20 Feet from Stardom Page #8

I thought I would get,

just get away with, you know.

And I even put a wig on.

I put, like, a straight-hair wig.

Like, on this Jay Leno gig,

no one's gonna know it's me. And then

I get these tweets from fans, like,

"How could you do this? You're singing

in front of... behind her,

and, you know,

you go from Michael to... "

And like just criticism, and I'm like,

"How did you even know that was me?"

But I'm, like, right

in the transitional stage here.

I am not at a position where

I can turn down everything,

because all of these things

as an artist

are really expensive

and my dreams are huge.

So I have been doing some

background singing on the side.

I want to stop

and thank you with this now

How sweet it is

to be loved by you

Oh, yes, it is, yeah

How sweet it is

With Judith, I knew

that she had an incredible voice.

I know that she sang in church,

and it was a really wonderful thing

when I heard her songs.

I said, "You're gonna do something. "

How sweet it is

to be loved by you

Stevie is very excited

about me as an artist as well.

He's really shown that.

But it's just an honor to just be able

to... I don't really care.

I mean, I just love singing

with him regardless, you know.

As much as

you're enjoying this,

don't let your dream disappear,

because you wanna be with me

or be around me.

You gotta step out there

and do your thing.

Sing, dah-dah-dah-dah-dah

People singing together

has always meant to me

people coming together.

What moves people

is the humanness of it, not the machine.

That's not the same as someone

singing and playing to you

and putting their heart into it.

And great background singers,

you know, it's moving.

For a long time,

I'd say a good five years,

you couldn't hear

a background on a record.

You wouldn't hear anybody

doing a hum or an "ooh"

or a "la" or... or an

answer line or anything.

Nothin'.

There's not as much work

for background singers,

because different ones have

called me over the years

and just asked me, "Are you working?

'Cause my phone hasn't been ringing. "

A lot of home studios, people

have their families singing,

doing all the vocal parts

themselves.

It's just put a lot

of singers out of work.

When you get to the '90s,

you're starting to see

major structural changes.

The big recording sessions

associated with the '70s and the '80s,

they're not happening anymore.

People didn't want

to pay the background singer,

'cause they don't

think they need it.

They were saying,

"Hey, we don't have to...

We don't have to write that check,"

not realizing that was the sound.

And that's why Joe Cocker

and The Stones and Rod Stewart,

David and all of these wonderful people,

they have their singers there.

They need those background singers.

You do tend to wonder,

is there a cutoff point

or is there a way to leave

this occupation or this life

without dying of heartbreak or,

you know, or just,

is it the biggest jones of all?

You get hooked on music,

you are f***ed, you know.

When you get into a relationship,

you know, there's an energy.

It's like when you see a married

couple walking into a room.

You see them part, but you still feel

that string that binds them.

I never really had that.

So I always felt like I

belonged to everyone, you know,

a part of my heart,

a part of who I am

belongs to everybody.

So, I mean, sometimes

when I, you know,

talk to my friends who have

children or who are married,

I think to myself,

"Hmm, maybe I should've gotten

married and had some kids

and done all that kinda thing. "

But... I'm good.

I am so good.

Lisa is so incredibly versatile,

then you almost, you're so talented,

you almost get like option anxiety.

Well, what do I do?

Should I stay with the R&B thing?

Well, R&B was so big at the time.

Then you're up against Whitney

and Mariah and blah and blah and blah.

Then, maybe I should do a little bit

more of the rock thing.

And her phone rings and it's Mick Jagger

and he says, "Join The Stones,"

and that's a hard thing to, you know,

to turn away from, you know.

That's a...

Rape, murder

It's just a shot away

It's just a shot away

Rape...

It's great to have

the female voice, you know,

otherwise it's me, me, me, me and me

and then it's a bit of Keith and...

But still, you know, it's still

the same kind of masculinity.

And then when you can get

someone like Lisa to step out

and you've got a whole

new voice out there.

It's like, I could

hear how Mick was singing it

and I, you know,

react to him a certain way.

My very life today

Like nobody else was in the room.

It was freeing in a weird way.

Gimme shelter

Or I'm gonna fade away

Why isn't she promoting herself

and why is she out with

The Rolling Stones all the time?

It's because she's

comfortable doing that.

She loves doing it

and she's got it all to herself.

She's not stupid.

It's just a shot away

It's just a shot away

It's just a shot away

Shot away, shot away

I wanna be able to walk the streets

and not have to worry about, you know,

putting on sunglasses

and hiding out and, you know,

the tits up in the air

and, you know... I just... I...

I'm just... I'm not feeling that.

I'm just not feeling that.

It's just a kiss away

It's just a kiss away

Kiss away, kiss away

Kiss away

Some people will do

anything to be famous,

and then there are other people

who just will sing.

It's not about anything except

being in this special space

with people, and that is

really the higher calling to me.

Seemingly, every time I get

ready to do something really big,

or something really, really wonderful,

something would just happen

that would just knock me

to my knees, you know.

You don't want everybody to know

you got this at Pick 'n Save.

Ha!

I said, "God, what is this?

Am I not supposed to be doing this?

If I'm not supposed to be doing this,

then show me I'm not

supposed to be doing this,

and I won't do it, you know. "

But I never was shown.

- Amen.

- Praise the Lord.

And I just stay cool,

stay humble,

stay beautiful

and just do the work.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

If somebody says, "You're gonna

become an international superstar, "

of course everyone would spend

the money and do that.

But if you're living in a little place

and you have no money

and you got a little bit saved

and they say,

"You gotta risk all of that

and you still might be working

McDonald's tomorrow,"

I think you gotta be absolutely

crazy to go after it like that, yeah.

It was just...

I came to a fork in the road

and music wasn't on it.

Meaning, "I'm sorry,

I'm very sorry, or... "

I've been teaching

Spanish for ten to 15 years.

Maybe you're

where you're supposed to be

Safely kept within the crowd

It's always

been a missing link.

You're looking for a reason

to break free

It's been a regret that I

didn't just hang in there,

especially when I see my contemporaries

progressing in their musical lives.

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