Movie Review: Twenty Feet from Stardom Introduces Us to the Pop ...

Similar to the 2002 documentary?Standing in the Shadows of Motown, Morgan Neville?s?Twenty Feet from Stardom?finds its subjects on the periphery of the music industry. And like the session players that churned out the music for hit after hit at Motown records, the backup singers in the new documentary sang on many rock and pop classics. None of them, however, broke through to center stage.

Comprised of interviews with some of the prominent backup singers, as well as performers like Mick Jagger, Bruce Springsteen, and Sting, the film follows the career of a few of the voices who were behind many successful recordings, even if that success never translated into the stardom they dreamed of. Merry Clayton recorded ?Gimme Shelter? with the Stones; she was one of Ray Charles? Raelette; and she sang with Tom Jones, Joe Cocker, Burt Bacharach, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and many others. Lisa Fischer sang with Luther Vandross and Tina Turner, she won a Grammy, and regularly tours with the Rolling Stones. Judith Hill was Michael Jackson?s duet partner before his untimely death. There are others who receive the documentary?s spotlight too. What the hold in common is incredible talent, repeated brushes with stardom, and an inability to transcend from the roll of the side act to the main star, despite common ambitions to step out from the shadow of the backup singer.

Part of the appeal of Twenty Feet from Stardom is the behind the scenes glimpse into the recording of some classic music, as well as hearing these incredible talents sing today. We hear firsthand accounts of Phil Spector?s domineering, in studio personality, and find out that Merry Clayton was woken in the middle the night for the ?Gimme Shelter? sessions and she sung the song with curlers in her hair. But what gives the film its real emotional impact is the way it weds the viewer to the backup singers? missed opportunities and bad luck. Most of us are bit players in life. In these almost-stars? attempts realize their dreams, and their subsequent anguish when they come up short, we see something of ourselves. And unlike the punch of excitement experienced when watching someone win The Voice and American Idol, the failures of the backup singers feel closer to our own experience of life. It?s an aching, cathartic feeling.

Source: http://frontrow.dmagazine.com/2013/06/movie-review-twenty-feet-from-stardom-introduces-us-to-the-pop-sensations-we-never-knew/

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