''Timeless Journey'' is the fifteenth studio album by American singer

Patti LaBelle Patricia Louise Holte (born May 24, 1944), known professionally as Patti LaBelle, is an American R&B singer, actress and businesswoman. LaBelle is referred to as the " Godmother of Soul". She began her career in the early 1960s as lead singe ...

. Her first release with Def Soul Classics (an R&B magnet of

Def Jam Recordings Def Jam Recordings (also simply known as Def Jam) is an American multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It is based in Manhattan, New York City, specializing predominantly in hip hop, contemporary R&B, soul and pop. The ...

), it was released on May 4, 2004 in the United States. One of her most commercially successful albums, it reached number five on the US ''Billboard''

Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated J ...

, also hitting the top 20 on the ''Billboard'' 200. ''Timeless Journey'' produced the singles "New Day" and "2 Steps Away".

Background

By 2002, Patti LaBelle had been with

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc., which later became part of Universal Music Group. Pre-history MCA Inc., a powerful talent agency and a television production company, entered the recorded music business in 1962 wit ...

for seventeen years. The label had helped to increase LaBelle's popularity with both pop and R&B audiences resulting in 2 platinum album and four subsequent gold-selling follow-ups. However, LaBelle's last album with the label, 2000's solemnly-produced '' When a Woman Loves'' failed to generate a hit record or even go gold. In 2003, MCA Records was absorbed by

Geffen Records Geffen Records is an American record label established by David Geffen and owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M Records imprint. Founded in 1980, Geffen Records has been a part of Interscope Geffen A&M since 1999 and h ...

. As a result, LaBelle signed with

The Island Def Jam Music Group The Island Def Jam Music Group (IDJMG) was an American recording music unit, formed on New Year's Eve 1998 by the Universal Music Group. It consists of labels devised and consisted under the basic operations of Island Records and Def Jam Recordin ...

's Def Soul Classics division, joining

The Isley Brothers The Isley Brothers ( ) are an American musical group originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, that began as a vocal trio consisting of brothers O'Kelly Isley Jr., Rudolph Isley and Ronald Isley in the 1950s. With a career spanning over seven decades, ...

as the two first acts on Antonio "L.A." Reid's new Def Jam imprint. LaBelle went to work on her new album in 2003 and by 2004, LaBelle and Def Jam released ''Timeless Journey''. By the end of the year the album went gold with sales shipping past the 500,000 mark.

Release

Fueled by the release of LaBelle's first hit single in seven years, "New Day", the album eventually did well on the pop and R&B charts reaching number 18 on the former and number 5 on the latter. However, LaBelle and Def Jam fell into problems immediately after its release. Shortly after releasing 2005's ''Classic Moments'', LaBelle told reporters that she was "unceremoniously" kicked out of the label by Reid. After a public spat, Reid renegotiated a new contract with LaBelle in 2007 releasing a Christmas album. Though the album did go gold, it did receive some popularity. Five years later, the ballad "2 Steps Away", written by Philadelphia songwriter and friend Jon DeLise, was featured on ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Dancing with the Stars'' is the name of various international television series based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing'', which is distributed by BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the forma ...

''. Two Steps Away also aired multiple times on "So you think you can dance" among other network shows and was re-released on the Care for Haiti compilation with notable artists such as Wycleaf Jean and Natasha Beddingfield. The success of the song eventually helped it reach Billboard's Digital Singles chart, her first charted single on that chart. "New Day" topped the Billboard Hot Dance Songs chart in 2004.

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{Authority control 2004 albums Def Jam Recordings albums Patti LaBelle albums Albums produced by Babyface (musician)