Twenty feet from Stardom

I will admit that I never distinguished the absolute importance of backup singers until i had to watch 20 feet from stardom. Now I cannot listen to a classic rock or pop song without noticing how much the song is dependent on the vocal harmony supplied by the backup singers themselves. The documentary really shed light on a profession that is most often taken for granted. The film really describes how important it is in unifying the sound that the singer is trying to achieve. One of my favorite parts in the film is when Merry Clayton is describing how she was woken up at two in the morning and told to go down to the studio and do the backup for a little know band called the Rolling Stones. She didnt really know who they were but they wanted her help with their new song Gimme Shelter. Now in my humble opinion Gimme Shelter is the Rolling Stones greatest song. Clayton describes how they wanted her to sing the chorus with the lyrics Rape......Murder its just a shot away.Mick Jagger was really supportive of Clayton, letting her put her own emotion into the song and not sing to support Micks lead vocals. Of course the high point in the song is when Clayton is refrained and lets loose with the high octave blaring of RAPE....MURDER she goes so high her voice cracks and if you listen closely you can hear Jagger yell Whoa in the studio because he was blown away by Clayton's voice. Its one of my favorite moments in the film, and its the best part of that song, and its the one part that isnt the bands, which shows just how taken for granted a good backup singer can be. The other part of the film deals with Darlene Love, who was asked to fill in with her vocals with the band but never given proper credit for that. Darlene Love and The Blossoms were promised a solo recording contract with Phil Spector but he made sure she was never able to break free. Ironically the song Darlene Love sang as part of the Crystals Hes a Rebel was their only #1 hit in the U.S. After that Spector did everything he could to keep her from leaving. When you realize that Darlene Love helped sing back up on Be My Baby, Johnny Angel, Monster Mash, Doo Ron Ron, Baby I love You to name just a few is amazing. And when Ronnie Spector couldnt hit the high emotional notes of Chrristmas, Baby please come home, Dalene sang it herself, and its still the best rock and roll Christmas song ever. And she sang the best SNL parody Christmas song ever as well with Christmastime for the Jews, which is hilarious. At least for her recognition came when she was inducted into the Rock Hall of Fame.