Darlene Love
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| Darlene Love | |
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| Born | July 26, 1941 Los Angeles, California |
Darlene Love (née Wright; born July 26, 1941) is an American popular music singer.
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[edit] Biography
Love began her singing with her local church choir. While still in high school (1959) she was invited to join a little-known "girl group" called The Blossoms, who in 1963 began working with producer Phil Spector. With her powerful voice she was soon a highly sought-after vocalist, and managed to work with many of the legends of 1950s and 1960s rock and soul, including Sam Cooke, Dionne Warwick, The Beach Boys, Elvis Presley, and Sonny and Cher; Darlene and the Blossoms sang back-up vocals on Shelley Fabares's hit, "Johnny Angel" as well as John Phillips' solo album John, Wolfking of L.A. recorded in 1969.
It's important to note that The Blossoms recorded singles - usually with little success throughout; Capitol 1957-58 (pre-Darlene Love), Challenge 1961-62, OKeh 1963, Reprise 1966-67, Ode 1967, MGM 1968, Bell 1969-70, Lion 1972.
With The Blossoms she also sang backing vocals on many of the biggest hits of the 1960s, including Spector's own "Da Doo Ron Ron" (allegedly recorded with her lead, which was later erased by Spector and re-recorded using Crystals' lead Dolores "LaLa" Brooks). Though credited by Spector as singles recorded by The Crystals, "He's A Rebel" and "He's Sure The Boy I Love" actually featured Love singing lead, backed by The Blossoms. "Today I Met The Boy I'm Gonna Marry" was released as a single by Spector, and featured Love's name as the artist. She was also part of a trio called Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans, who recorded a song in 1962, with their rendition of "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" from the Walt Disney film, Song of the South, which got into the top ten in 1963. The Blossoms landed a weekly part on Shindig!, one of the top music shows of the era. They were part of the highly acclaimed Elvis Presley's '68 Comeback Special, which aired on NBC.
Into the 1970s Love continued to work as a back-up singer, before taking a break in order to raise a family. In 1973, she recorded vocals as a cheerleader along with Michelle Phillips, for the Cheech & Chong single "Basketball Jones", which peaked at No.15 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.
Love returned to music in the early 1980s and to an appreciative audience she thought may have long since forgotten her. In addition to singing the songs that made her famous, she has re-explored her gospel roots on several recordings. In the mid-1980s she portrayed herself in the Tony Award-nominated jukebox musical Leader of the Pack, which featured the iconic rock and roll songs written by Ellie Greenwich, many of them for the young Love. The showstopping number of that show, "River Deep - Mountain High" had been recorded for Phil Spector by Ike & Tina Turner and had been less than the success they had expected. Leader of the Pack commenced as a review at the Greenwich Village nightclub the Bottom Line, as did the later show about Love's life, Portrait of a Singer, which never made the move uptown. Portrait included covers of "The Change Is Going to Come" and "Don't Make Me Over" as well as "River Deep, Mountain High" and original music written by some of the instrumental writers of early rock and roll, including Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil.
In the late 1980s and 1990s, Love also began an acting career, playing Danny Glover's wife in the four Lethal Weapon movies, and appeared on Broadway in Grease and in the short-lived musical adaptation of Stephen King's Carrie.
In 1990, Cher invited Love and her sister Edna Wright as her background vocalist for the Heart of Stone Tour.
[edit] Annual Christmas traditions
She continues to do a Christmas show every year in New York City, which is always capped by "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)." She originally recorded the song in 1963 for the album A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector. Love also performs the song every year, without fail, on the final new episode of the Late Show with David Letterman before Christmas. The song is always performed with Paul Shaffer and the CBS Orchestra, with the band being augmented by additional strings and other instruments, as well as a full choir. Love first performed the song on Late Night with David Letterman in 1986. Letterman has stated that the annual performance is his favorite part of Christmas. Due to the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike, Love was unable to perform on the Letterman show in 2007;[1] instead a repeat of her 2006 performance was shown.
On Monday, December 17, 2007 Love performed her annual "Love for the Holidays" concert in the Rose Theater at Frederick P. Rose Hall - The Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center, Broadway at 60th Street in New York City.
[edit] Other work
Love sang "All Alone on Christmas" in 1992 backed by the majority of the E-Street Band, which was featured in the films Home Alone 2: Lost In New York and Love Actually. She was a special guest on the December 17, 2005, broadcast of Saturday Night Live, singing "White Christmas" with the SNL band and providing the vocals for a Robert Smigel cartoon, "Christmastime for the Jews."
Love starred as Motormouth Maybelle in Broadway's Hairspray until April, 2008. She was the musical guest on Late Show with David Letterman on May 7, 2007, performing "River Deep-Mountain High". Love released the holiday collection "It's Christmas, Of Course", featuring her versions of classic yuletide tunes from the '70s and '80s, on October 2, 2007.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Darlene Love at the Internet Movie Database
- Darlene Love at the Internet Broadway Database
- "Christmas Time for the Jews" Darlene Love - SNL 2005
- Darlene Love sings "Christmas" on the Late Show
- History-of-Rock
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