Patti LaBelle Says Tupperware Is ‘Very Important’ to Her — and Elton John Never Gave Hers Back

The “Lady Marmalade” singer recalled John working as her “piano player” before he became famous, and she sent him home one night with some food

When Patti LaBelle lends out her Tupperware, she expects to get it back.

In a new interview on Sherri, the “Lady Marmalade” singer, 80, recalled working with Elton John before his career took off and once giving him a set of Tupperware filled with food to take home — but he never returned the container.

“He was my piano player in London. For about a year. Bluesology [John’s first band], his [birth] name was Reginald Dwight, right? That was him right back in the day,” said LaBelle. “So we played cards a lot, honey. I took all their pounds. All their money. I had to feed him then because they didn’t have any pounds. No money to eat, right?”

The Grammy winner said she’d bring the Bluesology members to her “flat,” where they’d hang out with her LaBelle bandmates Nona Hendryx, Sarah Dash and Cindy Birdsong. “We’d play cards, and I won, and they had no food,” she told host Sherri Shepherd. “So I made them food to take home in my Tupperware.”

“My Tupperware is very important to me. I don’t give it out — and my shopping bags,” continued LaBelle. “So, I gave them some food to take back home, and they never paid me back.”

She’s brought it up to John on numerous occasions. “I said to Elton, ‘I want my durn Tupperware.’ Here’s the deal, he calls me about two years later,” said the “On My Own” artist. “He said, ‘Patti, please come to my show tonight. So I said who are you opening for?’ He said, ‘I’m Elton John now.’ I said, ‘Ain’t that a witch.’ He made it before I did, right?”

Years later, LaBelle and John collaborated on a new version of his classic hit “Your Song” for her 2005 Classic Moments album. Around the same time, they performed together at his Red Piano residency in Las Vegas — and revisited the Tupperware conversation.

“And he took his rings off and put them on the piano. When we finished, I said, ‘Elton there’s your rings.’ He said, ‘That’s your Tupperware,'” she recalled, noting that the ring, which she still has, is “beautiful.”

At this point, Labelle is over the Tupperware loss. “And guess what? I don’t want it. I’d rather have that ring,” she quipped.

The “New Attitude” icon previously told the story on Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ podcast Wiser Than Me last year and claimed she “never” wears the ring because “it’s so manly” — but still considers John a “good friend.”

Next month, LaBelle will embark on The Queens Tour alongside Chaka Khan, Gladys Knight and Stephanie Mills. Kicking off May 9 in Las Vegas, the tour will make 20 stops at arenas throughout North America and wrap Oct. 5 in Cleveland.

“I am so excited to join these icons, who I call sisters, on this tour! It’s going to be something special. And I can’t wait to see everyone there,” said LaBelle in a statement.