Review by Pamela Zoslov
Morgan Neville's enthralling
documentary 20 FEET FROM STARDOM
could be seen as a companion piece to the 2002 STANDING IN THE SHADOWS OF MOTOWN. Both
films tell the stories of the largely unheralded supporting players
in pop music: STANDING IN THE SHADOWS profiled
the Funk Brothers, the backing band for Motown's biggest hits, and 20 FEET shines a spotlight on the
talented background singers whose contributions have immeasurably
enhanced pop and rock hits for decades.
You
may not know their names, but you certainly know their voices –
strong, powerful, sublimely harmonizing voices, often honed in the
church and deployed to magical effect by record producers like Phil
Spector and Lou Adler in the 1960s and later adopted by rock
musicians like Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Joe Cocker and Sting, who
adulated the singers' musicianship, and the incredible showmanship of
groups like Ike Turner's Ikettes.
The
film profiles the marvelous Darlene Love, whose sextet, The Blossoms,
started out singing spirituals and was tapped by Phil Spector to sing
“He's a Rebel.” That's 18-year-old Darlene singing lead, but the
record was credited to Spector's girl group, The Crystals. “We did
a lot of ghosting,” Darlene says. The Blossoms were paid only
modest session fees. The Blossoms also sang on the Crystals' “Da
Doo Ron Ron,” the Ronettes' “Be My Baby” and the Righteous
Brothers' “You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'.”
A
theme of exploitation runs through this history. I initially thought
the use of African-American background singers by English rock groups
smacked of colonialism; after seeing this film, I realized it was the
American record producers who misused them.“Spector kept her in a
box,” says one of the movie's speakers, an eerie statement
reverberant with the anecdote in which convicted killer Spector,
while married to Ronnie Spector, kept a coffin in his house and
threatened to put her in it.
Love's
powerful voice was heard on records by Sam Cooke, Dionne
Warwick, the Beach Boys, Elvis and Johnny Rivers. She recorded songs
under her own name, notably “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home),”
but like most of the background singers who try to launch solo
careers, she didn't become a star. Later years found her cleaning
houses to make ends meet before she heard her Christmas song on the
radio at a house she was cleaning. She realized who she was, launched
a comeback, and in 2010 was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame, recognized as the greatest session and background singer of all
time.
Another
singer profiled in the film is Merry Clayton, the incredible soul and
gospel singer most famous for her vocals on the Stones' “Gimme
Shelter.” She talks about the recording session, for which she was
roused from her bed in the middle of the night. She recalls her
shocked reaction to Jaggers' stark, apocalyptic lyrics. “Rape,
murder?” Her response was to
sing the hell out of it. What would that song be without Clayton's
devastating descant? (She later recorded her own version of the
song.) She also describes how she brought a defiant racial pride to
the background vocals for Lynyrd Skynyrd's “Sweet Home Alabama.”
The footage of Skynyrd's stage show, with a chorus line of
high-stepping girls in red, white and blue hot pants, does make you
wonder about the muddled message of Ronnie Van Zandt's anthem. Jagger
speaks eloquently about Clayton and the other talented singers, like
gorgeous Claudia Lennear — said to be the inspiration for “Brown
Sugar” — who have had starring roles in his music. Without their
contributions, Jagger says, it would just be him and Keith singing –
a far less interesting thing. Bruce Springsteen, Sting and Stevie
Wonder, who have made abundant use of background singers, also talk
about their invaluable contributions.
Clayton,
too, tried to have a solo career, releasing three good records
produced by the brilliant Lou Adler, but for some reason they didn't
take off. That, the film points out, has more to do with the vagaries
of the music business than with talent. There was no place for a
female soul-and-gospel singer, because “there's only one Aretha.”
Sting says, “It's not about talent. It's about circumstance, luck
and destiny.” Lennear, unable to sustain a music career, now
teaches Spanish, but hopes to return to music someday.
The
background singers are motivated by music, not by fame. The
supporting qualities that make them good at background singing don't
always lend themselves to solo careers, which require a huge amount
of ego and self-promotion. Says rock historian Warren Zanes, “The
blend is transformative. Some people want to stay there.” Says
Springsteen, “It can be a pretty long walk” from background
singer to solo star.
The film not only tells these singers' stories,
but also captures the spiritual quality of music, the peak experience
of joyously using your god-given talents. Look at the Waters Family,
a joyful clan whose voices have enhanced Michael Jackson's Thriller
and movies like THE LION KING and AVATAR.
And Mable John, a blues singer who was a Ray Charles Raelette and had
a distinguished solo career. She left secular music in 1973 and
returned to her gospel roots. Now 82, Dr. Mable John sings her heart
out in the church: “He has made me glad....”
This
movie made me glad. 4 out of 4 stars.
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