Biography
Darlene Love is an American R&B and soul singer and actress. She was the lead singer of the Blossoms girl group and has also released solo albums.
Age
She is 82 years old as of 26 July 2023. She was born in 1941 in Los Angeles, California, United States. Her real name is Darlene Wright.
Family – Education
Wright was born on July 26, 1941, in Los Angeles, to Ellen Maddox and Reverend Joseph Wright. Her younger sister, Edna Wright, went up to become the main singer of the Honey Cone. She was raised primarily in Los Angeles, but she also spent a few years in Texas. As a minister’s daughter, she grew up listening to gospel music and was an active member of her church.
Husband – Children
Love married three times and has three children. She married Leonard Peete in 1959. She had two sons with him, Marcus, born in 1961 and Chawn, born in 1964, as well as a girl named Rosalynn, who died shortly after birth. They got divorced in 1968. She married Wesley Mitchell in 1973, had a son named Jason Davion, born in 1974, and eventually divorced. Love married Alton Allison on June 28, 1984, in Teaneck, New Jersey, and the couple lives in Rockland County, New York.
Net Worth
She has an estimated net worth of $5 million.
All Alone on Christmas
Love recorded a small hit in 1992 called “All Alone on Christmas,” which was composed by Steven Van Zandt and appears on the Home Alone 2: Lost in New York soundtrack. The song restored Love’s name to the music singles charts, peaking at No. 83 on the US Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and No. 31 on the official UK Singles Chart.
The single’s third track was a Christmas remix of The Capitols’ “Cool Jerk,” which was also featured on the film’s soundtrack. The single was inspired by Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound, and it was recorded in the style of the Spector-produced Love ballad “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home),” which is mentioned in the song.
The record included a promotional shot of Love with the five members of the E Street Band who appear on the song. A promotional video featuring Macaulay Culkin “producing” as Love performed the song with The E Street Band and The Miami Horns included clips from Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. The song has also appeared in the movie Love Actually, The Night Before, and the 2001 Italian film Merry Christmas.
Christmas
Love’s second chance came in 1986, when she was invited to perform “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” on David Letterman’s Christmas show, which became an annual tradition. In 1987, Love performed backup on U2’s rendition of “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)”.
Every year in New York City, Love performs a Christmas show that ends with the song “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)”. In 2007, she released It’s Christmas of Course, an album of Christmas-themed cover versions, which included “Happy Xmas (War is Over)” by John Lennon and Yoko Ono and “Thanks for Christmas” by XTC. Love joined Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 25th Anniversary Concert at Madison Square Garden in November 2009.
Love sang the song “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” on the final pre-Christmas episode of Late Night with David Letterman (NBC), which aired on December 10, 1986, and then yearly (with the exception of 2007) on Late Show with David Letterman (CBS), beginning on December 23, 1994. Her final Christmas appearance occurred on December 19, 2014, nine days after it was officially announced that the show would end in May 2015. Letterman has said that the annual performance is his favorite part of Christmas. Letterman dubbed her the “Christmas Queen”. In 2023, Love appeared in a reunion video with Letterman on his YouTube site, performing the song again.
Due to the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike, Love was unable to appear on the Letterman show; instead, a rerun of her 2006 performance was shown. Love has sung the song on ABC’s The View every year since 2015, with the exception of the 2021 edition, when she was quarantined after being exposed to a positive COVID-19 case; instead, a compilation of her prior performances was presented. She frequently performs the song as a duet, with Patti LaBelle in 2016, Fantasia in 2017, and Bryan Adams in 2018. Love also sang “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” in season six, episode 10 of the Fox television show New Girl (2016).
Love appeared as a special guest on Saturday Night Live on December 17, 2005, singing “White Christmas” with the SNL band and contributing vocals for Robert Smigel’s cartoon “Christmastime for the Jews.” In November 2023, Love and Cher sang “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” during the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony. Love also sang “A Marshmallow World” solo at the event.
Songs
♦ 1964 – Stumble and Fall
♦ 1964 – Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
♦ 1964 – 3625 Groovy Street” / “What Are We Gonna Do In ’64
♦ 1965 – Good Good Lovin'” / “That’s When the Tears Start
♦ 1966 – Lover Boy” / “My Love Come Home
♦ 1966 – Let Your Love Shine On Me / Deep Into My Heart
♦ 1966 – Too Late to Say You’re Sorry / If
♦ 1967 – Deep Into My Heart / Good Good Lovin
♦ 1967 – Wonderful” b/w “Stoney End
♦ 1968 – Tweedlee Dee
♦ 1968 – Cry Like A Baby
♦ 1969 – Stoney End
♦ 1969 – You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ / Something So Wrong
♦ 1969 – (You’re My) Soul And Inspiration / Stand By
♦ 1970 – I Ain’t Got To Love Nobody Else / Don’t Take Your Love
♦ 1970 – One Step Away / Break Your Promise
♦ 1972 – Touchdown
♦ 1972 – Grandma’s Hands
♦ 1974 – Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
♦ 1975 – Lord, If You’re A Woman / Stumble And Fall
♦ 1977 – There’s No Greater Love
♦ 1988 – He’s Sure the Man I Love – – – –
♦ 1992 – All Alone on Christmas
♦ 2005 – Christmastime for the Jews
Movies and TV Shows
♦ 2020 – The Christmas Chronicles 2
♦ 2019 – Holiday Rush
♦ 2016 – New Girl
♦ 2013 – 20 Feet from Stardom
♦ 1998 – Lethal Weapon 4
♦ 1993 – Another World
♦ 1992 – Lethal Weapon 3
♦ 1989 – Lethal Weapon 2
♦ 1987 – Lethal Weapon
♦ 1969 – Change of Habit
♦ 1969 – The Love God?