She was soon a highly sought-after vocalist and worked with many rock and soul musicians of the 1960s, including Sam Cooke, Dionne Warwick, Bill Medley, the Beach Boys, Elvis Presley, Tom Jones and Sonny and Cher.

[8] His girl group, the Crystals, could not make it to Los Angeles in time for the session, so Wright was paid $5,000 to sing lead on "He's a Rebel.

[9] The single, credited to the Crystals, was hurriedly released by Spector on Philles Records to get his version of the Gene Pitney song onto the market before that of Vikki Carr.

[8] Cynthia Weil, who co-wrote the song with her husband Barry Mann, was unaware that Love had sung on the track: "It all came out later.

As a member of the Blossoms, Love contributed backing vocals behind many of the biggest hits of the 1960s including the Ronettes' "Be My Baby", Shelley Fabares' "Johnny Angel", Bobby "Boris" Pickett's "Monster Mash", Frank Sinatra's version of "That's Life", and the Crystals' "Da Doo Ron Ron".

The Blossoms recorded singles, usually with little success, on Capitol 1957–58 [pre-Darlene Love], Challenge 1961–62, OKeh 1963, Reprise 1966–67, Ode 1967, MGM 1968, Bell 1969–70, and Lion 1972.

They also appeared on Johnny Rivers' hits, including "Poor Side of Town" "Baby I Need Your Loving" and "The Tracks of My Tears".

In 1973, she recorded vocals as a cheerleader along with Michelle Phillips, for the Cheech & Chong single "Basketball Jones", which peaked at No.

[citation needed] Love returned to music in the early 1980s and to an appreciative audience she thought might have long since forgotten her.

[12] In the mid-1980s she portrayed herself in the Tony Award-nominated jukebox musical Leader of the Pack, which featured the rock and roll songs written by Ellie Greenwich, many of them for the young Love.

The showstopping number of that show, "River Deep - Mountain High", had been recorded by Phil Spector with Ike & Tina Turner.

Leader of the Pack commenced as a revue at the Greenwich Village nightclub The Bottom Line, as did the later show about Love's life, Portrait of a Singer, which never made the move uptown.

Love contributed a cover of the Hollywood Argyles song "Alley Oop" to the soundtrack of the 1984 film Bachelor Party.

In 1990, Cher invited Love and her sister Edna Wright as her background vocalists for the Heart of Stone Tour.

Love released a minor single in 1992 with "All Alone on Christmas", written by Steven Van Zandt, which can be found on the Home Alone 2: Lost in New York soundtrack.

Love performed with Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band in November 2009 at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 25th Anniversary Concert at Madison Square Garden.

Love was the musical guest on Late Show with David Letterman on May 7, 2007, performing "River Deep-Mountain High."

In August 2014, the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) announced their intention to develop a film based on Love's life, starring singer Toni Braxton.

[17] In the late 1980s and also in the 1990s, Love also began an acting career, playing Trish Murtaugh, the wife of Danny Glover's character, in the four Lethal Weapon movies.

She acted and sang in Grease, in the short-lived musical adaptation of Stephen King's Carrie, and starred as Motormouth Maybelle in Broadway's Hairspray from August 2005 till April 2008.

Love performed the song "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" on the last pre-Christmas episode of Late Night with David Letterman (NBC) which aired December 10, 1986 and then annually (with the exception of 2007) on Late Show with David Letterman (CBS) beginning with (air date) December 23, 1994.

Love also performed "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" in season six, episode 10 of the Fox television series New Girl (2016).

Love was a special guest on the December 17, 2005, broadcast of Saturday Night Live, singing "White Christmas" with the SNL band and providing the vocals for a Robert Smigel cartoon entitled "Christmastime for the Jews."

[27] In 2024, Love returned to late night television with the song, performing it on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon accompanied by Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul and Paul Shaffer.

[1] Love married Alton Allison on June 28, 1984 in Teaneck, New Jersey, and they reside in Rockland County, New York.

Near tears, Love noted that she would turn 70 later that year, and thanked Spector "for recognizing my talent and making me the main voice in his Wall of Sound".