There’s a lot of love for Darlene Love, the R&B, soul singer and actress who has been performing for more than 60 years. Among those in her extensive fan club are Oscar-nominated actress Taraji P. Henson, producer of the new documentary Darlene Love: I Know Where I’ve Been.
“There are a lot of people out here who have beautiful voices. They hit the notes perfectly, but do they make me feel what they are singing about?” Henson observed as she stopped by Deadline’s TIFF Studio before the film’s world premiere. “She will stop you in your tracks because it’s not just her voice is powerful, it’s where it’s coming from. That’s coming from a lived life. That’s coming from pain. That’s coming from joy. That’s coming from faith. That’s coming from a place you can feel.”
The film explores the highs and lows of Love’s life. As a singer, she always enjoyed great respect and admiration from her peers, but music industry figures like producer Phil Spector found ways to exploit her talent without giving her proper credit, which denied Love the wider fame she deserved.
Darlene Love
Courtesy of Mike Ruiz
Along with recording “He’s a Rebel,” “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” and other hits, Love starred in the Lethal Weapon movies as Trish Murtaugh, wife of Danny Glover’s character, LAPD Det. Roger Murtagh. Through ups and downs in her career and personal life, Love (85) has managed to maintain a positive attitude.
“No matter what was going on in front of me with children, ex-husbands, whatever it was, it was not going to stop me. And I just never looked back,” Love said. “And there was plenty that was holding me back even when I was saying, ‘This is not going to hold me back.’ It’s just determination, the faith I had in God that I knew I wanted to do this.”
Barry Avrich (The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue) directed the film. He’s another major fan of Love’s.
“Who could sing Rock n’ Roll, R&B, gospel, Motown, jazz. I mean, this is the alchemy of Sarah Vaughan, Aretha Franklin, everybody of the greats that you can think of,” Avrich commented. “Still here, 85 years old and still has that instrument. It’s mesmerizing.”
Henson, who earned her Academy Award nomination for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, is up for playing Love in a potential feature adaptation of her story.
“When you’re a woman, a Black woman of a certain age, if you haven’t made your dreams come true yet, it kind of looks bleak,” Henson said of Love’s perseverance. “It kind of looks like it’s never going to happen. And I know there are so many people out there, it doesn’t matter what age, that need this story… And I felt I needed this story. I see so much of young Taraji in her story and all the obstacles that I had to go through coming to LA with a kid on my hip. And those stories matter because they inspire people and they let people know that if you don’t give up on yourself, the universe won’t.”
Watch the full interview in the video above.
The Deadline Studio at TIFF is hosted at Bisha Hotel and presented by Volvo, Columbia, Patrón and Schwarzkopf.
Panelists: Barry Avrich (director/producer); Taraji P. Henson (producer); Darlene Love (subject)
First Screening: Monday, Sept. 14 at Royal Alexandra Theatre
Sales agent: Submarine Entertainment