“Da Doo Ron Ron.” Ray Charles’ “What’d I Say.” Joe Cocker’s “Feelin’ Alright.” Lynyrd Skynrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama.” The Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter.” Strip these classic anthems of their backup vocals, and they’re just not the same. In 20 Feet from Stardom, music documentarian Morgan Neville introduces the “colored girls” of Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side”—for as offensive as the lyric is, the backup singers worth making a film about are mostly black and mostly female. And, for one reason or another, mostly out of the spotlight. As Bruce Springsteen says in the movie’s opening interview, “That walk to the front [of the stage] is complicated.”
Take Darlene Love, the ghost-voice behind the Crystals hits “He’s a Rebel” and “He’s Sure the Boy I Love,” produced by Phil Spector. (The murder conviction of the originator of the Wall of Sound isn’t mentioned in the film, but he comes off as kind of a dick anyway.) Love ended up cleaning houses later in life before eventually being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Or Merry Clayton, who was called in at the last minute to record “Gimme Shelter” and showed up in the middle of the night, pregnant and in curlers, to sing circles around Mick Jagger. With one soul singer already on the market—Aretha Franklin—her solo career “just didn’t take.”
Or Lisa Fischer, a fabulous improv performer with a Grammy-winning solo album. But without the narcissism and ego required to be a star, her window of opportunity closed. Or Judith Hill, who was booked to back up Michael Jackson on his “This Is It” tour only to find herself singing “Heal the World” for a billion people at his funeral. She wants to go solo but finds it hard to turn down plum backup gigs in the meantime—she’s even tried to sing in disguise.