Darlene Love: The Best of Darlene Love (1992) ... plus

Amazingly, Darlene Love, a superb and prolific vocalist, hasn't had much of a track record as a solo singer, at least not in terms of hits. 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 television's Shindig! She also enjoyed a fruitful association with producer Phil Spector, and sang lead vocals on the Crystals' ‘He's 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 Spector's Philles label, including ‘Christmas (Baby Come Home)’, ‘(Today I Met) The Boy I'm Gonna Marry’ and ‘Wait Til' My Bobby Gets Home’, the latter reaching the US Top 30 in 1963. Darlene Love subsequently pursued her solo career on a variety of outlets before being reunited with Spector in 1977 for ‘Lord, If You're a Woman’. Darlene received long overdue recognition in 1993, when a show based on her career, Portrait of a Singer, opened in January at New York City's Bottom Line Club. In 1997 she was awarded considerable back royalties for singing on a number of Spector's records, claiming that she was not rewarded financially because she did not have any formal contract. Love also began an acting career in the ‘80s and ‘90s playing Danny Glover's wife in the four Lethal Weapon movies, and appeared on Broadway in Grease as well as in the short-lived musical adaptation of Stephen King's Carrie. She also starred as Motormouth Maybelle in Broadway's Hairspray until April, 2008. This anthology covers her greatest hits in routine fashion, but the music on The Best of Darlene Love, which is nearly all from a two-year stretch in the early '60s, is anything but routine. I added 11 bonus to the original 15-track release, including the B-sides 'Strange Love', 'Take It from Me' and 'Playing for Keeps', besides a bunch of her Xmas tunes (one of them with Ronnie Spector). I hope you like it! http://www.allmusic.com/, http://www.oldies.com/, http://en.wikipedia.org/

ff

Darlene Love on a performance of Dionne Warwick's classic 'You'll Never Get to Heaven If You Break My Heart':



Here, with The Blossoms, singing 'A Lover's Concerto' (1965):