Darlene Love knows where she's going after "Late Night With David Letterman."

She's going to The Christmas City.

"Darlene Love: Love for The Holidays" is at 8 p.m. Dec. 20, Baker Hall, Zoellner Arts Center, Lehigh University, Bethlehem.

Love sings "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" on the "Late Show With David Letterman" for the last time Dec 19. Letterman retires from the show May 20, 2015.

Love has performed the song for 28 years on Letterman's show prior to the Christmas holiday.

"Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" was recorded by Love for producer Phil Spector's "A Christmas Gift For You From Phillies," released Nov. 22, 1963. Spector is credited with writing the song with Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry.

At 73, Love is enjoying a career renaissance thanks to "20 Feet From Stardom" (2013), which received an Oscar documentary award for film-maker Morgan Neville and producer Gil Friesen.

Love sings a duet of "He's Sure The Boy I Love" with Bette Midler, who inducted her into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011, on Midler's album, "It's The Girls" released in November.

Early next year, Love releases a new album produced by Steven Van Zandt and is the subject of a biopic produced by Oprah Winfrey.

Love, along with other backup singers including Judith Hill, Merry Clayton, Lisa Fischer and Tata Vega, was featured in "20 Feet From Stardom."

The title "20 Feet from Stardom" refers to the distance of backup singers from a lead singer's microphone on stage and the many frustrations in the life of a backup singer, many of whom have discovered that distance to the spotlight of stardom to be insurmountable.

Love was in the spotlight when she stepped up to the main microphone to accept the Oscar for "20 Feet from Stardom" at the 86th Academy Awards ceremony, March 2, 2014, in the Dolby Theatre, Los Angeles. She sang "His Eye Is On the Sparrow," receiving a standing ovation.

The decision to sing the gospel song is emblematic of the faith of Love, daughter of a minister who learned to sing in church choirs.

"It happens to be my favorite time of year. Everybody seems to be in the spirit of giving," Love says of the holidays in a phone interview.

"I grew up in a Christian home. My father was a minister. I continued that all my life. I had to have faith to be in this business I've been in. At 73, with all I've been through in this business, I don't know where I'd be today."

Winfrey is producing OWN's first scripted TV film, "My Name is Love: The Darlene Love Story," to be released in early 2015.

Toni Braxton, the singer-songwriter ("Un-Break My Heart") and actress, portrays Love in the biopic.

"They'll get to see the struggle that I've had," Love says of the biopic. "When you fall, you get back up. As long as you're strong and healthy. You have to have your focus on something else. I believe God gave me this talent. My faith had made me strong."

What tips did Love have for Braxton to portray her?

"We've spent some time together over the last couple months. She wanted to be around me to see how I act. One thing the director said, he said, 'She has got to get the laugh.' I have one of those hearty laughs," Love says, laughing heartily as if to emphasize the point. It's a lovely laugh that will punctuate the interview. Even her laugh has a melody of its own.

"Our lives kind of chronicle one another. We both had financial troubles and illnesses," Love says of Braxton and herself.

During the late 1980s and 1990s, Love starred opposite Danny Glover in the four "Lethal Weapon" movies and was on Broadway in "Grease" and "Hairspray."

When you think of the hits on which Love has sung, the term, "Wall Of Sound," a term applied to producer Phil Spector's dense, layered, overdubbing studio techniques, comes to mind.

The list of hits that Love has sung on and performers she's accompanied is a "who's who" rock, pop and soul music.

As part of the Spector studio vocal group, The Blossoms, Love sang on recordings with or backed up Sam Cooke, Dionne Warwick, The Beach Boys, Elvis Presley, Tom Jones, Sonny and Cher, Johnny Rivers, Frank Sinatra ("That's Life"), Shelley Fabares ("Johnny Angel"), The Ronettes ("Be My Baby") and The Crystals ("Da Doo Ron Ron").

Love sang lead on the single "He's A Rebel," a No. 1 hit in 1962, even though it was credited to The Crystals. As Darlene Love, she recorded "Today I Met The Boy I'm Gonna Marry."

Love's voice is still big and strong. What's her secret?

"Number one, it's a gift. It's up to you to take care of it. I am not a Goody Two-shoes. I stopped smoking 20 years ago. I am not a drinker. I have a glass of wine sometime. Your body is a temple. You have to take care of it.

"Bruce Springsteen said, 'Darlene Love is "The Wall Of Sound."' My voice was powerful enough to overcome whatever Phil Spector was doing. My voice was clear. I was only 20-years-old. I had no idea what I was doing.

"My doctor even asked me. I'm a very much a loud laughter," she says, laughing again. "I talk loud. But there are times during the day when I shut down. I shut down for three or four hours."

Love says the title for her album, set for February or March release, hasn't been decided, though all 14 of the songs, including those written for her by Bruce Springsteen and Elvis Costello, have been recorded.

"I can't reveal the names of the titles of those songs. Little Stevie in his infinite wisdom has changed some of the titles and he hasn't told the artist," she laughs.

Love says Van Zandt's wife wrote one of the songs on her album.

"Maureen wrote it overnight. It's the last song: 'Jesus Is The Rock That Keeps Me Rolling.' Paul Shaffer is on organ. There's a duet with Bill Medley [of the Righteous Brothers]. There's a lot of surprises on it. I heard it when it was partly finished," she says of the album.

There will also be a surprise or two when she sings "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" on "Letterman."

"I have no idea what we're going to do. Paul [Shaffer] said they're going to take over the whole stage. I think it's going to be a big gigantic thing."

And, soon after that you know what Darlene Love will be doing.

She's going to "The Christmas City."