Early career Nona Bernis Hendryx, who is of
African American heritage, was born on October 9, 1944, in
Trenton, New Jersey. There, she met fellow New Jersey native
Sarah Dash and later met Philadelphia-born singer
Patricia Holte (Patti LaBelle). After a short-lived tenure as a member of the Del-Capris, Hendryx and Dash formed a singing group with Holte (once the lead singer of a girl group in Philadelphia called The Ordettes). In 1961,
Cindy Birdsong, from Camden, New Jersey, became the fourth member of the group, who became the Bluebelles and signed their first deal with Newtown Records. After the release of their debut hit, 1962's "I Sold My Heart to the Junkman", their name altered again to Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles. Hendryx's husky
alto differed from Dash's sharp
soprano, LaBelle's
mezzo-soprano and Birdsong's second
soprano. During this tenure, the group became known for their emotional live performances and their renditions of classic standards such as "
You'll Never Walk Alone", "
Over The Rainbow", and "
Danny Boy". which included guitarist Naux (China Shop, Richard Hell), bassist
Michael Allison (Darshan Ambient), guitarist Kevin Fullen and drummer Jimmy Allington. Simultaneously, she sang with experimental funk group
Material, achieving a giant club hit with "
Busting Out". She had two other major club hits soon after: a dance remake of
The Supremes' "Love Is Like an Itching in My Heart", and, in a lead vocal guest spot for the Cage, "Do What You Wanna Do". Material also produced her second album
Nona in 1983. The hip, contemporary dance sound of this album proved to be more charts-compatible, with the
disco music times, and the single "Keep It Confidential" becoming a modest
R&B hit written by Ellie Greenwich, Jeff Kent, Ellen Foley, and a remix of "B-boys" finding major success on the dance charts. "Transformation" became a Hendryx staple, and later was covered by
Fierce Ruling Diva. Another particularly noteworthy track on the album is the ballad "Design for Living", which featured guests
Laurie Anderson, Gina Shock of
The Go-Go's,
Valerie Simpson of
Ashford & Simpson,
Tina Weymouth of
Tom Tom Club and Talking Heads,
Nancy Wilson of
Heart, and former bandmate
Patti LaBelle. In the mid-1980s, Hendryx was recruited by RCA to record songs for various soundtracks, including the theme for
Moving Violations; "I Sweat (Going Through the Motions)", a commercial hit for Hendryx from the
Jamie Lee Curtis film
Perfect; and "Transparent" from the
Eddie Murphy vehicle,
Coming to America. Her album
The Art of Defense was released in 1984. In 1985, Hendryx wrote and recorded "Rock This House" with
Keith Richards from her album
The Heat. The song was nominated for a
Grammy Award for
Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female at the
28th Grammy Awards. Around this time, she became a member of the
Black Rock Coalition, founded by
Vernon Reid of
Living Colour. Hendryx took a detour from commercial music with
Skin Diver, a
new age record produced with long-time
Tangerine Dream member
Peter Baumann. The album generally was greeted with positive feedback from critics, but was commercially unsuccessful. The title track did attract some attention, as did "Women Who Fly", which later was covered by
Jefferson Starship. In addition to the duet-album
You Have to Cry Sometime with
Billy Vera in 1992 and a couple of compilation-only tracks, Hendryx has recorded more than five albums worth of music, but she has been unable to release any of it due to lack of interest from major and independent record labels. Her Epic, RCA and EMI albums have been out of print and only recently attracted the attention of specialist reissue
labels, but a greatest hits album titled
Transformation was released in 1999 by
Razor & Tie. Her 1977 debut solo album was issued for the first time on CD by the T-Bird imprint of the UK reissue label Cherry Red in the fall of 2010. UK R&B reissue label Funky Town Grooves released
The Heat on CD in late 2011, which included three bonus tracks. Funky Town Grooves announced plans to release both
Nona and
The Art of Defense in early 2012. Each CD is to include seven bonus tracks. Hendryx also dabbled in acting. She wrote and performed the theme for
Landlord Blues (1987), while also having a small part in the film as attorney Sally Viscuso. She played herself in the late-1990s
Pam Grier series ''Linc's
, and at the end of the show, accompanied herself on the piano for "Lift Every Voice". Most recently, she appeared in the third season of The L Word'', which closed with Grier, Hendryx, and the trio
BETTY singing a cover of the Hendryx track "Transformation". Hendryx has been involved in many musical collaborations, both for her vocals and her songwriting. One of her early collaborations was with
Jerry Harrison's (
Talking Heads)
The Red and the Black album in 1981. In 1992, she recorded a duet with Billy Crawford, "Urgently in Love". In 1998, she performed in the video of the rap hit "It's a Party" with
Bounty Killer. She has written songs for
Dusty Springfield and
Ultra Nate. She has produced albums for
Lisa Lisa and the
Bush Tetras. Other artists with whom she has recorded with over the years include
David Johansen,
Yoko Ono,
Cameo, Talking Heads (3 albums:
Remain in Light,
The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads and
Speaking in Tongues),
Garland Jeffreys,
Dan Hartman,
Afrika Bambaata (performing a duet of "Giving Him Something He Can Feel" with
Boy George),
Rough Trade,
Curtis Hairston, and
Graham Parker on "Soul Christmas". In the beginning of the current decade, Hendryx was asked to appear on two of
Paul Haslinger's albums. She sang lead vocals for two tracks "Higher Purpose" and "Beginning to End", featured on the soundtrack for the
Showtime series
Sleeper Cell.
Later career and Labelle reunions Hendryx still tours and has written music for the theatre, songs for the play with music
Blue.
Sandra St. Victor (The Family Stand) recruited daughters of famous African American soul/blues icons – including
Lalah Hathaway,
Simone, Indira Khan, and Leah McCrae – together with "spiritual daughters"
Joyce Kennedy,
Caron Wheeler, and Nona, to form the group Daughters of Soul, which has enjoyed much success, especially on the European tour circuit. Hendryx formed Rhythmbank, her own record label with
Bob Banks, in 2005. They signed and released several EPs and albums, the Showtime series Sleeper Cell, and a gospel album by protégé Najiyah Threatt. Since the breakup of Labelle, Patti, Sarah, and Nona have reunited on occasion. These reunions include Patti LaBelle's "Live in New York" video, the dance hit "Turn It Out" from the soundtrack
To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar (1995), and two television specials. In January 2006, Labelle again reunited to record "Dear Rosa", a tribute to civil rights leader
Rosa Parks. Labelle also performed the theme song for the soundtrack for the film
Preaching to the Choir, with Nona being the composer of the film's soundtrack. In late 2008, Labelle released their comeback album
Back to Now, and went on a successful concert tour that carried through the spring of 2009. Speaking in April 2009 to noted UK soul/R&B writer Pete Lewis of the award-winning
Blues & Soul, Hendryx discussed the background to Labelle reuniting for
Back to Now: "Well, there were lots of ongoing times when we'd discussed doing it. And a lot of it was really down to the fact that the fans were DEMANDING that we did it! But, rather than just going back and doing what we'd done in the past, we did want to be able to make an album of new music before coming back out together. And it was really once we'd recorded the song 'Dear Rosa', together that Patti finally became convinced that yes, we should make a new record and then go out and tour behind it. So I'd say basically our reunion was down to two things – pressure from the fans; plus Patti hearing a sound again that she loved and hadn't heard for many years." Hendryx has written a children's book titled
The Brownies. On May 27, 2010, Hendryx performed selections from
Skindiver, a sci-fi musical she is co-writing with Charles Randolph-Wright. The surprise show was at Busboys and Poets in Washington DC and sponsored by Arena Stage. Hendryx & Wright presented two late-night staged readings of
Skindiver at Arena Stage in 2011.,
Nina Persson and others at the Best Batch Yet tribute to
Captain BeefheartIn September 2012, Hendryx's digital-only album,
Mutatis Mutandis, received a CD release. To promote the album, Hendryx appeared on the BBC's
Later... with Jools Holland on 28 November 2012, where she performed two tracks, Let's Give Love A Try, and Temple Of Heaven (the latter only being available to watch online via
BBC iPlayer). In February 2013, she appeared as a special guest as part of The World of Captain Beefheart, a tribute concert arranged by Dutch radio presenter, Co de Kloet, and featuring
Gary Lucas with the 60 piece
Metropole Orchestra. Hendryx released several singles in 2016, including a collaboration with American DJ and production duo,
Soul Clap, which resulted in the single, Shine (This Is It). Shine (This Is It) was included on Soul Clap's self-titled album in October 2016, and an EP featuring different remixes of the track was released the following year. Hendryx also collaborated with guitarist,
Gary Lucas, that same year, which resulted in the album,
The World of Captain Beefheart, a collection of cover versions of songs by avant-garde artist
Captain Beefheart. In February 2018, Hendryx released an EP,
Keep Funkin, which was produced by Soul Clap, and featured contributions from
Nile Rogers and
Jason Miles. Hendryx also contributed vocals to another track, "Peel Back", produced by FSQ, which was included as a bonus track on digital versions of the Keep Funkin EP (as well as FSQ's own album in 2020). ==Personal life and activism==