SINGER BIO MOVIES

2021 brought in an excellent film biography of a show biz legend, Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul. Respect,  the title of one of her biggest hits, is also the title of the movie. It is quite accurate in portraying her life, from singing in her father’s church to super-stardom. Jennifer Hudson is excellent as the famous singer, and Ms. Hudson does her own singing. Forest Whittaker, always good, portrays her preacher-father whose strictness caused a rift at one point, but was healed up later. A stellar supporting cast includes Mary J. Blige, Marlon Wayans and Audra McDonald. Another iconic singer, Dinah Washington, appears as herself. 

Well, there are lots of biographical movies about famous singers. I’m sticking to the ones I like. Every single one of these actors won the Oscar!

Jamie Foxx seems to actually become Ray Charles in Ray (2004). From his accidental blinding as a young child through numerous marriages, affairs, divorces and drug problems Ray rises to the top of the rhythm and blues world. One of the film’s highlights comes when, after banning him from singing in the state of Georgia, the state apologizes and makes Georgia On My Mind the state song. Though he does not do his own singing, Foxx’s impeccable lip synching of actual Charles recordings is so hard to spot it seems real. 

France’s Edith Piaf, the “little sparrow”, is wonderfully played by Marion Cotillard. La Vie En Rose (2007), titled from her signature song, is fairly true to a life that was  short on good fortune. Rising from a wretched childhood which included time spent with her grandmother in a Norwegian brothel and with a circus performer father, Ms. Piaf became famous throughout France and the world. Her battles with alcohol and drug addiction are in plain sight. Ms. Cotillard does not do her own singing, but it’s hard to tell. This retelling of the good and bad of Piaf’s life is mainly worth watching for Cotillard’s performance. She became the first French actress to win the Oscar as Best Actress. 

Another basically awful life is presented warts and all in Judy (2019). Renee Zelwegger is a knockout as the talented, tortured singer. With a voice you can recognize after a couple of notes, Judy Garland was a huge hit as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz (1939). Five years later she sang in another big hit, Meet Me In St. Louis . A roller coaster career winds up with a desperate tour in the UK. Health problems, mostly caused by her drug use, caused her early death at 47. 

And finally, a fairly happy life for Fanny Brice, brilliantly played by Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl (1968). Brice was no great beauty but nobody really cared because she was so charismatic. Streisand sings all the songs and is actually much better looking than the real Brice. But, as she remarks, Omar Sharif is even better looking as her long time love Nicky Arnstein. The film got eight Academy Award nominations, but only Streisand won the Oscar. Funny Lady (1975), which Streisand at first refused to appear in, is well, not bad. 

Some other worthy singer bio movies include Billie (2020) (Billie Holliday), Get On Up (2014) (James Brown), Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) (Freddy Mercury) and Rocketman (2019) ( Elton John). 

All of the movies in this article are available on DVD. (And there are a ton I didn’t mention). All are for adults.