Darlene Love: Bottom Line, New York NY

WHATEVER INCONGRUITY exists in the idea of a mature woman getting onstage and protesting that she's not too young to get married, or defiantly proclaiming her devotion to a no-goodnik boyfriend, no suspension of disbelief is necessary when Darlene Love is singing. She makes the most open-hearted expressions of romantic rapture in the annals of pop — the songs she sang as Phil Spector's other favorite female vocalist — wholly credible. Even twenty years ago, Love was no pixie; there was none of Ronnie Spector's puckering poutiness in her voice, only pure, guileless emotion, and the intervening decades of studio work have kept that voice in stunning shape.