County Durham, England, 1984. The miners' strike has started and the police have started coming up from Bethnal Green, starting a class war with the lower classes suffering. Caught in the middle of the conflict is 11-year old Billy Elliot, who, after leaving his boxing club for the day, stumbles upon a ballet class and finds out that he's naturally talented. He practices with his teacher Mrs. Wilkinson for an upcoming audition in Newcastle-upon Tyne for the royal Ballet school in London.
Charles Bradley & His Extraordinaires - Crossroads Festival
A trio of female soul singers cross over to the pop charts in the early 1960s, facing their own personal struggles along the way.
James Brown's legacy has influenced rap, soul, funk and R&B. But along with his huge talent, there's a dark side to Brown's success that includes stints in prison and unceasing tabloid speculation. This in-depth documentary takes a look at the meteoric highs and deep lows of Brown's career, offering some fascinating insights from the Godfather of Soul himself, as well as interview footage with Chuck D, Little Richard, Wyclef Jean and many others.
After the death of her father, Little Voice or LV becomes a virtual recluse, never going out and hardly ever saying a word. She just sits in her bedroom listening to her father's collection of old records of Shirley Bassey, Marilyn Monroe and various other famous female singers. But at night time, LV sings, imitating these great singers with surprising accuracy. One night she is overheard by one of her mother's boyfriends, who happens to be a talent agent. He manages to convince her that her talent is special and arranges for her to perform at the local night club, but several problems arise.
Legendary Motown group the Temptations perform 20 of their hits at Harrah's in Atlantic City. This version of the group includes original members Otis Williams and Melvin Franklin, along with newer members Ron Tyson, Dennis Edwards, and Richard Street. The still lively quintet strut their stuff while belting out many of their popular favorites, including {&"My Girl,"} {&"Just My Imagination,"} {&"Ain't to Proud to Beg,"} {&"The Way You Do the Things You Do,"} and many more. The 60-minute performance took place in 1983 and was re-released in 1994.
Jimmy Rabbitte, just a thick-ya out of school, gets a brilliant idea: to put a soul band together in Barrytown, his slum home in north Dublin. First he needs musicians and singers: things slowly start to click when he finds three fine-voiced females virtually in his back yard, a lead singer (Deco) at a wedding, and, responding to his ad, an aging trumpet player, Joey "The Lips" Fagan.
The sweetheart of Motown roars back on stage in this fantastic concert! Recorded in front of a energetic audience, the show contains performances of the Reeves classics Dancing In The Street, Nowhere To Run, (Love Is Like A) Heat Wave and lots more! Reeves has been shining in the spotlight recently with appearances on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, performing with The Crystal Method, as well as a recent performance on the hit TV show Dancing With The Stars.
It's 1974. Muhammad Ali is 32 and thought by many to be past his prime. George Foreman is ten years younger and the heavyweight champion of the world. Promoter Don King wants to make a name for himself and offers both fighters five million dollars apiece to fight one another, and when they accept, King has only to come up with the money. He finds a willing backer in Mobutu Sese Suko, the dictator of Zaire, and the "Rumble in the Jungle" is set, including a musical festival featuring some of America's top black performers, like James Brown and B.B. King.
In the early 1960s, a quintet of hopeful, young African-American men form an amateur vocal group called The Five Heartbeats. After an initially rocky start, the group improves, turns pro, and rises to become a top flight music sensation. Along the way, however, the guys learn many hard lessons about the reality of the music industry.
In 1959, Berry Gordy Jr. gathered the best musicians from Detroit's thriving jazz and blues scene to begin cutting songs for his new record company. Over a fourteen year period they were the heartbeat on every hit from Motown's Detroit era. By the end of their phenomenal run, this unheralded group of musicians had played on more number ones hits than the Beach Boys, the Rolling Stones, Elvis and the Beatles combined - which makes them the greatest hit machine in the history of popular music. They called themselves the Funk Brothers. Forty-one years after they played their first note on a Motown record and three decades since they were all together, the Funk Brothers reunited back in Detroit to play their music and tell their unforgettable story, with the help of archival footage, still photos, narration, interviews, re-creation scenes, 20 Motown master tracks, and twelve new live performances of Motown classics with the Brothers backing up contemporary performers.
"The Beyoncé Experience Live" is a show by American R&B singer Beyoncé Knowles. It was shot in Staples Center, Los Angeles, California, on September 2, 2007, during her worldwide tour The Beyoncé Experience. The show features guest appearances from rapper Jay-Z on "Upgrade U" and former Destiny's Child mates Michelle Williams and Kelly Rowland on "Survivor". For one night only on November 19, 2007, the show was shown in theaters across the U.S.
Melody Gardot performs her new album Sunset in the Blue, from the Radio France studios accompanied by a trio of musicians and 40 instrumentalists from the in-house orchestra.
From the sweaty basement bars of 70s New York to the glittering peak of the global charts, how disco conquered the world - its origins, its triumphs, its fall and its legacy.
Documentary which celebrates the music of Louisiana.
Three sisters start out singing in their church choir in Harlem in the late 1950s and become a successful girl group in the 1960s.
The story of the black, gay origins of rock n' roll. It explodes the whitewashed canon of American pop music to reveal the innovator – the originator – Richard Penniman. Through a wealth of archive and performance that brings us into Richard's complicated inner world, the film unspools the icon's life story with all its switchbacks and contradictions.
An excellent comprehensive look at all the music that came out of Cincinnati, Ohio. Cincinnati "Rock Legends" "James Brown" "King Records" "Pure Prairie League" "Lemon Pipers" "Syd Nathan" WEBN "Bootsy Collins" "Lonnie Mack" "The Who concert 1979" "Rick Derringer"
The northern soul phenomenon was the most exciting underground British club movement of the 1970s. At its highpoint, thousands of disenchanted white working class youths across the north of England danced to obscure, mid-60s Motown-inspired sounds until the sun rose. A dynamic culture of fashions, dance moves, vinyl obsession and much more grew up around this - all fuelled by the love of rare black American soul music with an express-train beat.
A documentary covering the R&B (rhythm and blues) field from the 1940s to the early 1950s. Included is footage of performances by major R&B singers of the time, and interviews with singers, producers and others involved in the field.