Darlene Love, left (Radius-TWC)

Late in Morgan Neville’s Twenty Feet from Stardom, you see a spread of solo albums recorded by the background singers who star in the film. I have spent hundreds of hours crate-digging over the years and did not recognize any of them. Such is the fate of the voice that soars from behind the curtain but gets lost in the spotlight. Twenty Feet from Stardom is a highly entertaining music documentary about voices that you recognize and names you don’t. For all the great music these singers made, the movie is as much bittersweet as inspirational. Some talented singers have failed to make the transition from background to foreground, finding their voice in a supporting role more than as a lead.

As character actors are to the movies, background singers are to music: always in demand but seldom in charge of their own art, and often asked to sublimate their own gifts for the sake of a song. Just look at the credit list for one of the first major backup groups, The Blossoms, featuring Darlene Love. Their voices sang behind soulful hits like “It’s In His Kiss,” but also Frank Sinatra’s “That’s Life” and novelty hits like “The Monster Mash,” for which they were asked to “sing white.”

The story of The Blossoms is just one where taking the lead led to as much struggle as fame. In 1962, the group began working with Phil Spector, who made Darlene Love a featured voice, but would sometimes not give her credit. Love tearfully recalls the onerous contract that Spector used to keep her in place, even buying out a new contract from A&M Records when she threatened to break free.

Love eventually got out from Spector’s shadow, but Merry Clayton’s career stalled for different reasons. You’ve heard the voice: she’s singing the shit of “rape! murder!” in the Rolling Stones’ “Gimmie Shelter.” Neville plays her isolated vocal track for Mick Jagger, and, while you probably don’t want to see Mick’s goose bumps, the sound will certainly give you your own. Given the chance to sing behind the Stones, Clayton brought her “A Plus” game, determined to make her voice heard. Her own recordings don’t show that passion. Footage of Clayton performing Neil Young’s “Southern Man” suggests a few reasons why her solo career didn’t take off. Material is one of them. It’s not a great fit for her booming voice, and the clip shows a singer who doesn’t seem to be giving the song her all. Is the hunger less urgent when there’s no bona fide star to rise up to? That said, Merry Clayton is the subject of a forthcoming Sony Legacy “Best Of,” complied from the three albums she made for Ode Records.

Bona fide stars like Bruce Springsteen, Mick Jagger and Stevie Wonder are on hand to sing praises of the featured singers, including Claudia Lennear, Judith Hill, Lisa Fischer, and David Lasley, a white guy who sang for Chic — who knew?

These tales of success and obscurity bring up the recurring theme of collaboration, and a curious cultural difference. While American artists liked to shape background singers to suit a particular style, British acts like Mick Jagger and David Bowie urged singers to pull out the stops.

The film is at its best when the subjects break out of their boxes. But there’s a telling detail midway through the film. We see Merry Clayton starting up her car, and off-camera the director asks her to turn off her car radio. Clayton lights into him: why would you ask a diva to turn off the music? The film ends on what should be an upbeat note, but that interaction perhaps foretells something else. The background singers join for a closing song, one chosen for obvious thematic reasons that is not a good showcase for any of them: “Lean On Me.” As much as Twenty Feet from Stardom seeks to highlight these singers, it ends up putting them in a box again.

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20 Feet from Stardom
Directed by Morgan Neville
With Darlene Love, Merry CLayton, Lisa Fischer, Judith Hill, Claudia Lennear, Bruce Springsteen, Mick Jagger, Chris Botti.
Rated PG-13 for some strong language and sexual material
Running time 89 minutes
Opens today at Landmark E Street Cinema, The Avalon and Angelika Mosaic.