Darlene Love front and center in Monterey

Darlene Love epitomizes grace under pressure. To hear her say it, she is only doing what she was put on this earth to do.

“God gave me this talent and I intend to use it,” she said with great conviction in the Academy Award-winning 2013 documentary “20 Feet From Stardom.” “And that’s what my life has really been all about, trying to make a success of the gift that I had.”

Despite the setbacks, disappointment and betrayal she experienced at the hands of infamous record producing legend Phil Spector, she has found the success she was destined for — although it could be considered modest compared to what’s deemed a success in today’s megawatt music industry.

The nearly 73-year-old multi-faceted performer, coming to Monterey on Sunday, has even found reason to be thankful for what Spector did for her and other black backup singers in the early days of Los Angeles’ recording studio history.

You may or may not know about Love’s historical precedent. But she is often referred to as “the most successful unknown singer in rock and roll history.” As a member and lead singer of the girl group The Blossoms, she became the first black woman to sing session background vocals in the studio. Her voice was etched on vinyl backing the likes of Frank Sinatra, the Beach Boys, Sam Cooke, Elvis Presley, Jan and Dean, The Mamas and The Papas, Dionne Warwick, Duane Eddy, Sonny and Cher, Tom Jones — the names could go on and on.

Born Darlene Wright, a reverend’s daughter, in Hawthorne, she grew up singing in the church. She was asked to join The Blossoms in 1957 while still in high school, and their first session as background singers was with actor James Darren on his “Goodbye Cruel World.” In the early 1960s, under contract with Spector, she took the stage name Love.

The name has served her well throughout her life, she said. Although it took some doing before anyone else knew it.

The 1962 radio hit “He’s A Rebel” featured Love’s voice with The Blossoms backing her, yet circumstances and Spector’s instincts dictated that another girl group, The Crystals, take credit. She fell victim to the same routine a number of times before becoming fed up with the eccentric producer, insisting she get the chance to record under her own name.

Love released a number of Spector-produced Top 40 hits, including “(Today I Met) The Boy I’m Going to Marry,” “Wait Till My Bobby Gets Home” and “A Fine, Fine Boy” in 1963. And even though it didn’t make the charts, she recorded her now-classic song “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home),” the only original song on the Spector-produced album “A Christmas Gift For You.”

“If Phil Spector never did anything else for me, he made Christmas great for me,” she said in a phone interview, in reference to her 27-year tradition of singing the song with Paul Shaffer and the CBS Orchestra on “Late Show with David Letterman.” With Letterman’s retirement looming, she will perform at Christmas one last time in that setting before exploring any number of options to keep the tradition alive.

“It doesn’t have to end with Dave Letterman,” she said. “We’ll see wherever it lands.”

Love’s unique position working the Los Angeles studio system — including stints with Goldstar, Universal, Capitol Records and United Western Recorders — put her in touch with a number of great producers and musicians, Shaffer and Lou Adler among them. She kept incredibly busy in the studios in addition to The Blossoms becoming regulars on “Shindig,” a popular weekly music television show with a two-year run in the mid-60s. Lucrative session work continued to pour in as The Blossoms were popular music’s most in-demand background singers through the ’70s.

The time came, though, when Love’s career crashed and burned. The girl group sound had run its course, and she spent years on the road backing others and cobbling together studio gigs. The struggles to make ends meet with three sons from two failed marriages — the fallout of going on the road — included work cleaning houses in ritzy L.A. neighborhoods.

But with that God-given gift driving her to keep pushing, she borrowed money and returned to the stage. In 1984, she starred in one of the first successful jukebox musicals, “Leader of the Pack,” which went on to have an extended run at New York City’s Bottom Line, although it didn’t fare well on Broadway. She also began to do dramatic work, appearing in all three “Lethal Weapon” movies and a stage adaptation of Stephen King’s “Carrie.”

At a show in L.A. at The Roxy, she had the good fortune to perform for an audience that included Bruce Springsteen and Stephen Van Zandt, who became huge fans and supporters. Van Zandt later encouraged her to move to New York, where she still lives in Rockland County. This year marks 30 years since she arrived, and although there have been continued challenging situations, she has endured through her faith in God and found validation and recognition for her storied career.

Love was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011. She is the subject of an upcoming Oprah Winfrey-produced story of her life titled “My Name is Love: The Darlene Love Story,” starring Toni Braxton.