Darlene Love in Toronto

Darlene Love is an American singer and actress, born in Los Angeles in 1941, whose work spans soul, pop and rock and roll. She sang lead with the Blossoms and became closely associated with Phil Spector’s recordings, including “He’s a Rebel,” issued under the Crystals’ name, “He’s Sure the Boy I Love,” “Today I Met the Boy I’m Gonna Marry” and the holiday standard “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).” The 1985 Broadway musical Leader of the Pack placed Love in a production built around Ellie Greenwich’s songs. In 1986, she began performing “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” on Late Night with David Letterman, starting a television tradition that moved to Late Show with David Letterman and concluded there in 2014; Paul Shaffer led the house band for those performances. In 2005, she returned to Broadway as Motormouth Maybelle in Hairspray at the Neil Simon Theatre.