Lady Marmalade

"Lady Marmalade" is a song written by Bob Crewe and Kenny Nolan. It became a popular hit in 1975, recorded by the American girl group Labelle. The song is famous for its sexually suggestive chorus of "Voulez-vous coucher avec moi (ce soir)?", which translates into English as "Do you want to sleep with me (tonight)?" Labelle held the number-one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for one week, and also topped the Canadian RPM national singles chart.

The song has had many cover versions over the years. In 1998, girl group All Saints released a cover of the song that peaked at number one on the UK Singles Chart. The 2001 version by singers Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mýa, and Pink, recorded for the Moulin Rouge! soundtrack was a number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 for 5 weeks. "Lady Marmalade" was also a song to reach number one by two different musical acts in America.

Labelle version

Background and release

Labelle's version of "Lady Marmalade" was produced by Allen Toussaint and Vicki Wickham. It was released on August 3, 1974 as the first single from the album Nightbirds. The song was inspired by Bob Crewe's first-hand observations of New Orleans. After it was first recorded by Kenny Nolan's group Eleventh Hour in 1974, on Eleventh Hour's Greatest Hits LP, Labelle's producer Allen Toussaint decided to record it for Nightbirds. Patti LaBelle sang lead vocals on "Lady Marmalade" with backing vocals being contributed by band mates Nona Hendryx and Sarah Dash. The song's chorus, "Voulez-vous coucher avec moi (ce soir)?", appeared previously in the play A Streetcar Named Desire, uttered by the promiscuous Blanche DuBois. Lyrically, "Lady Marmalade" is about a prostitute. Patti LaBelle, the lead female vocal of the band, expressed that, "I didn't know what it was about. Nobody, I swear this is God's truth, nobody told me what I'd just sung a song about."

Christina Aguilera

Christina María Aguilera (born December 18, 1980) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. In the early 1990s, she appeared on television series Star Search and The Mickey Mouse Club. In 1998, Aguilera signed with RCA Records and recorded her self-titled debut album, which was released in 1999. The album was a commercial success in the United States, spawning three U.S. Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles—"Genie in a Bottle", "What a Girl Wants", and "Come On Over Baby (All I Want Is You)", and helped Aguilera win the Grammy Award for Best New Artist. In 2000, RCA released Aguilera's Spanish-language album Mi Reflejo and holiday-theme album My Kind of Christmas. Her 2002 fourth studio album, Stripped, ventured into various genres including hip hop, Latin, and rock, and won a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for its second single "Beautiful".

Aguilera's 2006 fifth studio album, Back to Basics, was inspired by blues, soul, and jazz music of the 1920s-40s. The album peaked at number one on record charts of thirteen countries and won a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for its first single "Ain't No Other Man". In 2010, RCA released Aguilera's electronic-influenced album, Bionic, which failed to match the success of her previous albums; later that year, she starred in the film Burlesque. The following year, Aguilera was featured on Maroon 5's top-ten single "Moves like Jagger" and became an original coach on the U.S. television series The Voice, having since appeared on five of its nine seasons. Her 2012 seventh studio album, Lotus, became the lowest-selling album of her career. However, she later experienced rehabilitated commercial success in 2013, being featured on the top-ten singles "Feel This Moment" and "Say Something", which won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance.

Lil' Kim

Kimberly Denise Jones (born July 11, 1974 or July 11, 1975), known by her stage name Lil' Kim, is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, model, and actress. She was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, living much of her adolescent life on the streets after being expelled from home. In her teens, Jones would freestyle rap, heavily influenced by actress/singer Diana Ross, and fellow female hip-hop artists like MC Lyte and The Lady of Rage. Performing a freestyle rap for The Notorious B.I.G. got her music career start in 1995 with his group Junior M.A.F.I.A., whose debut album Conspiracy generated three hit singles.

Lil' Kim's debut studio album, Hard Core (1996) was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and spawned three consecutive No. 1 rap hits: "No Time", "Not Tonight (Ladies Night remix)", and "Crush on You", a record for a female rapper. Her following albums, The Notorious K.I.M. (2000) and La Bella Mafia (2003), were certified Platinum, making her the only female rapper besides Missy Elliott to have at least 3 platinum albums. She was featured on the single "Lady Marmalade", which also had guest vocals by fellow recording artists Mýa, Pink and Christina Aguilera (a remake of the 1975 smash hit, originally recorded by LaBelle) which went to No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, making her the second female rapper to have a No. 1 on that chart after Lauryn Hill. In addition, the remake won two MTV Video Music Awards including Video of the Year, and a Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals at the 44th Grammy Awards in 2002. In 2005, she served a yearlong prison sentence for lying to a jury about her friends' involvement in a shooting four years earlier. During her incarceration, her fourth album The Naked Truth was released. She returned to the public eye in 2009 with an appearance on Dancing with the Stars.

MTV Movie Awards

The MTV Movie Awards is a film awards show presented annually on MTV. The nominees are decided by producers and executives at MTV. Winners are decided online by the general public. Presently voting is done through MTV's official website through a special Movie Awards link at movieawards.mtv.com. The most recent award show took place on April 12, 2015. Winners are presented with the "golden popcorn" statue, made by New York firm, Society Awards.

Production process

Unlike its sister event MTV Video Music Awards (which are broadcast live), the MTV Movie Awards (up to 2007) were taped and then broadcast a few days later. The entire production was taped in a completely different order than what the MTV viewing audience saw. For example, the show's host would tape all his/her monologues and introductions at one time, and all the musical acts would perform one after the other. Celebrities would often only appear at the live taping for the announcement of their award category, and members of the general audience fill their vacant seats during the other times. Through editing, MTV was able to present to its viewing audience an awards show which appears to be taped in live sequence, with celebrities remaining for the entire show. This method of production allowed profanity to be edited from the show and also is more convenient for the celebrities. The actual live taping aired same-day on pay-per-view channels in most metropolitan cities around the world. Some awards telecasts had also been shown in television syndication. However, in 2007, this changed, as MTV and Survivor producer Mark Burnett (who took over duties from Joel Gallen for the 2007 awards) announced that the 2007 edition would be broadcast live on MTV for the first time on June 3, 2007 in Los Angeles.

2001 MTV Movie Awards

The 2001 MTV Movie Awards were held on June 2, 2001, and were hosted by Jimmy Fallon and Kirsten Dunst. The program featured performances from Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mýa and Pink (Moulin Rouge!), Dave Matthews Band and Weezer. Sofia Coppola was presented with an award for Best New Filmmaker. This was Aaliyah's last appearance at the Movie Awards before her death two months later in a plane crash in the Bahamas.

Performers

Presenters