Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on December 2013

Darlene Love, Merry Clayton, Lisa Fischer. You may not have heard of them, but I’ll bet good money that you’ve heard them. It’s impossible to listen to a half hour of classic rock without doing so. Love did “He’s a Rebel,” possibly one of the best R&R songs ever recorded, but evil music producer Phil Spector released it under another lip-synching singer’s name. Clayton supplied the haunting, absolutely essential vocal magic behind the Stones’ “Gimme Shelter.” And the Grammy-winning Fischer’s vibrant and versatile talent may even surpass Aretha’s. These and several other backup singers have spent most of their careers—by choice or by chance—just beyond the spotlight, but have provided that indefinable, instantly recognizable, marginal-yet-vital quality that made the songs of David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen, Ray Charles, Mick Jagger, David Byrne, Sting, Stevie Wonder and Bette Midler, among many others, the memorable hits they became. This happy, enlightening (and long overdue) celebration by Morgan Neville is a fine time at the movies for music lovers, and full of insider insights. Maybe it will do for these giving, unsung heroines what similar films have done for Sixto Rodriguez and Anvil. Worked for me. (89 min)