Cissy Houston, Dionne Warwick was her cousin, her godmother was Aretha Franklin.

All these people helped contribute to her success story, really.

And, when Whitney passed away in February 2012, I think the whole world mourned in a way with her passing.

And she is buried in Westfield, New Jersey, along with some of her relatives there.

So a place that you could go visit to see the resting place of Whitney Houston.

And she was just such an exceptional human being exceptional singer, actress, so many other things.

But it's just such a nice way that we can remember her.

- 2013, I remember hosting the New Jersey Hall of Fame event and she was inducted that year, after the year after she passed.

And it was Cissy Houston was there, the family was there and it was so devastating and so sad.

But this is to celebrate Whitney Houston's life.

So we honor, we recognize, and Jacqui, we remember the great Whitney Houston.

- "Remember Them" is gonna now remember one of the most extraordinary artists ever, not just in New Jersey, not just in our country, but internationally, Whitney Houston, and we do that by talking to Mark Conklin, who is Director of Artist Relations and Programming at the Grammy Museum Experience at Prudential Center.

Good to see you, Mark.

- Good to see you, Steve.

Thanks for having me on.

- First, let's let everyone know what the Grammy Museum experience is.

Opened, I believe, in Newark in 2017, but the Grammy Museum is in Los Angeles, correct?

- Yeah, our headquarters is in Los Angeles.

We're the East Coast outpost.

We're an 8,200 square foot museum.

We celebrate everything involving all forms of music, especially the Grammys, and a real focus on New Jersey legends, and of course, a focus on Whitney as well, and a very interactive museum, especially for young people.

- So, Whitney Houston inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame, 2013, after she passed.

I remember hosting that event, honored to be there, and interviewed her mom, Sissy Houston, her cousin, Dionne Warwick.

Extraordinary family.

A big part of her voice being recognized was through the church, was it not?

Talk about that.

- Yeah, it, her mother, Sissy Houston, of course, was not only a great secular artist, but a great gospel artist as well, and she was the musical director for the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark for more than 50 years and really a driving force, that is, one of the premier choirs not only in the state, but in the country and probably in the world.

And so, Whitney grew up around that and got taught and trained in that.

So, she wasn't learning just, kind of by osmosis.

She got to see some of the best people in the world do that and at 11 years old, she did her first solo, which I think that was when both she and her mother realized, okay, maybe this is something.

Maybe this is something you could do for the rest of your life.

I don't think they could have even imagined, barely, what she would eventually do, but that was the spark of it and that's what she grew up doing.

- Yeah, I also wanna clarify that the Whitney exhibit, if you will, in 2017 at the Prudential Center, it was, it opened it up and it's, where is it now?

Virtually, where can people find that video, Mark?

- On our museum website on grammymuseumexp.org, you can check out the virtual exhibit now, but yes, it was in our building.

We hosted it from October of 2, 2018 through June of 2019 and it's been retired at this point.

- So, let's do this.

What strikes me about Whitney Houston and honoring and remembering her is that her voice was extraordinary, but she also broke through very early on with her breakthrough album, if you will.

Where does Clive Davis come into the picture?

And, I don't even know if the term is "discovering her."

He didn't discover her.

She was discovered in the church in Newark in New Hope Baptist.

Go ahead.

- No, he was actually told about her.

He said, someone said, "You need to see this young woman."

And so he went to a club in New York and saw her.

So, at this point, she's in her early twenties, and that's when they decided, he knew, I mean he, obviously, Clive's got a great eye for talent and he saw it in Whitney as well and so they really developed it.

They made sure that they got the right songs, the right producers.

They wanted to wait until she was absolutely ready and it was really smart on their part not to get her out there too soon, but she was already working.

She was a backup singer.

She was doing sessions and doing club dates, but once he saw her, he knew he could take her to the next level and again, he was able to do that very successfully.

- What, okay, so, she breaks through, sells millions and millions of albums, early success, but continues to do great work, but what I'm curious about is her artistry and the way she evolved.

Where does, I know she was also a really good actress.

Where does that come into it?

- I think the thing that people don't realize is, a couple things about Whitney.

First, obviously, her voice.

Her instrument was unearthly, really.

Her control, her breath control, her power, her tone, but the thing that probably took her to the next level was the, she was a very beautiful woman.

That certainly didn't hurt her, but she had an amazing charm and charisma- - Stage presence.

I'm sorry for interrupting.

Stage, strong stage, great stage presence.

- Great presence, great visually, everything about her, and so, even when she was young, she would be acting out TV shows and movies and scenes like that.

So, it carried itself over naturally to her being in the movies and being very, very successful at it.

I mean, "The Bodyguard," to this day, we've had screenings in the museum of "The Bodyguard" when we had the exhibit there, and the number of people that showed up were to relive it in that space, they still, it's really one of those movies, I think, that if you grew up, especially in the nineties, that it's part of your, it's part of the fabric of your childhood.

- In terms of musical history legacy, Whitney Houston tragically dies at, I believe, 42 years of age, but her legacy just continued to grow and those who never even were, a lot were, weren't even alive when she was performing, singing the way she did, being the entertainer that she was, the artist that she was.

Her legacy lives on because, Mark?

- I think when someone touches you that deeply musically, it's hard to, it never really gets out of your blood.

I, I'll tell you, we did a summer camp this, just last month for high school singers, songwriters, rappers- - In Newark?

In Newark?

- In Newark at the museum and one of the young women, her name is Gabby, she's 16 years old, she, during one of the breaks, she's walking around and she gets to our "New Jersey Legend" section where we had everybody from Bruce and Bon Jovi, et cetera, and she sees Whitney's dress and her Grammy and she can't process.

She went, "Is this real or are these props?"

And we, "No, those are really artifacts."

And I thought she was going to, I mean, she could see her getting visibly shaken 'cause the fact that she could create music in a space where something of Whitney was, and I thought she was probably only about six years old- - Wow.

- When Whitney passed away, but to see that kind of reaction from a young woman who obviously was not, you know, aware of her, you know, until more recently, that really says something.

That's where you get to people like "The Beatles."

It has a different level that generation after generation will still be discovering her.

It's not just the people who were alive when she was doing it in her prime.

- You know, so much of the talk about Whitney Houston, the movies about Whitney Houston, the documentaries about Whitney Houston, focus on how she died, the circumstances of her death, the tragic nature of it, all relevant, but the focus should be much more on how she lived and how she sang and how she brought joy to millions and millions of people across the globe.

Fair to say?

- Yeah, and I think that the people who live here, the people who live in Newark and around us, they know that she had her personal failings, like all people do, but they see beyond that and I think it's somewhat like you see a family member who has personal failings, but you also know how great they were as a person on the other side of it.

That's how people remember her here and that's why, when we had that exhibit, people came in very, you'd see people get very emotional just being around her artifacts and that's because that's how we see her here.

We see her as family and she's part of that royalty, as you said, with Sissy and Dee Dee and Dionne, and that she's part of that lineage as well.

Hey, listen, Mark, thank you for joining us on "Remember Them" and we'll try to bring at least our short, mini version of the reasons, the many reasons to remember and honor Whitney Houston, to a larger audience.

Thanks so much.

She represented you very, very well.

And I am asking for her legacy.

Whitney still lives, and the core of Whitney is right here because this is where her family is.

This is the Garden State.

She's laid to rest here, right here in New Jersey.

Remember her.

Love her.

Continue to build her legacy.

Represent her the way she represented you.

So Remember Them remembers.

Jacqui, who are we remembering And what does it have to do with Patti LaBelle?

- Well, we're remembering Sarah Dash, she was one of the three women as part of Labelle, the group Labelle along with Nona Hendryx.

And I had the great privilege of being able to interview Nona Hendryx about Sarah Dash.

The two of them met in Trenton, both born and raised there, and sang in two different choirs, but their lives crossed paths, and they never diverted from one another after that.

Still up until Sarah passed away last year in 2000, actually in, yeah, in 2021.

And even up until then, Sarah, Nona Hendryx, Miss Patti LaBelle, still all continually talked to each other, connected with each other.

- Did they stick together?

- They stuck together in their own ways as a family.

Nona said that they were all kind of like sisters.

And it was only two days before she passed unexpectedly, Sarah, that she was attending Miss Patty LaBelle's concert in Atlantic City and called her up on stage and they sang together.

- Saw that video.

- And that was her last performance with Patti LaBelle.

And I got the chance- - And then the Hall of Fame.

Jacqui, put the Hall of Fame context in there, right?

I'm sorry.

- Right, right.

And so then right after that, she passed away but a month before the New Jersey Hall of Fame let her know that they were inducting her into the Hall of Fame, and she was so thrilled, so excited, so honored and humbled.

And they put together a video with Nona Hendryx and with Patti LaBelle.

And, that video was put together prior to her passing.

And with their blessing, the family's blessing, they still aired that because at that time in 2021, we were still kind of in the pandemic so they were doing everything virtual.

So you'll see at the end of my interview with Nona Hendryx we get to see Sarah Dash talking about winning the award or being inducted into the Hall of Fame, rather, and what that meant to her.

So hearing straight from her is really powerful at the end of that interview.

- So this is an interview with Nona Hendryx talking about an extraordinary person who we need to remember, Sarah Dash.

And one of the best parts about this is, it's Jacqui Tricarico doing the interview.

Let's check it out.

A Trenton native, Sarah Dash, started by singing gospel but quickly turned to pop singing in a group with fellow Trentonian Nona Hendryx called the Del Capris.

A move to Philadelphia brought them into a quartet as a new group The Blue Belles.

Four became three, and along with Patti LaBelle, they signed with Warner Brothers and became LaBelle.

The funk rock fashion goddesses of Lady Marmalade fame sold out the world over, including New York's Metropolitan Opera House, the first black group to perform there.

After leaving LaBelle in 1977, Sarah went solo and for the next four decades, released songs that became club standards, including her top ten dance hit Sinner Man.

And she lent her soaring voice to artists from Wilson Pickett to Keith Richards and the Expensive Winos.

A member of the Grammy Hall of Fame, she served as Trenton's music ambassador to the world.

- Hi, I'm Jacqui Tricarico.

Welcome to Remember Them.

And we are so thrilled right now to be joined by singer, songwriter, author and actress Miss Nona Hendryx.

She was part of the singing trio, LaBelle, along with Miss Patti LaBelle and Sarah Dash, and Ms. Hendryx.

we're just so honored to have you join us today to talk about Sarah Dash.

- Right.

Thank you.

I'm happy to be here and happy to share memories of Sarah, myself, and Patti if we get to the two of us, but Sarah specifically.

- Yeah.

And, and that history with Miss Sarah Dash.

Can you talk about that?

It was Trenton, right?

Trenton, New Jersey where you both grew up, were in two different singing choirs but ultimately came together.

Talk about that first meeting with her and kind of how the band how the three of you ended up getting together.

- Well, it was, it was a long time ago, so my memory's gonna be fuzzy with the, with the exception that the reason I'm sitting here today is because Sarah's church I think, came to visit our church and maybe the choir that she was in came to visit our church and there was a different choir singing and I happened to be singing in the junior choir at my church with my two sisters.

And after the program, Sarah and I were talking and I didn't know Sarah, she lived in a different part of town, went to a different church and a different school in fact.

So she asked me about singing in this local group that she was in, or she told me about it with a friend of ours, James, who I knew and Sandra Tucker and a couple of other singers.

And I said, it sounds like fun to do.

It was not something that I expected to do in my life but it sounds like fun.

So I said yes, and she invited me to the first rehearsal and quickly we became, I became a member of The Del Capris and The Del Capris I think we had a couple of shows in local probably bars or venues in Trenton, New Jersey at the time.

And one specifically, my brother had a bar and he let us come and sing there.

And that was the beginning.

- The beginning of a extremely long road ahead with you and Sarah always at each other's side, right.

And things progressed and things evolved within the group.

And then meeting Miss Patti LaBelle, talk about that evolution.

- Well, we were, you know, doing our few shows that we did as Del Capris in Trenton and through Sandra's mother who knew of Mr. Montague, who was a manager of artists in Philadelphia.

We were introduced to Mr. Montague and Mr. Montague managed quite a few different artists.

And one of the artists that was a part of another group called the The Ordettes, with Cindy Birdsong, who was from Camden, he was looking for a girl group to record or re-record or represent a song that was called "I Sold My Heart to the Junk Man".

And out of the different members of the different groups, myself, Sarah, Patti and Cindy became the Bluebelles.

- Right.

The Bluebelles.

And then from there I know then it, it things transcribed, things happened.

And then it was LaBelle with you, Sarah and Patti.

And, and I know you've talked about Sarah kind of being the glue of the group over the years.

Talk about that and, and Sarah's overall just impact on, on LaBelle's and you personally as well as Miss Patti LaBelle.

- Well, starting with the fact that I, as I said, I wouldn't be sitting here today if Sarah hadn't, you know, made that invitation for me to join this local group.

So that's the first of the glue that Sarah was for us.

And, and then that we were together when Cindy left to join The Supremes in I think 66, 67, I can't remember.

And, and so we stayed together.

We decided there would just be the three of us because we felt we could continue.

And it was really important that as we evolved from The Bluebelles to Patti LaBelle and The Bluebelles, because there was a group in France called The Bluebells, a dance Troop.

So we couldn't have the name if we wanted to work in Europe.

So we became Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles.

And from there our transition or transformation into LaBelle, in from 69 to 70, was really the catalyst was Vicki Wickham who was a Director of a television, producer of a television show that we were on in England.

And part of the reason that we were successful is that we toured Europe very early on.

So Sarah was very, very much, you know, the fact that we, the three of us became this almost like one person because we shared so much time together.

And Sarah was always kind of I guess the mediator between myself and Patti because Patti was really much more sort of immediate and really responding to, you know her feelings and what was going on.

And I was much more evasive and methodical thinker about you know, well if we do this, we should do that.

And so then Sarah was always the person to go look sit through what it was that we were thinking about and wanting to do.

And have, you know, became sort of the conduit between Patti and myself.

- And I'm sure there's just been so many memories that you cherish with Sarah, with, with Patti, during those years.

But what are some of your top memorable moments?

Cuz I know, you know, you the group was known as the Sweethearts of the Apollo Theater for a while, correct?

- Yes.

We, we played the Apollo so often and we were so successful with that really, really tough Apollo audience that we were named the Sweethearts of the Apollo and appeared on an album that was called Sweethearts of the Apollo.

And you know, that was a big moment in our lives as the Bluebelles, and then as opening for the Rolling Stones on their first tour of America.

That was a big moment for us as the Bluebelles because we were exposed to an audience that would not have, I don't think, heard of us.

And we put, traveled with the Stones to different shows around the country and then you know, the, the next, you know, having been on Bandstand and being introduced to America as well.

So there were, there were these highlights and then going as, as we transitioned into LaBelle opening for The Who on their tour because we were working with the same management company.

And then, you know, the records and as LaBelle and the growing popularity and then playing the Metropolitan Opera House as the probably the only female group of color.

There's been a few other pop artists who played the Met in New York, that was a, you know, The We Are Something Silver Tour starting at the Met was a really, really sort one of the maybe the pinnacle, other than Lady Marmalade as the.

- That's what I was gonna bring up next Lady Marmalade.

I mean, did you think that song would transcend over time like it has, it's still just, one of those songs that everybody still knows?

- No, not at all.

(both laugh) We didn't, you know, that was, we just loved the song when Bob Crewe played it for us.

And we, we didn't know what the phrase meant because none of us spoke French and, but we absolutely learned, and, and no, we didn't know that we, as, had the, the legs that it has and still has.

And I think some, another artist is about to do another you know, update version.

- (Singigng) Hey Sister, go Sister, souls Sister, go Sister.

- (Singigng) Hey Sister, soul Sister, go Sister, soul Sister.

- And, you know, Sarah was inducted last year into the New Jersey Hall of Fame and prior to her passing is when you, Sarah herself, created this video to be run during the induction of the Hall of Fame because it was still virtual then because of Covid.

And unfortunately it was within that month before that she passed away.

But the New Jersey Hall of Fame still, with the blessing of the family, was able to run that video and hear directly from Sarah, which we're gonna hear at the end of this interview as well.

But how important was that to Sarah, that recognition and just overall her work in Trenton?

- Oh, it was really, you know, I'd say one of the, the highlights or real, maybe even for Sarah, the pinnacle in a way of her, her work as an artist and then as a, an individual because we ran our separate ways in 77, 78.

So Sarah had her solo career.

She had built, you know, her own legacy.

And part of that legacy was when returning to Trenton and getting involved with the youth there, working with the Mayor, working with the, I think with the Governor on different things and being involved in so many aspects in Trenton.

And that was really, that became almost, you know, equal importance for Sarah as it was being a member of LaBelle.

And she made sure that she, that, you know, she used that notoriety or celebrity to help others and do good and let people know that two thirds of LaBelle came from Trenton, New Jersey and that we were very proud of, of our home.

- And it, like you said, you, everybody kind of split their own ways but you all ended up coming back together at different parts in your life.

Sarah singing up on stage with Miss Patti LaBelle just two nights before her untimely passing.

But I know it was just so important for you all to continue to be with each other.

And Miss.

Hendryx, thank you so much for joining us and helping us honor Miss Sarah Dash and we'd really like to leave you right now with Sarah's own words from her acceptance speech at the New Jersey Hall of Fame.

Thank you so much.

I am so thankful to be a part of the New Jersey Hall of Fame.

It means very much to me, means so much to me.

And I'm going to get my gitchy ya ya gagas by telling you that if it wasn't for Patti LaBelle and the BlueBelles and LaBelle, I would not be sitting here tonight.

Studying music has been a very important part to me, being a music and arts ambassador for the city of Trenton, means more.

So you know, I'm inspired by the work that I've done with the Trenton Makes Music, but most of all, this is the best one yet.

The induction.

I just want to say thank you again for all of your support and love.

And for those who have come behind me, keep trying.

Thank you.

And God bless you.

- [Narrator] One on One with Steve Adubato has been a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by PSE&G, NJM Insurance Group.

RWJBarnabas Health.

The New Jersey Education Association.

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

Prudential Financial.

New Jersey Institute of Technology.

And by The Russell Berrie Foundation.

Promotional support provided by New Jersey Globe.

And by New Jersey Monthly.

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