Mary Love
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Mary Love, born (sources differ) as Mary Ann Allen or Mary Ann Varney (July 27, 1943 – June 21, 2013), and later known as Mary Love Comer, was an American soul and gospel singer, and Christian evangelist.
Love was born in Sacramento, California. After being discovered by Sam Cooke's manager, J.W. Alexander, she began singing on sessions in Los Angeles before recording “You Turned My Bitter Into Sweet” for the Modern record label in 1965. Later records for the label met with little success until "Move a Little Closer," which made the R&B chart in 1966. Her recordings for Modern, sone of which were issued in the UK, subsequently became popular on the English Northern soul scene. She revisited the lower reaches of the R&B chart with "The Hurt Is Just Beginning" for Roulette in 1968, but thereafter made few recordings for some years.
In the early 1980s she re-emerged as Mary Love Comer, singing gospel-flavoured soul with a Christian message. With husband Brad Comer she released the single "Come Out Of The Sandbox" in 1987. The couple also ran their own church in Tennessee.
