20. The Blue Belles – I Sold My Heart to the Junkman (1962)
Her breakthrough hit with pop and doo-wop quartet the Blue Belles (also Patti LaBelle and the Blue Belles, plus various other spellings) was mired in controversy – there’s a school of thought that says the most often heard version doesn’t actually feature LaBelle or the Blue Belles at all. But let’s go with what it says on the label and delight in the sheer post-Please Mr Postman early-60s girl-group joy of the whole enterprise.
