Darlene Love: ‘Elvis was pure joy. In three days I felt I’d known him all my life’
Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) is the greatest Christmas song of all time. But if you’re too modest to claim that yourself, which song would you choose? dondrapersdandruff
Silent Night. We sang it at home every Christmas and when [producer] Phil Spector did the monologue for his Christmas album [A Christmas Gift for You], I was among the artists singing it in the background. It’s a song that brings it all to me.
When you were working with Spector, was there a specific point when you thought “I’m out of here”? CFMBanks
At first it was OK, because Phil hadn’t become this gigantic record producer. I was in [girl group and backing-singer legends] the Blossoms when he hired me to record He’s a Rebel [in 1962]. I knew it was for the Crystals but I got paid a bundle of money – $5,000 was a lot then. After I signed with Phil and we did Da Do Ron Ron and He’s Sure the Boy I Love [also credited to the Crystals], I told him my name should be on, but I hadn’t read the contract.
I wasn’t around for the drugs and guns craziness, but after the hits he was going to London and meeting the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, and he was the man. He thought he could get away with anything. I started to dislike Phil after my contract was over, when I signed for another label and he bought my contract from them. I made a record with him to fulfil my obligations, but just said “I’ve had it”, took off my headphones and picked up my coat. I didn’t see him again until he was in court [for murder] almost 30 years later.
Are you proud or resentful when you hear a Crystals song where your lead vocal was uncredited?joe_tambien
I don’t feel extremely either way. They’re played on Spotify or YouTube, I’m still singing the songs in my shows, and at the end of the year I do get a nice
little royalty cheque.
Did you get grief from the Christian right for the magnificent Lord, If You’re a Woman? LevelZero
That’s the song we were doing when I walked out on Spector [in 1977]. I hated it. When I left we had recorded it about a hundred times. I think we probably got grief, but if we’d recorded it today … ohh, please! [laughter].
In all your years knowing Lethal Weapon actor Danny Glover, at any point did you honestly believe that he really was, as per his catchphrase, “too old for this shit”?jjforreal
[Roars with laughter] When we did the Lethal Weapon movies, Mel Gibson was the prankster. Danny was always in his wagon sleeping and we had to send runners to wake him up. He’d come out and go: “I’m getting too old for this shit.” If you say something enough, that’s what will happen. You will be getting too old for this shit!
Any memories of working on the 1968 Elvis TV special? What did you think of the Baz Luhrmann film?
lucashare71
I haven’t seen it, but I can tell when the music is done by the guy playing him [Austin Butler], cos of the way Elvis ended phrases. In those three or four days that the Blossoms were shooting, I felt like I’d known him all my life. Pure joy. At lunchtime, he’d get his guitar and we’d sing old gospel songs. In the ’68 special, he did those songs real, like you’d do with your friends.
Are you and Mariah Carey friends again after she tried to steal the Queen of Christmas title from you? ringolorenzo
We’ve never not been friends. Her people tried to trademark the name and finally I asked my lawyer to make sure I was safe to use it, cos I work from the end of October until 1 January. Mariah recorded Christmas (Baby Please Come Home). She said she grew up with it in her house before she became a singer and said: “If anybody needs to be the Queen of Christmas, it should be Darlene Love.” I wrote and said: “It’s awfully nice of you to say that.” But the controversy meant all my shows sold out [laughter].
Your performance of Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) became an annual fixture on David Letterman’s show between 1986 and 2014. Do you have any stories from your appearances? VerulamiumParkRanger
Nobody else has been a guest on the same show for 28 years. I give God the credit. [Musical director] Paul Shaffer called the singers in a few hours before showtime and rehearsed the band like they’d never played the song before. That’s how it always sounded like the original. One night David looked at the assembled cast and asked: “Who’s paying for all this?” I said: “Well, it’s called the David Letterman Show. You are.”
Phil Spector gave you the name Love. Did you have any say in the matter and did you like the name? boavisteiro
Phil got it from a gospel singer called Dorothy Love Coates. I never really thought about it but years later, when I knew Phil’s ways, I changed my name legally [from Darlene Wright]. I never knew I’d be singing Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) 60 years later, but I was wise enough to think ahead.
When you were a housemaid in the 1970s you used to park your Mercedes around the corner from the houses you were cleaning. What were your favourite cars – anything exotic? Ben2710
I always wanted a 1958 two-seater Mercedes and about 20 years ago I found one in New York, but they’re not made for the east coast winters so I sold it after a couple of years. I got the cleaning job because I had two children and had to bring money in, but the people I was cleaning for wouldn’t have wanted their maid parking a Mercedes in front of their house. One time I almost got caught. The lady said, “I’m not gonna let you walk in this rain” and insisted on driving me to the bus stop. I prayed the bus didn’t come because I’d have to get on it but after about 10 minutes I figured she was back home, so I went back for the car.
I loved your roof-raising performance on Broadway as Motormouth Maybelle in Hairspray. Which of your acting roles did you enjoy the most and why? Rembetis
Motormouth Maybelle, because it was so true to life. In the 1960s, I did a television show called Shindig!, which was getting ready to go national and they didn’t think people would watch it if there were black people on the show. When we were filming, there were riots in Watts, California and armed soldiers would stop us to see our papers. Those experiences never leave you. In the play, they didn’t want the white girl to dance with the black children, so in that role I was Motormouth. It was roof-raising, especially the song I Know Where I’ve Been.
What advice would you give to aspiring singers? alexHD
It has to be something you really want – not for glamour, but inside your very soul. You’re gonna have a lot of sidetracks along the way, but I always tell young people: barriers aren’t there to stop you, they’re to go over.
Which one of your many achievements would you most like to be remembered for? AGOBAHR
Singing at the White House for Barack Obama, because I didn’t think a black president was possible in my lifetime. The first president I sang for was Bill Clinton. Phil don’t know what Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) did for my career.
• Darlene Love’s new album Live 1982 is released on 7 April by Liberation Hall