Twenty Feet from Stardom

Greetings again from the darkness. "And the colored girls go do doo doo, do doo ...". The controversial lyrics from Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side" kick off this exceptional documentary about the oft-ignored back-up singers who have played (and continue to play) a huge role in some of the biggest songs of all-time. You may not know their names, but you have undoubtedly sung along with them while driving or taking a shower.

Director Morgan Neville has a credit list filled with music shorts and documentaries. One of my personal favorites of his is The American Masters on Muddy Waters. I recalled that while watching this one because Neville does a nice job of connecting the dots from Gospel, Blues and Soul to the roots of Rock and Roll. The main women featured here all admit to being daughters of preachers, and fine-tuning their ability to harmonize during their youth while singing in the church choir.

Most of the interview time and insight comes from Darlene Love, Lisa Fischer, and Merry Clayton. You may not recognize the names or faces, but you will surely recognize the voices. Ms. Love has been elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and may be best known thanks to her annual appearance on the David Letterman Show at Christmas. Ms. Fischer is the most frequent worker today of the three as she tours with Chris Botti, Sting and The Rolling Stones. However, the heart-stopping climax of the film belongs to Merry Clayton, as we are treated to her isolated vocals from the master on her infamous performance on the single "Gimme Shelter". Hearing her raw voice blast out "Rape. Murder. It's just a shot away" is both exhilarating and gut-wrenching. To hear her tell the story is mesmerizing. One of my favorite movie moments ever.

While we see and hear the personal stories filled with frustration and regrets, we also see an inherent love of music and the appreciation for their particular gift. We also hear from Tata Vega, Dr. Mabel John (a former Raelette for Ray Charles), and Claudia Lennear. With many similar stories of their quest for solo careers, we get the contemporary version with Judith Hill, a twenty-something working back-up today as she strives for a solo career. The parallels are obvious with her older peers.

Another excellent feature of the film comes in the form of interviews from the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Stevie Wonder, Lou Adler, Chris Botti, and Mick Jagger. We also see some studio shots featuring Phil Spector (once the hottest music producer, now incarcerated), and concert footage of Talking Heads, Ray Charles, The Rolling Stones, and the Concert for Bangladesh. It's especially fitting to see Luther Vandross as a back-up singer to David Bowie's "Young Americans", and to hear from Sheryl Crow, who worked as Michael Jackson's back-up/lead female. These are the examples of the back-ups who successfully made the walk.

My only minor quibble with the film is structural, not content. Neville has an over-whelming task of addressing each of the individual stories, while also relating it to the nasty and unfair music business, the Civil Rights movement, the development of Rock and Roll, and the role that "talent" plays in what Springsteen terms the "complicated" walk from back-up to lead singer (the titular 20 feet). The segment focusing on Merry Clayton's role in Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama" is especially poignant. Overall this film is fascinating and entertaining, and makes a great companion piece to Standing in the Shadows of Motown (2002) and Muscle Shoals (2013).

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.

They're the secret weapons behind most of the iconic music of their era but the public rarely knows their names. They take over the world of white backup singers and plain vanilla performances. They come from the gospel world. Darlene Love works under producer Phil Spector who uses her voice and released it as other people. These women are part of some of the most iconic songs ever.

This is a lot of information and a lot of different people. There are plenty of big names and recognizable faces. It's a lot of stories and songs. The first half is more like a highlight reel of fascinating behind-the-scene snippets. There's nothing wrong with that but it does get a little repetitive. The overall flow does allow the flow of time to deliver an overall story of backup singing in general. The second half recounts some of the girls trying to make it on their own and that part is interesting.

15 minutes into 20 Feet from Stardom you really become excited about the possibilities. You hear familiar songs that are given a new perspective and see the faces that match the voices you fell in love with. But before the film winds down, you have more questions than you did going in. It devolves into little more than a well-produced message from the Music Industry Tourism Board. That's not to say there's no value here. It does provide a look at some significant voices with a top-line glance into their place in the recording industry and their personal journeys. There's enough here to engage you and ample servings of some truly outstanding music (the a cappella take of Merry Clayton's "Gimme Shelter" vocal gives you chills and the recollection of its recording session is one of the film's highlights). But it's narrow focus and limited perspective do leave a lot on the table.

The bulk of the film consists of five stories from the 1960s to the present, including Darlene Love (ghost singer for The Crystals on "He's a Rebel" and a featured performer on the greatest Christmas album of all time, A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector), Merry Clayton (the aforementioned backup on The Rolling Stones' "Gimme Shelter" and actress from Cagney & Lacey), Tata Vega (The Color Purple soundtrack and numerous background gigs from the 80s to present), Lisa Fischer (Rolling Stones, Luther Vandross and Tina Turner collaborator and Grammy winning solo artist), and Judith Hill (Performed at Michael Jackson's memorial service and would go on to compete on season 4 of The Voice after the film's completion).

While both Tata Vega and Lisa Fisher seem to lack the resume of classic recordings that Love, Clayton or Claudia Lennear (another subject) have racked up, Judith Hill's inclusion is perhaps the most questionable. She seems to view the role of backup singer unbefitting her, going so far as to wear a wig when performing a backup gig on television so as not to be recognized by her fans. Having not amassed the body of work the other subjects have, she has little to contribute here except as a counterpoint to Lisa Fisher's humble demeanor or as a throw-in to represent the future of the industry. Unfortunately, she seems ill-suited to be a symbol or generational representative, as her scenes fail to accomplish this goal with any impact.

One of the issues I had coming into this movie as a music fan is that I was able to see the potential this kind of documentary had in mining the munificent history of Rock and Roll and Soul music. However, perhaps because of my own musical biases, I found the segments focusing on the music and voices of the 60s and 70s so much richer and more interesting. The film introduces big figures of the time like Phil Spector and Ike Turner but never explores the gory details of what it was like working with such notorious personalities. Indeed, one could have easily have scrapped anything 80s and upward and filled that time talking about the difficulties these women of colour faced from producers, record labels, and even the lead vocalists themselves, during some very turbulent times. Throw in some of the talented ladies from the George Clinton, Sly Stone and James Brown revues, or perhaps even a few of the fellas, and you have yourself a foundation for an insightful film.

The movie also fails to explore what it was like performing on some of the most famous recordings of our time and have little to show for it. Nothing is done to investigate whether these artists were fairly compensated. It was great that they were able to get Mick Jagger to sit down and talk about his backup singers, but it would have been interesting to ask him if he thought they had been properly remunerated for their work. Just a bit of a look into the mechanics of the industry in that regard would help us better understand what being in that occupation was like from a financial standpoint and what kind of life that affords.

At the end of the film's airy 90 minute running time, one does walk away with a new appreciation for the role of the backup singer (for at least the next little while) and perhaps that's all this documentary ever aspired to be. But an Oscar nominee should strive for something greater than that. While being entertaining, the film is hardly insightful and leaves one with the distinct impression of wanting more. Perhaps we can get a miniseries on this one day.