Shu-do-run-run-run-shu-do-run-run: Back-up singers (Tewnty Feet from Stardom)

Though it's probably about 20 minutes too long, the documentary Twenty Feet from Stardom is a terrific look at several backup singers - most of them black, all but one women - and their careers and their aspirations and in some cases frustrations and disappointments. Part of the message of the film, at least its intended message, is in the title: these women are fantastic singers who have come very close to being stars in themselves but for one reason or another have just missed. The film seems to be edging us to think that their missing out is a matter of luck and chance and exploitative producers, and those are factors, but I think, whether it means to do so or not, the film also shows that it's also a matter of talent (and drive). Backup singers, to an extent, learn to self-efface and to erase the individuality of their voices, and even their look - they have to blend into a group, and highlight the star but not supplant the star. So their voices and their style tends to be homogenous, and replicable. You have to imagine that there are dozens of great backups ready to fill in - just as there are dozens of great studio guitarists in Nashville, for example, none who will ever have a solo career. Some of the backups are just fine with this and have great careers - the Waters Family in LA is one example in the film - and one or two break the stereotype and begin to solo (Darlene Love) and others feel they've been the victims of chance. But when you see them in performance you understand - they're not stars, their "original" songs are derivative and dull, they don't have the look or the moves. Interestingly, of the many white singers for whom the women in the film sing backup, all but one are British - the British stars used the backups to make their sound more Afro-American, more blues - they needed that element in a way that American rock stars, many of them Southern in any case - seem not to. All that said, there is an element of destiny in stardom, as Sting notes in one of the interviews - on top of talent and drive - and some of the backups clearly were exploited by nasty producers, notably Phil Spector: one backup (Darlene Love?) recorded and had her voice dubbed into hit songs supposedly by the Crystals, who were just lip-synching. If it's any consolation to her, the Crystals probably got no money either, and very fleeting fame.