The winter holiday season is among the busiest times of the year for Darlene Love, the singer behind one of the greatest Christmas songs of all time.  

Known for songs like “He’s a Rebel” and “(Today) I Met the Boy I’m Gonna Marry,” as well as her work with girl group The Blossoms and as a backup singer, Love has appeared in the Oscar-winning documentary “20 Feet from Stardom” about backing vocalists and acting roles in the Lethal Weapon film series. 

She has been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and was named one of the 100 greatest singers of all time by Rolling Stone, but it was Love’s yearly television performance of her 1963 hit, “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” that enchanted her fans with the spirit of Christmas. 

Love will perform holiday classics and other favorites Sunday night at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts. In a phone interview she was open about her struggles and who she credits for reviving her career. 

Barry Lewis: Sixty years ago, you were the lead singer on the number one record, “He’s a Rebel.” What was it like hearing it for the first time on the radio? 

Darlene Love: You hear great singers on the radio, but you never think of what your voice would sound like on the radio. I was actually driving in my car to go to a recording session when it came on and I wanted to pull over to the side and just stop and listen, but I couldn’t because I was in the middle of traffic. I had heard my voice as a background singer but never as the lead. Wow, this sounds pretty good. 

Lewis: The Blossoms, is the group that recorded the Phil Spector-produced “He’s a Rebel” but the record was released under the group name the Crystals, so you never got the credit.  

Love: I did the record as a session singer and knew the name on the record would be The Crystals. After you hear it on the radio you don’t think about that. I think when the record became a hit I said, “boy, I wish my name was on there.” That could have been my first hit record. 

Lewis: One thing that really got me in the 20 Feet from Stardom movie was that anecdote about you cleaning a house and hearing your song.  

Love: I worked with Dionne Warwick for 10 years, and I was out on the road with Tom Jones, and Elvis and I really was tired. I wanted to go home and be with my family. Then I tried to get back into doing background work, which was all gone by then. People brought their own singers into their sessions and the other singers that I started in the business had taken over. When I couldn’t find anything to do, I just started doing housework because it is the one job you could get money right away. I made $50 a day. I could feed myself, feed my kids. I was cleaning this lady’s bathroom and it was during the holiday season, and I was taking on more jobs so I could have a little more money for the kids for Christmas. I heard “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” playing on her radio, in her house. 

Lewis: In the movie, you say, “My life has been all about trying to make a success from the gift that I have.” That’s great advice for anyone with a dream. 

Love: Exactly. That movie can be about anybody’s life. It just happens to be about backup singers. That’s why so many people loved it. Anybody trying to make a success in any profession. You can put yourself in that. I knew I had more talent to display than just to be hidden in the background.  

Lewis: Does it all feel that much sweeter when you get into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?  

Love: Those are the gifts. And if I had stayed in California, I never would have had all that because I never had another hit record. People don’t understand that. Once I moved here, I did the Broadway show “Leader of the Pack.” Paul Schafer played Phil Specter and he got David Letterman to come see the show. Not to see me but to see the show he was in. The next night David says on his TV show, `That’s the greatest Christmas Song I’ve ever heard. You need to get her on this show.’   

Lewis: You’re talking about “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).”  

Love: I did that show for 28 years singing that one song. That opened all the doors for people to start hiring me to do shows, and mostly around Christmas time.  

Lewis: The production of that song got bigger every year. 

Love: One year we got on the stage, and I yelled, “Where am I going to stand?” There were so many singers and musicians on the stage, even David Letterman one night said, “Who’s paying for all this” and I told him, “you are.”  

Lewis: And Darlene Love finally gets the recognition you worked so hard for. 

Love: Oh yea. I didn’t have any idea it was going to be that big. I tell David Letterman often, I have a career today because of you. He doesn’t like to take credit for it, but I give him credit. People walk up to me on the street and say, “Christmas doesn’t start until I hear you sing that song on David Letterman.” Even today they still say it. 

Lewis: At 81 you’re still supplying the holiday spirit. 

Love: I loved singing. That’s my life. I love entertaining and making people feel good. We can all use that, especially this time of year. God gave me a voice to keep on spreading the joy. 

IF YOU GO:

Where: Event Galley, Bethel Woods Center for the Arts

When: 8 p.m., Sunday December 11

Tickets: www.bethelwoodscenter.org