HENDRYX’S STAR RIDING ON ‘FEMALE TROUBLE’

If Tina Turner had made the album “Female Trouble,” it might well be on its way to the top of the pop charts.

But Nona Hendryx made “Female Trouble.” So, despite its high quality, this rock/R&B; album, just out on EMI Records, is struggling for attention.

You’re forgiven if you’ve never heard of Hendryx. Though she was a member of LaBelle, the trend-setting rock/R&B; vocal group, in the ‘60s and ‘70s, lead singer Patti LaBelle got all the glory. Now, Hendryx, a 42-year-old black singer, is treading on Turner’s turf--she’s even called, in some circles, a minor-league Tina Turner.

“I’m not trying to copy Tina or steal anything from her,” Hendryx explained. “I’ve been in this musical area for years and years, long before Tina became a solo star.”

Like Turner, Hendryx, sings rock-oriented R&B; in a seething, guttural style. Their personas are even similar: Hendryx, too, wears spiked hair and comes on like a haughty tigress.

Yet, the similarity ends there.

Turner is a superstar with million-selling albums and headlines sold-out tours; Hendryx has been struggling, bouncing from record company to record company in the last decade. While her albums seemed good enough to captivate the pop audience, none did.

“Female Trouble”--Hendryx’s first album for EMI Records-- is one of those “event” albums. Several star producers, including Dan Hartman, worked on it. So did several stars, such as Peter Gabriel, George Clinton and Mavis Staples. On the single, “Why Should I Cry Baby for You,” most of the musical support is provided by former Time members Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis and Jerome Benton.

Why has Hendryx, generally recognized as a talented singer-songwriter, been unable to get a commercial hit? She contended that at her former label, RCA Records, a shuffle of executives cost her the record company’s support. But another, continuing problem, she pointed out, is that her style doesn’t easily fit radio formats.

“It’s been too black for pop radio and too white for black radio,” she explained. Even Tina Turner’s success with a similar style hasn’t made radio more receptive to Hendryx’s music.

But, Hendryx added, that may change:

“The radio formats, both pop and black, have been stretching in the past year. On both formats you hear music that you wouldn’t have heard a year or two ago. Maybe I’ll fit into the formats this time.”

When LaBelle folded in 1977, Hendryx, the group’s primary composer, recalled it was like “the end of a marriage, or being hit by a bomb.”

“I thought we’d go on forever,” she continued. “I thought we’d be like the Andrews Sisters. I wasn’t ready for it to end.”

LaBelle was formed in Hendryx’s hometown of Trenton, N.J., in 1960. At first, it was LaBelle, Hendryx, Sara Dash and Cindy Birdsong, but Birdsong left in 1968 and later became a member of the Supremes.

Originally called Patti LaBelle and the Blue Belles, LaBelle started as a standard R&B; vocal unit but, inspired by the social turbulence of the early ‘70s, evolved into a something unique.

“We were influenced by people like Sly & the Family Stone and Jimi Hendrix,” Hendryx said. “There was no other female group like ours. The others were strictly in R&B.; But we had a rock audience. We were singing about social issues and not about standard love relationships.”

The group thrived until lead singer LaBelle wanted out 10 years ago. “She was married, she had a baby. Sara and I were single and we couldn’t relate to what was happening to her. We drifted in different directions.”

“After the split there were hard feelings for a long time. But we eventually made up.”

Hendryx’s biggest achievement in the last 10 years has been singing backups with David Byrne’s adventurous rock band, Talking Heads, in the early ‘80s. Though she fondly recalls the Talking Heads experience, it didn’t help her reclaim her star status. This “Female Trouble” album, however, might do it. If not, you probably won’t be seeing too many more Hendryx albums.

“I don’t want to be 50 years old trying to get a hit single,” she said. “Even if this album is a hit, I won’t be doing this for too many more years. I don’t want to embarrass myself. You have to know when to quit.”