The Singing Chef

With apologies to William Shakespeare, the famous line from Twelfth Night could pertain to 27-year-old Love. He writes music, sings in a band, and acts on stage. He also owns his own food business, Delicacies by Nick Love, which includes his homemade jams, jellies, pickles, and preserves.

Love must be in a “jam band,” you say with a wink? No. Love is into R&B, gospel, and smooth jazz, which he’s performed on Beale Street and at the Germantown Performing Arts Center. He sells his canned goods Thursdays through Saturdays at the Agricenter International Farmer’s Market. And his products can be ordered at delicaciesbynicklove.com.

Music and food have always been a part of the native Memphian’s life. Love’s first creative expression involved food. He was in kindergarten when he decided to whip up something for his parents to eat. “I wanted to make some hors d’oeuvres at like 7:30, 8 in the morning,” he says. So he cut up some hot dogs, covered them with cheese, stuck toothpicks in them, and took them to his parents’ bedroom. His surprised parents said, “Why are you in our room with hot dogs in our faces?”

Love comes from a family “who knows how to cook good food.” He loves to eat, so he was in the kitchen quite a bit. But he also was in the living room, which doubled as his “concert venue.”

Love, who had already written some of his own songs, was inspired to be a performer after he heard Anita Baker’s song, “Been So Long,” from her Rapture album. “It was like an itch that needed to be scratched,” he says. He thought, “I feel great right now. If I’m ever able to sing, I want people to feel through my music just how I feel now.”

Love’s dad introduced him to the music of Prince, Sade, and Barry White. “Good music was always playing.” Ironically, it was while fixing a bologna sandwich for his grandfather that Love discovered he was a vocalist. “I started singing. My grandfather looked at me and said, ‘Oh, my gosh, grandson, you can sing.’”

Love’s dad said, “I didn’t know you could sing.” And Love responded, “I didn’t know, either.”

His dad surprised him with a Yamaha keyboard that Christmas. Love stayed in his bedroom for three straight days learning to play songs on the keyboard.

He began seriously cooking in middle school. An aunt “would allow us to do things that our parents would not let us do. Like go in the kitchen and learn how to cook.” When his teacher asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up, Love responded, “The singing chef.”

He wanted to major in jazz voice when he was at the University of Memphis, but he couldn’t sight-read. So, he went into health studies. But he also formed a band with some students in the music department and played gigs at venues, including the Omni New Daisy. And he even fed his band members. “Pastas, chicken, hot dogs, meat, spinach dip, garlic bread. Stuff like that.”

His grandmother, who was his inspiration, showed him how to can. “I started making some bread and butter pickles and chow chow. It blew up. Everybody wanted some. I did not know it would be so well received. But it turns out a lot of people grew up with that kind of stuff.”

In 2025, Love began marketing his canned goods. He moved from canning at his grandmother’s to canning in a commercial kitchen. Now his products include sweet and spicy pickles with honey and jalapenos. He also makes chow chow, peach preserves, and mango, peach, and pineapple pepper jellies.

When he’s not canning, Love acts and sings. He’s set to perform some songs with Wyndie Oh! on October 3rd at Hattiloo Theatre.

He got into theater when he performed in Storms Pass By in 2025 at Circuit Playhouse. One of the characters was “a young working man in the 1800s who canned and made food.”

Love got the part. “I guess it was meant to be.” You might say that’s when Love officially became “the singing chef.”