20 feet from stardom

[Shawn@PRS]

I watched a movie on Netflix the other night called "20 feet from stardom". It's about background singers and it features some pretty prominent songs, even if you are not familiar with the singers who sung them. One of the highlights of the movie for me was this section where Merry Clayton and Mick Jagger talk about the vocals Merry did on the Stones' song "Gimme Shelter". The isolated vocal track illustrates the raw power and emotion a voice can achieve. Check it out.

 

[NomadMike]

In the song itself I loved hearing Jagger say "whoo!" after her famous voice crack. Merry's performance will never be matched on that song.

 

[CoreyT]

Very cool, I always wondered who sung that part along with Mick.

 

[László]

By strange coincidence I'm working on an ad track, and over the past few days we decided that to bring it to life (there are no lyrics) it really needs vocal accents. I've got a session with a great female singer tonight, who I love working with.

Yes - a great singer like Merry makes ALL the difference in a track.

And of course a bad singer kills it.

 

[vchizzle]

Damn, what a voice and performance. Great story. I'll have to check this out, thanks for the heads up Shawn.

 

[Shawn@PRS]

The entire movie is worth watching, especialy if you're a fan of music

 

[sergiodeblanc]

Cool movie, I really enjoyed it! But then again I have a thing for b-up vocals.

 

[alphasports]

Ya I saw that awhile back, very interesting (and maybe a bit depressing if you're in the Background Vocals bizz...)

 

[Daniel]

I saw a good bit of that show a few months(?) ago. Great show! I really enjoyed the perspective from the "backup" singers view.

 

[jfb]

The entire movie is worth watching, especialy if you're a fan of music

Thanks for sharing. Really looking forward to watching this.

 

[alantig]

Another recommendation - excellent flick, and some great info in there.