Superstars in the shadows

There’s a great new documentary out called 20 FEET FROM STARDOM. It was a big hit at Sundance and is now playing a limited theatrical run. That might mean one theater in LA, New York, and Madison, Wisconsin. But if it’s playing in your area, check it out. Or when it gets to Netflix in twenty minutes, flag it.

The movie is about backup singers – those incredibly talented musicians who you rarely hear about but are on all your favorite records and sing at all the big concerts. You realize that artists like Darlene Love, Merry Clayton, Lisa Fischer, Tata Vega, and others are every bit as good or better than the singers they back.

Some try to go solo, like Merry Clayton (who did have one big hit “Oh No, Not My Baby”), Judith Hill (briefly on THE VOICE), Darlene Love (“Just One Look”), and Lisa Fischer (who even won a Grammy), but due to circumstances, timing, that asshole Phil Spector (they should add another five years to his sentence just for how he treated Darlene Love), personality, and luck these superstars primarily live in the shadows.

Note: It should be mentioned that some of them don’t want to be in the spotlight. They don’t want the pressure, loss of privacy, and Faustian contract that goes with stardom. Still, why Britney Spears is a household name and Lisa Fischer (pictured: right) is singing “Oooo oooo oooo” is a crime against nature.

Being a longtime music freak I do know of many of these singers. I rarely get star struck but meeting Darlene Love backstage during her run in HAIRSPRAY on Broadway was like meeting the Beatles. And to think that only a few years before she was cleaning peoples’ homes.

The movie resonated even more with me because backup singers are somewhat akin to comedy writers. We’re only 20 feet off camera, and just as Merry Clayton can say she sang with Ray Charles, did the amazing solo on the Stones’ “Gimme Shelter”, and appeared on hundreds of hit records, there are writers who are not “Steve Levitan”, or “Chuck Lorre” who have had spectacular careers but you might not know their names.

One such writer is Richard Rosenstock. How’s this for a resume? Wrote and produced ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT and THE BIG BANG THEORY, wrote and did staff work for FRIENDS, FAMILY GUY, KING OF QUEENS, WILL & GRACE, NEWHART, and contributed scripts for HAPPY DAYS, MORK & MINDY, and LAVERNE & SHIRLEY… among others. He also created two highly acclaimed series – THE MARSHALL CHRONICLES and FLYING BLIND. During rewrites he’s always the funniest guy in the room. I’ve used him on all my pilots. Next time you see his name flash by – which will probably be tonight somewhere, make note of it.


But at least writers do get credits (even if they're on the screen for one nanosecond). Not so with backup singers. Hopefully at least their movie will play in a theater near you. And there is that chance – because Bruce Springsteen, Mick Jagger, Stevie Wonder, and Bette Midler are featured in it. Look for their names on the marquee.

UPDATE:  So sorry to hear of the passing of Gary David Goldberg.  Will write my thoughts tonight and share tomorrow in this space.  My love to his family.