- April 24, 2024
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PALM COAST — Darlene Love got her start as a backup singer by accident.
“I didn’t mean to. I think it just happened,” she said in a phone interview Monday afternoon.
Coming from a gospel family, she started singing backup in the church choir and eventually landed a mic with The Blossoms in 1958. They were a regular singing group trying to record their own music, but their manager at the time offered the group as background singers to other acts.
“But nothing is really an accident – things happen and nothing can stop it from happening,” Love said. “That’s how my career got started.”
Now, 51 years in the business, Love is celebrating a solo career and an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary Feature for “20 feet from Stardom,” her film documenting the lives of background singers.
“It’s a wonderful surprise that my career started, and I’ve walked to the front of the stage, but to be nominated for an Academy Award is just mind-blowing,” Love said.
Work on the documentary started two years ago with the goal to give people more of an understanding of the importance of background singers.
“When people see a show, they see the star, the band and then the background singers,” Love explained. “If you don’t really know anything about background singers, you know they’re singing but you don’t really know anything about what it means.”
What most people don’t realize, Love said, is that background singers usually sing the hook. The hook is what most people learn before they know the whole song.
In 2011, Darlene Love received her industry’s highest award by being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and Rolling Stone Magazine has proclaimed Love to be “one of the greatest singers of all time.”
Her debut on the Flagler Auditorium stage will be her first solo performance in Florida.
“I’m so excited about being able to bring my show to my fans there,” she said.
Love will perform some of her classic Billboard hits “He’s A Rebel,” “The Boy I’m Gonna Marry,” “Da Doo Ron Ron,” “Wait Till My Bobby Gets Home,”and “He’s Sure the Boy I Love,” as well as some gospel.
“I still enjoy singing those songs,” she said. “You don’t get tired of singing those songs, because that’s what the audience wants to hear.”
If you go: ‘20 Feet From Stardom’ showing
When: 3:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 13
Where: Flagler Auditorium, 5500 State Road 100, Palm Coast
Cost: Free
If you go: Darlene Love in concert
When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 15
Where: Flagler Auditorium, 5500 State Road 100, Palm Coast
Cost: $39 for adults and $28 for youth. Call 437-7547 or visit flaglerauditorium.org
