This week in 1985, Patti LaBelle peaked at #41 on the Billboad Hot 100 with “Stir It Up,” from the Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack.

The Eddie Murphy comedy had opened in December 1984, but there was still enough steam left in Beverly Hills Cop to issue “Stir It Up” as the soundtrack’s fifth single the following June. Such a plan would be practically unheard of today, since films now move in and out of theaters in a matter of weeks, not months. (Well, that and the reality that soundtracks aren’t what they used to be, either.)

“Stir It Up” was the second tune from Beverly Hills Cop to feature LaBelle, following “New Attitude,” which reached #17 on the Hot 100 and #3 on the R&B chart. LaBelle’s involvement with the successful soundtrack essentially helped to launch her solo career, since the singer hadn’t had much luck following the 1977 breakup of Labelle, the funk-rock trio that bore her surname.

I liked “New Attitude” — its change-of-outlook message was irresisitble and the hair hat LaBelle often sported while promoting the song was nothing but amazing — but I really loved the effervescent “Stir It Up.” I played that 45 over and over again during the summer of 1985, and although “Stir It Up” unfortunately failed to arouse enough interest to crack the Top 40, LaBelle’s tune fared wildly better over on the R&B chart, peaking at #5.

The “Stir It Up” music video forgoes scenes from Beverly Hills Cop (already done to death in clips for previous soundtrack singles “The Heat Is On,” “Neutron Dance,” and “Axel F”), instead placing LaBelle and her band in a recording studio, which becomes party central by clip’s end.

Watching the clip and spotting no saxophonist in the studio, I thought I might have remembered the song wrong. But no, “Stir It Up” does indeed feature a sax break, it’s just that the guy’s playing up on the roof, alone.

In 2006, LaBelle re-recorded “Stir It Up” as a duet with Joss Stone for a soundtrack of a different feather, Disney’s Chicken Little. And in 2008, after three decades on her own, Patti reunited with Labelle and recorded a new album, Back To Now.

Purchase Patti LaBelle – “Stir It Up” via iTunes.