Opening Remarks for Women of Soul: In Performance at the White House

Hello and welcome to the White House for the latest in our series celebrating the music that has shaped our American story. And as someone who always shares this house with brilliant, creative, talented, somewhat stubborn women, I think Women's History Month is the perfect time to honor a few more: the Women of Soul.

This is a really good lineup and I want to thank our performers for this evening. They are fantastic. We've got Tessanne Chin here. We've got Melissa Etheridge. We've got Aretha Franklin. We've got Ariana Grande. Miss Patti LaBelle. Janelle Monae. And Miss Jill Scott. I can't wait!

Finally, I want to make a quick public service announcement. When Aretha Franklin first walked into Fame Studio in 1967, most of the other musicians had never heard her sing live before. When they did, one of them said "The floors rumbled and the walls shook. My brain shook. It was magic." So my advice to everyone is simple: hang on. The queen of soul is in the building. If she blows your mind it will be okay.

But that's what soul music does. It makes us move and it makes us feel. To quote Jill Scott, "Soul music is about reaching and touching people on a human level." For many of the performers here tonight, it all began on Sunday morning. Growing up in Detroit, Aretha sang at her father's church recorded her first album at that church when she was just 14 years old. Patti LaBelle was painfully shy, I cannot believe that, but this what I have been told, until she sang a solo in front of the congregation and got a standing ovation. That's when she realized she could do something special. Aretha had already won 11 Grammy's by the time Janelle Monae was born, but as a teenager struggling to make it in New York, Janelle worked as a maid, singing for the other women as they cleaned houses together. And she says the experience inspired her to write music for people like them because they need it the most.

And ultimately that's what soul is all about, telling some truth. And tonight, we're in for a healthy dose of truth from some of the finest voices there are. So, without futher ado, I'd like to introduce a true American treasure, the one and only, Miss Patti LaBelle.