Patti LaBelle's 1996 "This Christmas" Performance

Patti LaBelle, the great Patti LaBelle, sang at the ceremony for the 1996 Christmas tree lighting. She performed "This Christmas" and it is a sight to behold. Why? Because it's one of those performances that go so badly that, after a few years to laugh off the embarrassment, it becomes something immortal and incredible. And that's what happens here. She didn't have any backup singers during the performance, so she keeps yelling into the mic "where are my background singers!?" She doesn't know the words, so she tells the crowd she doesn't know the words and starts ad libbing. It's incredible. I mean, ad libbing a song, complaining AND singing fantastically, all at the same time? After watching this, it's 100% true that she could sing the phone book and have everybody jamming.