Biography for
Darlene Love More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

Birth Name

Mini Biography

Born Darlene Wright in Los Angeles in 1938, she began her career as lead singer with the vocal trio, The Blossoms. After a spell as regulars on ABC TV's variety show "Shindig!" (1964) in the early 60s, the trio went on to sing backup on a variety of Elvis Presley recordings, and even backed him on his 1968 NBC-TV special Elvis (1968) (TV). For a while, they backed Tom Jones during some of his Las Vegas shows. The Blossoms have the rare distinction of recording a number one hit without ever receiving any credit. Years before the advent of Milli Vanilli, Darlene Love, Fanita James and Gracie Nitzsche sang vocals on the Gene Pitney-penned song "He's a Rebel" that was championed as The Crystals' first (and only) No. 1 US hit. Because of confounding logistics, record producer Phil Spector had to use The Blossoms because The Crystals were on the wrong coast of the US at the time. And since he was up against the clock in L.A. attempting to get his production on the airwaves before the Vikki Carr version, he had no choice. Love also sang vocals on the Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans top twenty hit "Zip-a-Dee Doo Dah".

Spouse

Trivia

Her three children are all boys. Her autobiography 1998, is called "My Name Is Love: The Darlene Love Story."

Love and her all-girl trio, The Blossoms, sang back-up vocals on the Shelley Fabares number one hit "Johnny Angel" that topped the Billboard charts in April 1962.

She is one of David Letterman's favorite singers. Every December 23, she appears on "Late Show with David Letterman" (1993) to sing her classic, "Christmas, Baby Please Come Home". In one memorable appearance, her rendition was broadcast live to U.S. Servicemen and Servicewomen stationed overseas. As David Letterman says, "It is just not Christmas without Darlene Love".

Grew up in Texas.

The daughter of a Pentecostal minister.

Where Are They Now

(September 2005) Starring as Motormouth Mayblle in the Broadway production of Hairspray.

(2008) Appears in the infomercial, hosted by Frankie Avalon and Susan Williams, for TimeLife's "Prom Night" music collection.

(1998) Release of her autobiography, "My Name is Love: The Darlene Love Story" by Darlene with Rob Hoerburger.

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