A Um Passo do Estrelato

I had never heard of the performers, but have apparently enjoyed their contributions thousands of times. Praise to the producer and director for their headliner contributors. I saw the film at the Minneapolis - St Paul film festival. Merry Clayton came to the screening and sang for us after the showing. That girl still has the pipes. The story about her audition with the Rollings Stones was a hoot. The soundtrack is wonderful. Lisa Fischer has an amazing voice - blew my socks off. Hope the movie comes to a theater near me, so I can hear it again. I thought the director did a wonderful job of balancing the contributions of the headliners with the life stories of the singers. It was a treat to hear them do their thing out in the spotlight.

This film is highly recommended.

Midway through Morgan Neville's riveting new documentary about the world of backup singers, Twenty Feet from Stardom, music legend Sting comments that the most important factors needed for success, more so than talent, are luck and timing. That sage comment is the crux of this thoroughly entertaining film.

We meet a series of talented vocalists, mostly unknowns who contributed to many hit recordings of the past (songs like Gimme Shelter, Walk on the Wild Side, Young Americans, What'd I Say, and Sweet Home Alabama). We learn about their journey for fame and fortune and its high cost. Many edge their way toward the spotlight only to somehow lose sight of that elusive goal. Twenty Feet from Stardom honestly tells their life stories. Most end unhappily, some are more fortunate. All are thoroughly engrossing studies of blind ambition (or in some cases, the lack thereof) and the singer's personal need to share their vocal gift with others.

These background singers are a remarkable bunch of gifted performers, many of which go unrecognized by the general public, including myself. Names like Merry Clayton, Lisa Fischer, Judith Hill, the Waters Family, Claudia Lennear, Mabel John, Stevvi Alexander, Jo Lawry, and Tata Vega are bantered about. We witness these gifted women and their incredible high- reaching vocal range. This documentary gives the moviegoer a front row seat. It's must-see viewing.

Their individual journeys are fascinating and varied. We learn that some of these session singers leave the music industry to start other careers while others still languish in the music business waiting for their next gig. One singer ends up posing for Playboy while another finds a religious calling. One even wins a Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Artist for her debut album, only to find that her fame evaporate until her next recording. Probably the best known of these talents is Darlene Love who tells her tragic tale of the Svengali-like Phil Spector and his malicious control over her career. (Love poignantly admits that watching other performers lip-syncing to her voice and losing her musical identity in the process became too much for her to handle. We then actually see the footage of that act in question.)

Sometimes the film overstates its message and becomes a bit redundant. But the filmmakers have culled extraordinary performances, both then and now. Neville builds his story with rare archival footage of these singers in performances from the sixties to present day and he masterfully incorporates strong imagery throughout the many interviews with established stars like Bruce Springstein, Stevie Wonder, Patti Austin, Chris Botti, Bette Midler, Mike Jagger, and the aforementioned Sting. These stars truly appreciate the genuine talent of these women and the musical contributions they bought to their mega-recordings.

Twenty Feet from Stardom creates a visual and auditory record of these great soul singers and may help them one day gain the recognition they deserve. Let's hope filmmaker Neville doesn't need luck and timing on his side either until his next film. He is a real talent to watch and his film is a joy to be heard. (I will eagerly wait for the soundtrack.) GRADE: B+

ANY COMMENTS: Please contact me at: jadepietro@rcn.com

20 Feet from Stardom (2013)

**** (out of 4)

Whereas SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN was one of the best films of 2012, this year has another musical documentary that turns out to be a masterpiece. Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Stevie Wonder, Lou Adler, Sheryl Crow, Bette Midler and Mick Jagger are just a few of the well-known singers who talk about some back-up singers who everyone will know from certain hit songs yet it's highly unlikely that you'll know their names. Merry Clayton, Darlene Love, Claudia Lennear, Lisa Fischer, Tata Vega and Judith Hill get their shot in the spotlight as they talk about why they are highly respected inside the business yet they never managed to become "stars" or lead singers on their own. Some of their reasons include them not wanting to but there are some darker ones dealing with race as well as Phil Spector simply hiding one from being famous. 20 FEET FROM STARDOM is a masterpiece in regards to music documentaries and it ranks right up there with some of the greatest ever made. It was rather amazing sitting back and hearing these stories and when you realize some of the music that these women have been involved with you certainly see why so many sing their praises. This includes Clayton who was pregnant and wearing rollers in her hair when she got a phone call in the middle of the night to help The Rolling Stones with what would become the chorus for Gimme Shelter. The film is full of wonderful and touching stories dealing with either high praise or simply hard luck. The fact that so many great songs are so memorable because of something that background singers are doing is a subject that seems to be long overdue. This film certainly makes it a very fascinating subject and it makes you wonder how many others are out there just waiting to get some credit that they deserve. The film features some terrific music from all of the artists mentioned so music fans will have a blast hearing songs from the 50s up through the 90s. 20 FEET FROM STARDOM is certainly one of the best films of 2013.

This documentary is another in a recent cycle that looks at those from the music industry who have been neglected in some way. In 'A Band Called Death' we learn about an innovative proto-punk band who never even got a chance to record an album and were only rediscovered over 35 years after recording their demo tapes, in 'Anvil: the Story of Anvil' we follow a band who have maintained a very mediocre level of success over a very long time and in' Searching for Sugarman' we are given the incredible story about a musician who released a couple of records that no one bought and who vanished without a trace for quarter of a century. The angle that '20 Feet from Stardom' is coming from is very similar but with a twist – this is the story of neglected musicians who are in actual fact the voices of the sounds that have been in ours heads our whole lives.

It centres on a selection of classy African American female backup singers who recorded vocal accompaniments for a series of stars from the 60's to the present day. While they were essentially voices for hire, often it was their vocals that made the songs so good – listen to David Bowie's 'Young Americans' and tell me that it's the backing vocals that aren't the best part. But the story has a sadness, as these incredible singers rarely got beyond the backup part of the act. Sometimes they tried and their career stalled. This was because being a successful solo artist requires so many variables such as songs, charisma and determination. While it also needs the marketing powers of the record label. All these ingredients are not necessarily a given for someone with a beautiful voice. However, in some cases actual exploitation seems to have occurred as in the case of Darlene Love, who was used by producer Phil Spector as the voice that the girl group The Crystals claimed as their own but even more unforgivably, Spector got Love to record a track promising it was going to go out under her name only to surreptitiously give it to The Crystals again.

The film uses a talking heads format, with contributions from a variety of stars that used backup singers such as Mick Jagger, Bruce Springsteen and Sting. There is also priceless archive footage of the likes of Ray Charles and, best of all, Ike and Tina Turner. Sometimes we even get to deconstruct a famous song to hone in on the backup vocals, such as in the case of the track 'Gimme Shelter' which is very possibly the best song the Rolling Stones ever recorded. We hear the backup vocal in all its isolated glory and it becomes very obvious that without it, this song would simply be nowhere near as powerful. So, let's hear it for those unheralded women who have filled our heads with such beautiful sounds all these years. This is their moment of recognition and they deserve it.

This is a documentary of the background singers we've been listening to for decades. People whose singing we actually sing or hum to without ever knowing who they are. They work in the studios and live on stage with The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Sting, and many, many others. That magic that works in the studio or on stage as background singers is undeniable but may not necessarily be there for them when they try to branch out on their own as a lead singer. They are talented for sure and many songs wouldn't sound anything like they do without back up singers.

The documentary is good however, something is missing. Who actually calls the singers for a gig? Who actually pays them? How are they paid? By the hour? By the session? How did they get started? Where was their first gig? None of this spoken of and there is a sense that perhaps the interviewers were told that they shouldn't dig too, too deep.

Not bad but left me wanting more.