Twenty Feet from Stardom
Genre : Documentary
Year : 2013
Director : Morgan Neville
Screenplay :
Starring : Darlene Love, Merry Clayton, Lisa Fischer

There’s a remarkable amount of great historical rock ‘n’ roll film in this documentary about the most prominent (but generally not famous) backing singers in the music business.

One thing which is obvious throughout is that these relatively unsung heroes can sing just as well as the superstars they are backing, and that’s something that the stars generally are quite willing to acknowledge. So what prevents them from stepping up to the front?

Sometimes they don’t want to, sometimes they just lack that mysterious quality of charisma. Maybe sometimes also they don’t have the looks.

Amongst the stars who are all well appreciative of their support are Mick Jagger, Bruce Springsteen and David Bowie, and no doubt most viewers would prefer to see more than just the brief clips of some of their concerts and recording sessions.

One of the most heavily featured singers is Darlene Love, who had years as a backing singer, then went solo, packed it all in and then returned and was finally inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame. She is the most successfully.

Then there is Lisa Fischer who has featured on a string of Stones albums, so that's not bad.

By and large though nobody is moaning about the injustice of it all, they all seem to be having a good time and it is interesting throughout. It’s just a series of stories, not making any big points, and maybe some day someone will put together all the rock footage featured in full. That really would be a good rock film.

7 and a half out of 10 -

mike@mikes-movies.co.uk

A COLLECTION OF INDEPENDENT FILM & MOVIE REVIEWS BY MIKE HUNTER
Thanks to David Kinvig for the header cartoon

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