She may not have sported a big hat while belting out Pharrell's Oscar nominated song "Happy," but all eyes were on "20 Feet From Stardom" star Darlene Love when the film's team took the stage to accept the Academy Award for Best Documentary.
The Morgan Neville-directed doc centers on the rich world of music's best backup singers; talented performers who often toil just outside the spotlight and rarely get the kudos (and, yes, the awards) they deserve.
The film premiered to plenty of love at last year's Sundance Film Festival, and its awards-season run has been similarly rewarding: Neville's doc won a slew of accolades, including a Critics' Choice Award for Best Documentary Feature and a place on the National Board of Review's list of Top Five Documentaries, before topping off its run with an Oscar. And along the way, Love herself has become one of the film's most dazzling stars.
But just who is the enchanting songstress who captivated both the film's audience and every single person at tonight's Oscars ceremony when she expressed her joy in the best way she knows how — through stirring song?
The 72-year-old singer first started out belting out jams in her local church choir in Southern California, before being picked to join the Blossoms. An all-girl group that never quite hit the big time, the gals did, however, work with legendary producer Phil Spector during the height of his creative output in the early 1960s.
Love and the Blossoms can be heard singing backup on such well-known songs as Shelly Fabares' "Johnny Angel" and a ...