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The truly legendary singer Darlene Love had her story already lightly sketched out in a 2013 film about backup singers of yore, 2013’s Oscar-winning “20 Feet From Stardom.” But what Love’s fans — and they are legion — really have hungered for is a movie in which she is less than 10 feet from the camera for the length of a feature film, one devoted solely to her life and career. They are getting it with “Darlene Love: I Know Where I’ve Been,” an illuminating and spirit-lifting doc premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival Sunday night.
Love’s fame was renewed and in part kept alive by annual performances of her Phil Spector-helmed classic “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” on David Letterman’s late-night programs. But music fans with only a cursory knowledge of Love as the original queen of Christmas will relish learning about dozens of classic songs they had no idea she sang lead or backup on. Thankfully, after a period in which her career stalled enough that she became a house cleaner in Beverly Hills, Love was persuaded by Steven Van Zandt to move to New York and rebuild her career there, which led to such heights as a costarring role in the “Lethal Weapon” movies and a starring role on Broadway in “Hairspray,” where her bravura ballad each night was the civil rights-themed anthem “I Know Where I’m Going,” a key line from which gives this new documentary its name.
Director Barry Avrich has spent two years on the project, and was joined in it by celebrity superfan-turned-producer Taraji P. Henson, whose production company, TPH Entertainment, brought it to the finish line. The doc has its enjoyable share of talking heads, but some of its most stirring scenes are performances shot especially for the movie in a New York studio with Love being backed by a Paul Shaffer-led band, potent as ever in her 80s. Variety spoke with Love, Avrich and Henson in the days leading up to the Toronto premiere, and we also have this exclusive first look at the movie’s trailer.
A lot of people have gotten a taste of Darlene’s story before, but it’s not so many who have been given a chance to really dig in. What was the impetus for making this happen and how did everyone come to be involved?
Barry Avrich: For me, Darlene Love is one of these people that just kept entering my life in different times. In 2002, I went to see “Standing in the Shadows of Motown,” the film about the Funk Brothers, at the Toronto Film Festival, and I sat there amazed at the cadence of the film and how the audience would applaud after each performance, and how incredible this unknown entity was in the back line of Motown. I said, “I want to make a movie like that one day.” Then I started to talk to Doug Blush, the Academy Award-winning editor, about editing a film for me in the art world. I asked him what he was working on, and he told me about “Twenty Feet From Stardom,” and he said, “You know, when this comes out, have a look at Darlene Love.” And I said, “My God, I’ve never forgotten about her.” Going back before that, I had met with Don Kirshner and Phil Spector in Las Vegas about a television show concept, and Phil had brought up Darlene, and so her name just kept coming back to me.
Then as I started to do my research on Darlene Love before even approaching her, what would amaze me as the through line in this movie is, she’s gotta be probably one of the nicest people in show business, number one. Number two is this community that surrounded her with love and wanted to make sure that she had a life and a career, and that she never gave up. Certainly Darlene never gave up. There were moments, but this talent continued forever. That’s when I approached her and said, “I have an idea,” and talked about the arc of her story, and we got moving pretty quickly.
How long have you been working on it now?
Avrich: Two years, which is longer than usual, but we have such a big cast. Plus, we wanted to bring Darlene into the recording studio, into Power Station in New York, and convince her to do some numbers. I think the audience needed to see that this incredible icon, this person who I believe is the alchemy of the greatest, today and yesterday and forever, still has the performance chops. And so that recording session, along with all of the other stuff we planned to do, the sessions with her and her family and the other people in the film… Then, as we were making the film, that’s when I approached Taraji. And given her love of the music industry and love of performance, she became the number one person for me that I said, “I want to tell this story, and can we do this together?” That became a bit of the dream team for me here.
Taraji P. Henson: I’ll tap in there. For me it was a no-brainer. I’m very passionate about stories about… let’s call them hidden figures, you know? Pun intended. Darlene’s voice is so recognizable, and it just blew my mind: How can we all know her voice and not know who this woman is? I was compelled to help in any way I could tell this woman’s story, because to not know is like a, a crime. To see her resilience, to see how she never gave up, it’s because of women like her that I exist. I understand being a mother in the industry trying to make your dreams come true and all of the obstacles. I did it. Her name is Darlene Love. My middle name means love in Swahili; Pendameans love. My first name means hope. So it made sense to me. This is a story that is going to inspire so many people, and that is what my production company is about. I’m about: how do you inspire someone through this gift that God gave you? And boy, did God give this queen, Darlene Love, a gift. And I think what’s gonna shock so many people is that her voice is still as powerful today as it was in the ’60s. And just how well Barry put the story together —I was like, “God, seriously, this just fell in my lap like this? Thank you.”
Avrich: I will tell you that the one thing we sent to Taraji was not even the film yet. It was a little sizzle reel we put together, two and a half minutes, to say, “Here’s what we’re thinking the arc of the story is.” The next milestone was this private room in New York City with Taraji and Darlene together. They had seen nothing, and I had a rough cut, and I just wanted to take their temperature. In some 70 films I’ve worked on, it was one of the greatest moments in my life to watch Darlene’s life through Darlene’s eyes, and Taraji’s, and watch the two of them sit together as these two powerful women and watch this story unfold. I couldn’t take my eyes off of them through that cut.
Henson: I couldn’t take my eyes off of Darlene. I sat right beside her, and I would look at her, and there were times when they would talk about some of the darkest moments in her life, and she would throw her head back and let out this belly gut laugh. I mean, if they asked me and I’d been through all that, that would be the moment I’d break down and cry and need some tissue.. But I’m telling you, every time, I would look over at her and she would still have that joy on her face watching her story unfold — I’m sure being triggered left and right. I remember asking her when it was over, “These questions, when they got tough, you threw your head back and you laughed. I find that amazing. Where does that come from?” And she said it was from her father. I’ve been telling everybody this story, Ms. Darlene. She said her father always told her to laugh at the devil before the devil can get up in the corner and laugh at you.
I’m glad you brought that up, because I was thinking back on the few times I’ve interviewed Darlene over the years, on the phone, and being struck and captivated by her laugh.
Henson: Mm-hmm. You’ll never forget that laugh, baby.
Darlene, it makes it seem like you are unusually comfortable on camera, watching you smile and hearing you laugh even when you are being asked to go there in talking about trouble involving family and sons and husbands, as well as all the career stuff that people know more about.
Darlene Love: The biggest part about me, guys, is my laughter. I have had to learn to laugh through so much, especially in this business. I always said two of the hardest businesses in our world are being an entertainer or a preacher, because they have to put up with people. And in our churches there’s different, everybody got their own opinion about everything from Jesus to the devil. And they express it not just to me, but they expressed a lot of things to my (pastor) father as one of the members of his church: “How could you allow your daughter to sing that devil’s music?” And then he would go, “What devil’s music are you talking about? God created music. And why were you watching (her on television)? If you had never been watching it, you would never seen her. So it’s OK for you to watch it but not for her to do it?” So those are things I could really laugh about. I’ve had to always dig down into my spiritual beliefs from the time I started singing “Da Doo Ron Ron” [which was credited to the Crystals but actually sung by Love] up till today, because that’s the only glue that holds me together.
When I think about Taraji, I thought she was a dream, like somebody you would never get to meet, because I’ve always admired her. You can tell who she is in her movies. People may not even like the movie, but there is something in you, Taraji, a spark when you play a role. You come out, too, you know what I’m saying? So getting her to be part of this movie was life-opening to me. It was like, “What a wonderful thing is this, Lord. Lord, thank you for bringing her to me.” Because I was always a person that helped people. You know, “Can you sing this song for me? Can you make this audition?” There’s so many people in this film I’ve done that for, and I got joy in doing all those things, whether it was making the Beach Boys records, or Jan and Dean… I had fun. It growed me into this business. I worked for Dionne Warwick as a background singer for 10 years, and we never had a cross word, because I know when to be the employee and when to be the friend, and they don’t get confused. And I still have those same friends in my life, which makes me thrilled, to see that I can go to these people and say, “Can you be in this film… will you?” “Are you kidding? When?” That’s the other part of this business. It will pay off. If you hang in there and you know what you’re doing and you know where you’re trying to go, those people will stick with you.
And then there’s this film, where people say, “I can’t believe I don’t know who you are, but I know your voice.” That’s all right. It’s coming.
Henson: Yes, and I wanted to be a part of the “it’s coming.” The world needs to know. I was blown away by how many songs this woman’s voice has been a part of. That’s gonna blow peoeple away. I can’t wait to watch it with an audience. I can’t wait. I’ve got goosebumps right now.
Avrich: I can’t wait to be with Darlene and Taraji again in this 1,400-seat theater when she lets out a performance and lets out a note. I think people are gonna miss dialogue because it’s just gonna be these incredible applause breaks of just, “Holy, whoa.”
There is one moment where I imagine there might actually be a lot of booing in the theater.
Henson: Oh, yeah!
And it’s when there is a clip of Phil Spector being interviewed later in his life, and he says something obviously no sane person would say out loud on camera, even if you thought it: that all the singers he worked with, including Darlene, were interchangeable. It’s easy to imagine boos breaking out at that moment…
Henson: I did it in the screening. I booedin the screening, and Darlene let out that laugh again. You know, she went, “Ah-ha-ha.” I cursed that day.
Love: While we were sitting together, Taraji goes, “She needs to get everything,” and she made this face like she was talking to him face to face. That was the funniest thing to me.
Henson: Mm, mm, mm, mm. I want to see this woman get every flower, every rose petal, every leaf from the plant that she deserves. I want her to get all the gold, all the silver, everything. She deserves it.
To talk for a minute about the guest interviewees in the film, you don’t have a million of them, but they’re all very valuable. Who was most necessary in providing either context or stories of friendship?
Avrich: It’s choreography. Everybody played a different role in Darlene’s life at a different time, and so I wanted that, whether it was David Letterman or Dionne Warwick or Cher or Marc Shaiman. I mean, they’re all there for a specific moment and not just a “Hey, she’s great” jukebox. For me, one of the most exciting parts of the film in terms of those interviews, aside from Darlene, was Steven Van Zandt, to talk about the musicology and technique of Darlene’s voice, and what were some of the obstacles for her in the business, as well as just her sheer range. When he does an analysis of “River Deep, Mountain High,” Darlene [who was originally slated by Spector to record the song] versus Tina Turner, we’re going to school. We edited note by note, almost, to show that, and I think that was one of the most exciting interviews. I probably spent the most time with him, aside from my sessions with Darlene, because he is an artist and understands composition and performance, so that was a big one for me.
And the others… The interview with Dionne minutes before going on stage was iconic for me, and you understood the the love between two people that went back decades and decades and decades. And then from the Springsteen perspective, we spent a fair bit of time with him in terms of, again, to Taraji’s point, he was like, “I’m gonna do everything I can for Darlene because she deserves everything… What do we have to do here to make sure that this icon is an icon?” So just that love, pardon the pun intended, was just so much a currency of the film.
Darlene, when you finally started to get your due and have a comeback, it was long overdue. And yet, as the film establishes, your comeback has been going on for about 45 years now…
Love: Right. It has been about 40 years, you’re absolutely right.
Which is refreshing to think about, because we all know some people only get it at the end of their life, and after. But there was a moment in the early ’80s when people started to realize who Darlene Love was, so you’ve had a while to get used to those accolades. And obviously you’ve been in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for a while now. But getting this kind of feature-length film treatment is still a milestone. Were you able to enjoy being the subject of it and think, yes, I deserve this?
Love: You know, when you reach certain heights, every time I reach one, I would say, “Well, thank you, God. Thank you, thank you.” But I think the biggest height for me was when I got recognized as a backup singer. As a backup singer, they treated me like I was one of them. I was never treated like a backup singer. And for me to be walk down that aisle at the Academy Awards and receive that award for something I have been doing for years and years and years that I love [she was at the podium when “Twenty Feet From Stardom” won the best documentary Oscar, and sang a bit, a cappella]… Now, to flip it, and now it’s being about just me personally… It’s like Taraji says, “OK, it’s time for her flowers.” It’s time. And you can’t really put a whole lot more on that word than it’s time. That’s really the way I feel about it. This film, I think, immortalizes something forever. Jimmy Jones said to me, “You can’t have a beautiful picture without the negative.” And if this is a life that personifies those words, that’s what it’s been, and we have a beautiful picture here.
