20 Feet from Stardom Page #7

and I wasn't really emotionally

in a place to sing,

but, actually, it

wasn't too unfamiliar to me,

because that kind of feeling

and that reverence

reminded me a lot

of church service,

so that's how I felt

when I was there.

But, you know, I didn't

really realize at the time

billions of people

were watching it.

And a star is born.

We are the world

Judith, thank you so much

for joining us. Just 24 hours ago,

I think you were brought

to the world's attention

by doing one of Michael's

most famous songs ever.

Well, what you saw...

When you're a background singer,

it is a springboard in the beginning,

but it can easily become quicksand

if that's not what you wanna do.

Ever since the Michael Jackson

experience,

I've turned down almost

every background singing gig,

because I knew that

if I kept doing it,

then becoming an artist

would become more difficult.

I think the world

needs to hear her

and I didn't want her to go

the way of background singing.

I put together the girls for Elton

to go on tour and they wanted Judith.

Elton loves Judith, but I think

she had to make a decision,

"Do I really wanna

be a solo artist?"

And she's trying to do it,

because she writes songs.

We in the music industry,

especially African American people,

need to know our worth.

We need to know,

as women, we're important.

And I think the breakdown is

when a woman doesn't know who

she is and she settle for less.

Check out your worth,

because you're worth

more than that.

I couldn't sleep.

I was getting in such

a depressed state,

I called my mother and father,

asked them

if they would take care of my kids.

And the most enjoyment I got back

in those days was singing in church.

That's the only place that I was

actually singing during those times.

Only thing I thought I could do and

make a little money to survive,

you know,

I started cleaning houses.

Not the great Darlene Love.

She's not doing... cleaning houses.

I said, "Yes, the great Darlene Love is.

She is cleaning houses. "

One particular Christmas,

I was cleaning this lady's bathroom.

And "Christmas

(Baby Please Come Home)",

my Christmas record,

came on the radio while

I was cleaning this bathroom.

And I just looked up and just said,

"OK, all right, Darlene,

this is not where you're supposed to be.

You're supposed to be singing.

There's a whole world out there

who wants to hear you sing. "

And then the move from California

to New York, my career just took off.

Nice to have you here.

Everything OK with you?

- Wonderful.

- Thanks for being here.

- Come and sing it next year.

- Of course.

I hope you have a good holiday.

I have to plan what I'm going

to do. I have to take a little job.

The bastards got my daughter.

Just so you can keep

your name out there.

But if I didn't do those jobs,

then nobody would really know

who Darlene Love was.

As a young person,

I thought everybody could sing.

When you start getting older,

then you realize,

everyone is not the same,

that these are gifts,

and you have to share

and go out into the world.

Whoo!

Oh, my girlfriend and I took these.

It was supposed to be closed.

You see the zipper is broken.

I swear it was closed.

It started out closed.

Here, yes. It's my Grammy.

I just kinda keep 'em here.

I don't know what to do with it.

I don't know what to do with it.

- You're looking fantastic.

- Thank you.

- I've gotta tell this story.

- OK.

The first time

I met you, I met Lisa,

was you were singing

background on my record.

- Yes...

- "I Know How To Make You," right.

I know how to make you

love me, baby

That's right, that's right.

And I have to tell you,

I mean, everyone in the

industry knows Lisa Fischer.

I wasn't deep

in search of a record deal.

It was just one of those things

that just blossomed,

you know,

and I was really fortunate.

How can I

Ooh

I just... I think she

is a freak of nature

that I've never seen before.

How can I ease

And the Grammy goes to... Lisa Fischer,

"How Can I Ease the Pain?"

- How can I ease

- How can I ease the

Oh, pain, baby

I have to thank Luther Vandross.

That's the first thing I have to do.

Without him, none of this would

have been possible for me.

She has her own Grammy. She has her own

recording contract with Elektra Records.

It's different when you're

singing background for someone,

you know, because you're so

into making them happy,

making sure that they

have what they need.

But then, once you're

doing your own thing,

it's like you have to try to

understand what it is you need

and what's gonna

make you happy.

Give it up. Lisa Fischer.

I was working

on a second record and...

I don't know, it just took too long.

It took too long, and

there was this window,

and it just took too long.

I just don't think anyone

knew what to do with me.

I don't think

I knew what to do with me.

That's something

I never really understood,

just the business part of it.

It takes a tremendous

amount of energy

to be a solo artist and a tremendous

amount of ego to want to do that.

And she's never

had that kind of ego.

I think there

is a psychology behind it.

I think most background

singers will agree

that we're not really

good self-promoters.

You know, the industry

is for those who put themselves

on display and are willing

to play the game,

and some people aren't.

In a strange way,

the gulf between the lead singer

and that group of backup

singers couldn't be wider.

You're going into a group format

where you sacrifice individuality

in order to arrive at that blend.

And the blend is something that's

not just infectious for the listener.

It's... it's the transformative

experience for the singer.

And some people

just wanna stay there.

Real musicians,

there's a spiritual component

to what they do.

It's got nothing to do

with worldly success.

Their music is much

more of an inner journey.

Any other success

is just cream on the cake.

There's this idea that you can

go on American Idol

and suddenly become a star,

but you may bypass

the spiritual work

that you have to do to get there,

and if you bypass that, then

your success will be wafer thin.

People lose

the heart of a lot of it

because they haven't

grown up with, you know,

having to go through that,

what I call wood shedding,

having to really say,

"OK, let me focus in on...

this is what we need to do. "

There's a budget right now,

in every...

every recording budget

that says "for tuning. "

And that's, you know, how many hours

are allowed for tuning.

And I said, "What's that?"

"Oh, we have to tune all the vocals. "

"Well, why don't they

sing in tune?"

"Well, it just takes too

much time and it's too hard. "

And so they just sing

and then they tune 'em all.

And that's ridiculous to me.

Please welcome Kylie Minogue.

Well, good evening, everyone.

How you feeling?

Actually, I've gotten

a lot of criticism.

I've done a couple of gigs

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