Ever since the documentary Twenty Feet From Stardom hit screens across America last year, Darlene Love’s life has been full of surprises.
“I’ve stopped asking, ‘What’s next? ’,” says Love. “Now I just say, ‘Next!’”
Surprises indeed. Love wowed the crowd at the Academy Awards last March belting out “I Sing Because I’m Happy” after the film won Best Documentary. She received a standing ovation from the audience at the Dolby Theater as well as the attention of an estimated 300 million television viewers worldwide. Love is in the midst of an entirely new stage in her storied career – one that’s been full of triumph and heartbreak – touring the world. This Fourth of July weekend Love will be at the Payomet Performing Arts Center in North Truro returning to the Outer Cape after a sold out concert at the Wellflleet Congregational Church last December.
“I thought they were going to blow the roof off that place,” says Love of the Wellfleet audience.
Since the late 1950s Love has been an integral part of American popular music, helping to create a whole new sound, lending her voice to some of the most iconic hits of the 1960s, and inspiring a legion of musicians ever since. Her talent is legendary and seemingly limitless. But it was Twenty Feet From Stardom that shone a spotlight on how she has spent a substantial part of her career, as a backup singer putting her voice in hit after hit. And now at age 75 there’s a lot that’s next for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee.
“People have always enjoyed the songs even if people didn’t know it was me,” says Love. “I have devoted fans and I’ve been working these past twenty years. But the movie is letting people know who I am. My fans have tripled since and so has the work. It’s been amazing.”
