Darlene Love


Darlene Wright, known by her stage name, Darlene Love, is an American popular music singer and actress. She is ranked number 84 among Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Singers. In 2011 she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
As a minister's daughter, she grew up listening to gospel music and was a dedicated member of her church. She began singing in her church choir at age ten. During choir practice she caught the attention of choir director Cora Martin-Moore. After singing for Martin she was asked to go to the Music Mart where she sang and did some broadcasts; Love's career began there. As it was her first musical experience, it was also the main influence for her to pursue a music career. Those who knew her described her vocals as "a voice of a nightingale." She claimed, " the choir was a big influence on my life. I call it my learning ground. Singing in the choir, I learned harmony."
As an actress, she is perhaps best remembered for playing Roger Murtaugh's wife in the Lethal Weapon film series.

Early career

Love was born Darlene Wright on July 26, 1941 in Los Angeles, California to Ellen Maddox and Reverend Joe Wright. Her sister Edna grew up to be the lead singer of the group Honey Cone. She grew up in South Los Angeles, long before the racial tension, crime and violence for which the area later became infamous had taken over the community. Love later remembered the Los Angeles of her childhood as "a city that existed mostly in people's imaginations…. But for us, Los Angeles had nothing to do with movie stars or stubbly, hard-drinking gumshoes trying to piece together broken dreams after hours. For us, Los Angeles was contained in about 20 blocks, bookended on one side by our projects and playgrounds and on the other by church."
Love began singing with her local church choir in Hawthorne, California. While still in high school she also sang with the Echoes, a mixed gender doo-wop group. She was then invited to join a little-known girl group called the Blossoms, who in 1962 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, Bill Medley, the Beach Boys, Elvis Presley, Tom Jones and Sonny and Cher; Darlene and the Blossoms sang backup for Sharon Marie , as well as John Phillips' solo album John, Wolfking of L.A., recorded in 1969. They also appeared on Johnny Rivers' hits, including "Poor Side of Town" "Baby I Need Your Loving" and "The Tracks of My Tears".
The single "He's a Rebel" was hurriedly released by Spector in November 1962 by having the Blossoms record the track in order to get his version of the Gene Pitney song onto the market before that of Vikki Carr. The single "He's a Rebel" was credited to the Crystals, but actually featured Love singing lead for the first time on a Phil Spector recording. The ghost release of this single came as a total surprise to the Crystals who were an experienced and much traveled girl harmony group in their own right, but they were nevertheless required to perform and promote the new single on television and on tour as if it were their own.
With the Blossoms, Love contributed backing vocals behind many of the biggest hits of the 1960s including the Ronettes' "Be My Baby", Shelley Fabares' "Johnny Angel", Bobby "Boris" Pickett's "Monster Mash", Frank Sinatra's version of "That's Life", and the Crystals' "Da Doo Ron Ron". As a solo artist, Love also contributed backing vocals to the Ronettes' "Baby, I Love You".
She was also part of a trio called Bob B. Soxx & the Blue Jeans, who recorded Spector's version of "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah", an Oscar-winning song from the 1946 Walt Disney film Song of the South, which got into the Top 10 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.
"Christmas " is a song recorded by Darlene Love for the 1963 holiday compilation album, A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector. The song was written by Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, along with Phil Spector, with the intention of being sung by Ronnie Spector of the Ronettes. According to Love, Ronnie Spector was not able to put as much emotion into the song as needed. Instead, Love was brought into the studio to record the song, which became a big success over time and one of Love's signature tunes.

Career break

Into the 1970s Love continued to work as a backup 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.

1980s return

Love returned to music in the early 1980s and to an appreciative audience she thought might have long since forgotten her. She had been performing at venues like the Roxy in Los Angeles, and it was a conversation with Steven Van Zandt that greased the wheels for her to go to New York and begin performing there in 1982, at places like The Bottom Line. She also sang "OOO Wee Baby" in the 1980 movie The Idolmaker. Along with performing in small venues, Love worked as a maid in Beverly Hills. One day while she was cleaning one of these homes, she heard her song "Christmas " on the radio. She took this as a sign that she needed to change her life and go back to singing.
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 by Phil Spector with Ike & Tina Turner and had been less than the success they had expected. Leader of the Pack commenced as a revue 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 "A Change Is Gonna Come" and "Don't Make Me Over", as well as "River Deep, Mountain High" and original music from some of the instrumental writers of early rock and roll, including Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. Love contributed a cover of the Hollywood Argyles song "Alley Oop" to the soundtrack of the 1984 film Bachelor Party.
In 1986, Love's second chance came when she was asked to sing "Christmas " on David Letterman's Christmas show. This became a yearly tradition.
In 1987, Love sang backup for U2's remake of "Christmas ". In 1990, Love released the album Paint Another Picture, which included an update of her old hit "He's Sure the Man I Love", by Mann and Weill, as well as a ballad written especially for her, "I've Never Been the Same," by Judy Wieder. The album did not make the US charts. In 1990, Cher invited Love and her sister Edna Wright as her background vocalists for the Heart of Stone tour. Love released a minor single in 1992 with "All Alone on Christmas", written and composed by Steven Van Zandt, which can be found on the soundtrack. Love also contributed vocals to the soundtrack of the film Jingle All the Way.
She continues to do a Christmas show every year in New York City, which is always capped by "Christmas ".
Love recorded a duet with Bette Midler on the latter's 2014 studio release album "It's the Girls!", a collection of songs paying tribute to girl groups. The two singers performed "He's Sure the Boy I Love", a track credited to the Crystals although actually recorded by Love, Fanita James of the Blossoms, and other studio session singers.
Love's most recent album Introducing Darlene Love was released September 18, 2015 on Steve Van Zandt's label, Wicked Cool Records. There are 10 songs on this album, including singles and features by Van Zandt, two new songs by Bruce Springsteen, and covers of Joan Jett and Elvis Costello songs, among others. "Forbidden Nights", the first track, is one of the more successful songs on this album. It is a song that Elvis Costello previously produced for an unfinished Broadway musical.

Acting roles

In the late 1980s and 1990s, Love also began an acting career, playing Trish Murtaugh, the wife of Danny Glover's character, in the four Lethal Weapon movies. Love has held many star roles in various Broadway productions. She acted and sang in Grease, in the short-lived musical adaptation of Stephen King's Carrie, and starred as Motormouth Maybelle in Broadway's Hairspray from August 2005 till April 2008. She later reprised the role in the Hollywood Bowl production of the show in 2011. In 2019, she appeared in the Netflix original movie Holiday Rush.

Television appearances

Love performed the song "Christmas " each year on the last pre-Christmas episode of Late Night with David Letterman and the Late Show with David Letterman. Her final Christmas appearance was on December 19, 2014, nine days after the official announcement of the show's finale in May 2015. 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; a repeat of her 2006 performance was shown instead. Love was also the musical guest on Late Show with David Letterman on May 7, 2007, performing "River Deep-Mountain High."
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 entitled "Christmastime for the Jews." Love performed with Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band in November 2009 at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 25th Anniversary Concert at Madison Square Garden.
With the ending of the Letterman show, Love has performed "Christmas " on the ABC morning show The View each December since 2015. She has usually performed the song as a duet, being joined by Patti LaBelle in 2016, Fantasia in 2017, and Bryan Adams in 2018.

''20 Feet from Stardom''

She appears in the documentary film 20 Feet from Stardom, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and went on to win the Oscar for Best Documentary at the 86th Academy Awards. 20 Feet from Stardom also won the 2015 Grammy Award for Best Music Film, with the award being presented to the featured artists as well as the production crew.
In the film, Love revealed that she had signed with Spector as a solo artist after the success of "He's a Rebel", and had recorded "He's Sure the Boy I Love" with the impression it would be released as her first single as a solo artist. However, Spector instead used Love's recording and released it as the newest single for the Crystals without informing Love. She only learned of the switch when she heard a DJ on the radio announce that the single was "the newest Crystals record".
Subsequently, Love recorded "Today I Met the Boy I'm Gonna Marry" which was released as a single by Spector, and now featured Love's name as the artist. She says that Spector offered $3,000 for her rights to the song. And though he said it was going to be a hit, she took the money. But, in spite of that decision, she said that she has continued to have a career because people have loved hearing her sing her songs.

Awards and accomplishments

In 1995 Love won the Rhythm and Blues Foundation's Pioneer Award.
Darlene Love alongside Rob Hoerburger, editor and writer for the New York Times wrote her autobiography titled My Name Is Love, published in 1998. In the memoir, Love writes about her life in the music industry, her years of struggle, and her present projects.
On December 15, 2010, it was announced that Love had been chosen for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. On March 14, 2011, Love was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, with a speech by Bette Midler. Midler said "she changed my view of the world, listening to those songs, you had to dance, you had to move, you had to keep looking for the rebel boy." Near tears, Love noted that she will turn 70 later this year, and thanked Spector "for recognizing my talent and making me the main voice in his Wall of Sound." Her speech elicited a standing ovation. Later, she sang "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah" with Springsteen providing a guitar solo.
In August 2014, the Oprah Winfrey Network announced that it is producing a biopic for the big screen based on Love's life, starring singing icon Toni Braxton.
In 2015, Love was featured in the September issue of Entertainment Weekly. In the music section of the magazine, it introduces Love's five decades of musical accomplishments such as different solos and albums.
Love provided the inaugural performance to christen the opening of the Clermont Performing Arts Center in Clermont, Florida on September 26, 2015.

2016 Tour

Beginning January 1, 2016, Love began touring her new album across the United States.

Discography

U.S. albums

Incomplete list of recordings.

Filmography