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A new feature documentary spotlighting the life of R&B singer and Broadway performer Darlene Love is in production from director Barry Avrich. Taraji P. Henson, currently on Broadway in Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, is producing under her production banner TPH Entertainment. Mark Selby also serves as a producer.
Darlene Love: I Know Where I’ve Been examines her life from prodigy to musical icon, set against the backdrop of the civil rights movement and the racial discrimination she navigated throughout her career.
Love has appeared in roles in several Broadway productions, including as Motormouth Maybelle in Hairspray and Miss Gardner in the musical adaptation of Stephen King’s Carrie. She also appeared in the 1997 production of Grease and starred as herself in the 1985 jukebox musical about Ellie Greenwich, Leader of the Pack.
The film features exclusive interviews, including those with Cher, Bruce Springsteen, David Letterman, Dionne Warwick, Nancy Sinatra, Steven Van Zandt, Paul Shaffer, Marc Shaiman, Lou Adler, Jimmy Fallon, Robert Smigel, and many more.
It also draws on archival footage and extensive conversations with Love herself, tracing her journey from her local church choir to singing backup and lead on some of Phil Spector’s biggest hits, including “He’s a Rebel” and the holiday classic “Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home),” through a period in which she was cleaning houses to make ends meet, and ultimately to her induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Darlene Love: I Know Where I’ve Been is co-produced by Avrich and Selby’s Melbar Entertainment Group and Henson’s TPH Entertainment. Barry Avrich, Mark Selby, Taraji P. Henson, Jamila Jordan-Theus, Tim Drake, and Len Evans serve as Executive Producers.
Darlene Love (born Darlene Wright, Los Angeles, 1941) is an R&B and soul singer and actress. As lead singer of studio backing group The Blossoms, she sang on hit records by artists ranging from Sam Cooke and Dionne Warwick to The Beach Boys, yet the lack of credit afforded to studio musicians meant her name remained largely unknown to the public. Her biggest hit, the 1962 number one “He’s a Rebel,” wasn’t even released under her name; producer Phil Spector credited it to the Crystals instead.
Her story was brought to wider attention by the Oscar-winning documentary 20 Feet from Stardom (2013), and she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011. She is perhaps best known today for her beloved annual tradition: for years, David Letterman invited her to close out his final show before Christmas with “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).”
Photo credit: Melbar Entertainment Group
