51. It's been a long time! 3 weeks or so. 20 FEET FROM STARDOM

well..........i took a bit of a hiatus, didn't i?  i was gone on vacation;  before and after must have been all about the trip.  i've been wanting to see this film since i first heard about it on sunday morning with charles osgood.  it was also nominated for, and won, an academy award.  backup singers.  do we give them much thought?  likely not.  but, we should; most definitely.  the film loosely addresses darlene love, one of the first backup singers of the generation when many such singers were black.  darlene started with "the blossoms".  prior to them, backup singers were generally stiff and just sang the music as written.  singers such as the blossoms FELT the music.  they moved.  they danced.  they added their style.  we know the voices.  we hear them on some of the most famous songs of all time--with the rolling stones, sting, stevie wonder, bruce springsteen, michael jackson and countless others.  at time, especially in the 60's, we THINK songs were performed by one group, when in reality it's the backup singers performing but not getting credit.  all of these women have stories.  many desired solo careers, some got them.  some succeeded, most didn't.  all of them have a deep love of singing and recognize that the sacrifice to being a backup singer is always harmonizing with the others; rarely being the singer that any one of them would likely be on their own.  there are interviews, archival footage, and music......lots of music sung by these extremely talented women.  most realized at some point that to sing backup allows them to exercise the passion of singing, without the drawbacks of dealing with the business aspects of the music world; without the drawback of always being recognized; without the drawback of singing only one genre.  this is a fantastic tribute to the women who actually make the music.  i don't know that i've ever given credit to the backup singers, but they MAKE the sound.  in fact, most of us only know the lyrics that are sung by backups..........since they usually sing "the hook".  i enjoyed the interviews with mick jagger, sting, bruce, stevie........all who recognize that their music exists because of the what the backup singers bring to it.  i recommend this film to anyone who enjoys music.  i guarantee you will pay more attention to those voices behind the star the next time you listen to a song!