How legendary record man Gil Friesen’s documentary about backup singers wowed the film world
Darlene Love has a mighty voice, but yesterday she really let it rip. At her home in New Jersey, she’d just finished her regular morning meditation and settled in to watch some of the Oscar nominations on TV. And at one point, she says, “I just screamed! My husband was in the other room and said, ‘What? What?’ Now they can put ‘Oscar nominee’ next to my name along with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.”
Darlene Love’s Lost Years and Sweet Redemption: Read the Full Story
In one of the most pleasant surprises in yesterday’s telecast, 20 Feet From Stardom, Morgan Neville’s acclaimed film about the lives and often tough times of some of pop’s most vital backup singers, became one of five nominees in the documentary category. The film, conceived and produced by the late Gil Friesen, the renowned president of A&M Records, will be competing against The Act of Killing, Cutie and the Boxer, The Square and Dirty Wars.
