Lean on, trust in and be confident in the Lord with all your heart
And mind and do not rely on your own insight or understanding.
In all your ways know, recognize and acknowledge Him, and
He will direct and make straight and plain your paths.
–Proverbs 3:5-6
Excerpted from the open of My Name is Love: The Darlene Love Story
Darlene Love was born to Ellen and Joe Wright in East Los Angeles on July 26, 1941. One of five children and the daughter of a minister, the family of seven settled into the three and a half room bungalow at 887½ 42nd Street.
Of her early years, Love describes LA. “in the thirties and forties [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 twenty blocks, bookended on one side by our projects and playgrounds and on the other by church.”
Young Darlene wasn’t aware of a racial divide in those days. Of the cliché “we didn’t know we were poor” she adds “if we didn’t know we were poor, we didn’t ‘know’ we were black either.” Whites, blacks and Mexicans lived without strife. Long before the days of Tiger Woods, Darlene’s father would rise early and could be seen on the golf course as early as five AM long before other golfers had arrived. Where Darlene grew up, there were no limits to what a person could aspire.
When her father was offered his own church in San Antonio, the family moved. It was a summer in her father’s native Texas, standing next to an old Victrola, she sang out loud to Marian Anderson records and marveled at what came out. It was there that ten year-old Darlene began singing in school glee clubs and by the time they moved back to California in 1956, she was singing in the church choir. The day the choir director asked her to join her at the Music Mart, a Christian bookstore in town, is when and where she believes her singing career really began.
She was invited to join the girl group The Blossoms, which eventually led her to be noticed by Phil Spector. Spector was developing a unique music genre, harvesting the best voices around to create his signature ‘60’s girl group sound. Through the ‘60s and ‘70’s, Love’s distinctive voice could be heard with The Blossoms, The Crystals, Bob B. Soxx & The Blue Jeans and as background for the likes of Sam Cooke, Cher, Aretha Franklin and countless other lead singers.
Over the years there would be more names linked with Darlene, including Nancy Sinatra, Elvis, Bobby Darin, Bill Medley and Dionne Warwick. What did the Righteous Brothers’ song “(You’re My) Soul and Inspiration” really hold for Darlene? What did Elvis ‘suggest’ to Darlene one day on the set of his movie Change of Habit? How hard was it to resist the charms of sex-symbol Tom Jones and was she able to? Her story is one of drama, and trauma, from the birth of three sons and the loss of a daughter, to what dramatic crescendo would lead to the end of The Blossoms.
Darlene’s epiphany came one day at the age of 40 when she decided she was tired of her vocals being “used as an expensive accessory” to other artists. Her determination to begin her solo career in midlife came after working at a dry cleaner and as a maid in Beverly Hills.
It was the late Luther Vandross who told her to follow her dream. “You can sing any style of music,” he said. “It’s just that the dots haven’t been connected through no fault of your own. It’s all based on an intangible combination of crosswinds.”
The crosswinds are blowing. Darlene performed at Madison Square Garden with Bruce Springsteen in the 25th Anniversary Celebration Rock and Roll Concert, demonstrated her singing and acting skills, to rave reviews, in “Fame” in Australia, was featured on the CBS Sunday Morning Show, and, having performed on The Jay Leno Show and David Letterman’s The Late Show, Darlene is finally getting her due.
To begin your journey with Darlene, you can order her book directly through Darlene Love World or Amazon.com.