Born Darlene Wright in Los Angeles in 1938, she began her career as the lead vocalist of the vocal trio The Blossoms. After a period of regular appearances on the ABC musical TV show "Shindig!" (1964), in the early '60s the trio began singing backing vocals on a number of Elvis Presley's recordings and even supported him on the 1968 NBC TV special "Elvis: The Comeback" (1968). For a time they performed backing vocals for Tom Jones on his Las Vegas show. The Blossoms have a rare distinction: they recorded a number-one hit without ever receiving any credit. Years before Milli Vanilli, Darlene Love, Fanita James, and Gracie Nitzsche performed the vocals on the song "He's a Rebel," written by Gene Pitney, which was promoted as the first (and only) US number-one hit by The Crystals.

Due to complicated logistics, producer Phil Spector had to use The Blossoms because The Crystals were on the other side of the US at the time. And since he was in a hurry in Los Angeles, trying to get his version on the air before Vikki Carr's version, he had no choice. Love also sang on the top-twenty hit "Zip-a-Dee Doo Dah" by Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans.