Darlene Love Biography
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Darlene Wright, 26 July 1938, Los Angeles, California, USA. A prolific vocalist, Love began her career in 1957 as a founder member of the Blossoms. This influential girl-group not only enjoyed an extensive recording career in its own right, but also appeared on scores of sessions and as the resident singers on US televisions Shindig! Love also enjoyed a fruitful association with producer Phil Spector, and sang lead vocals on the Crystals Hes A Rebel and Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah by Bob B. Soxx And The Blue Jeans. Love completed six singles in her own right for Spectors Philles label, including Christmas (Baby Come Home), (Today I Met) The Boy Im Gonna Marry and Wait Til My Bobby Gets Home, the latter reaching the US Top 30 in 1963. Love subsequently pursued her solo career on a variety of outlets before being reunited with Spector in 1977 for Lord, If Youre A Woman. She continued her demanding session-singer schedule and in the 80s branched into acting with film roles in Lethal Weapon andLethal Weapon 2, as well as the Royal Shakespeare Companys co-production of Stephen Kings horror-novel Carrie. In 1990, Love completed the long-awaited Paint Another Picture, before touring the USA as a back-up vocalist for Cher. Together with Marianne Faithfull and Merry Clayton she performed a female vocal cabaret as 20th Century Pop in 1996. In March 1997 she was awarded considerable back royalties for singing on a number of Spectors records, claiming that she was not rewarded financially because she did not have any formal contract. The following she released her first gospel album, Unconditional Love. In 2005, Love appeared as Motormouth Maybelle in the Broadway cast of Hairspray.
Source: The Encyclopedia of Popular Music by Colin Larkin. Licensed from Muze.
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