Morgan Neville’s lovely documentary “20 Feet From Stardom” celebrates the backup singers, those women whose voices are all over classic rock and ’60s pop but whose names never made it to the liner notes.
Merry Clayton (that’s her wailing on the Stones’ “Gimme Shelter”), ex-Ikette Claudia Lennear (who backed up everyone from Bowie to George Harrison), founding mother Darlene Love (whose career arc went from “Da-Doo-Ron-Ron” to cleaning houses to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame), and others finally get their chance to speak and, transcendently, sing in a film that may be the happiest time you’ll have at the movies all summer. With interview appearances by Bruce Springsteen, Mick Jagger, Sting, and Bette Midler — for once, they’re the ones providing backup. Full story for BostonGlobe.com subscribers.
Ty Burr can be reached at tburr@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @tyburr.
