SACHYN MITAL
Bruce Springsteen with Darlene Love at Town Hall in New York on Nov. 30.
Calling her “my forever crush,” Bruce Springsteen helped honor Darlene Love at her concert at Town Hall in New York, Nov. 30, taking the stage to present her with a platinum record (signifying sales of more than 1 million) for the multi-artist November 1963 album, A Christmas Gift for You From Phil Spector, which contained her recording of “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).” The song has sold more than 3 million copies.
You can watch a video of Springsteen’s speech, and Love’s speech that followed it, below.
Springsteen called the song “the absolute greatest Christmas rock ‘n’ roll song of all time” and said “that song and Darlene have been a part of our holidays for 60 years.”
He also said of material credited to the group The Crystals in the ’60s, “It was Darlene’s voice, filled with teenage longing, that made those songs hits.”
Love and Cher, who sang backing vocals on the original recording of “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home),” recorded a duet version that has been included on Cher’s new album, Christmas. The two sang it together Nov. 29, at the televised tree lighting ceremony at Rockefeller Center in New York. You can watch that performance below as well.
Love, who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011, turned 82 this summer.
Here are the videos:
CONTRIBUTE TO NJARTS.NET
Since launching in September 2014, NJArts.net, a 501(c)(3) organization, has become one of the most important media outlets for the Garden State arts scene. And it has always offered its content without a subscription fee, or a paywall. Its continued existence depends on support from members of that scene, and the state’s arts lovers. Please consider making a contribution of any amount to NJArts.net via PayPal, or by sending a check made out to NJArts.net to 11 Skytop Terrace, Montclair, NJ 07043.
1 comment
Great writing Jay, of course.