Darlene Love finally gets the credit she deserved

She's sung on chart-topping hits, performed with the likes of Elvis Presley and the Beach Boys and enjoyed a career that has lasted decades, yet only today is Darlene Love getting her just desserts.

Love (pictured above in 1963 with Phil Spector) is one of five musicians – the others are Alice Cooper, Neil Diamond, Tom Waits and Dr John – due to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in New York City today. Her inclusion among such household names may raise eyebrows - but her voice will be familiar to fans across the world.

The reason for her relative obscurity is her complicated relationship with legendary music man Phil Spector. It was Spector - the eccentric producer who pioneered the 'Wall of Sound' technique, but is today imprisoned for the murder of B-movie actress Lana Clarkson – who gave Love her break in the early 1960s.

In 1962, Spector got Love to sing lead vocals on the track He’s a Rebel. But when he released the song, which went quickly to number one, he attributed it not to Love but to a group signed to his label called The Crystals.

He’s a Rebel would go on to sell three million copies and heap fame and fortune on the band. Love, then in her early 20s, was paid a flat fee of $3,000 and given no credit.

With her next single, He's Sure the Boy I Love, Spector assured Love she would be credited. In the event, he went back on his word and again attributed it to The Crystals. She went on to record many other uncredited songs for various Spector artists, including Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans, until Spector eventually released the single Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) under her name.

Darlene Love, now 72, remains philosophical about her involvement with Spector. "I don't hate Phil," she told the New York Daily News recently. "I don't dislike him. I dislike some of the things he did to me, but if it weren't for those records he made 50 years ago, I wouldn't be here today." ·