>> this week on "talk to al jazeera", singer / songwriter and artist nona hendryx. >> taking risks, sometimes it's, you know, doing that, i find something that didn't exist for me. or i can create something that nobody else will. >> she's best know for being one third of the famed group labelle. lady marmalade was their biggest hit. but it was just one of many that topped the charts. she grew up in new jersey, influenced by gospel music. she was the creative force behind much of labelles's success. >> it always comes, the melody lyric come together. i wrote the songs that are-- like-- going down to your river-- system, candlelight, can i speak to you before you go to hollywood? i believe i finally made it home. >> when labelle broke up, hendryx, always seen as the risk taker of the three, struck out on her own, developing a new identity as a soloist. >> i always wrote with pat's voice in my head for the lead of a song that i was writing. and now i had to hear my voice doing it. >> early in her career hendryx used her art to support activist causes. as a self described bisexual she focused on

we caught up with nona hendryx at the sol studio in harlem. >> your exhibition, transformation: the beautiful cruelty of time and distance. tell us about that name. what does it mean? >> well, transformation has been a word that's been associated with me for a long time. and from the first being transformation, the recording-- that i made, a single. and i performed it over the years and it's also just been a part of my life because i've constantly been transforming myself. and it is a transformation where i'm do, going in, back to visual art-- from music. but also integrating music into the visual art as well as painting and assemblage. and it, so it s-- fits what i'm doing. the beautiful cruelty of time and distance is that that is what it takes for transformation to happen. >> you said you were going back to the visual arts. is that--. >> yes. >> where you began? >> that's where i-- well, from my school, in school. that's where, that's the thing that i was focused on. i had no intentions of singing. (laugh) it was--. >> you didn't? >> no. >> well, how did that come about? >> no. sarah dash

>> this week on "talk to al jazeera", singer / songwriter and artist nona hendryx. >> taking risks, sometimes it's, you know, doing that, i find something that didn't exist for me. or i can create something that nobody else will. >> she's best know for being one third of the famed group labelle. lady marmalade was their biggest hit. but it was just one of many that topped the charts.

. >> this week on "talk to al jazeera", singer / songwriter and artist nona hendryx. >> taking risks, sometimes it's, you know, doing that, i find something that didn't exist for me. or i can create something that nobody else will. >> she's best know for being one third of the famed group labelle. lady marmalade was their biggest hit. but it was just one of many that topped the charts. she grew up in new jersey, influenced by gospel music. she was the creative force

. >> this week on "talk to al jazeera", singer / songwriter and artist nona hendryx. >> taking risks, sometimes it's, you know, doing that, i find something that didn't exist for me. or i can create something that nobody else will. >> she's best know for being one third of the famed group labelle. lady marmalade was their biggest hit.

. >> this week on "talk to al jazeera", singer / songwriter and artist nona hendryx. >> taking risks,ometimes it's, you know, doing that, i find something that didn't exist for me. or i can create something that is i can create something that biggest hit. but it was just one of many that topped the charts. she grew up in new jersey, influenced by gospel music.

aljazeera.com nona hendryx. >> taking risks, sometimes it's, you know, doing that, i find something that didn't exist for me. or i can create something that nobody else will. >> she's best know for being one third of the famed group labelle. lady marmalade was their biggest hit. but it was just one of many that topped the charts. she grew up in new jersey, influenced by gospel music. sh