Season Four: Musical Biopics

Everyone goes through their own unique music journey in life. When you combine my Nan’s specific love for Lou Reed’s Perfect Day, listening to Best of T.Rex disc one every holiday, and receiving several hours of French Techno from a cousin’s iTunes library, you could predict my taste would be a little odd. Naturally then, […]

Andreas Cornelis van Kuijk was born on June 26th 1909 in Breda, Netherlands, where he found a natural inclination for the carnival. Pulling together all of the money he had earned on the boats of Rotterdam as a teenager, van Kuijk migrated to the United States and enlisted in the army where he assumed the

It was 100 years ago this month (10th June 1922) that Frances Ethel Gumm was born in Grand Rapids, Minnesota USA. The Gumm’s were theatre people, vaudevillians to be precise, and they would be pushing Frances onto the stage as early as two alongside elder sisters Mary Jane and Dorothy Virginia. After moving to California,

Born July 24th 1969 in the Bronx, New York USA, Jennifer Lynn Lopez aka JLo was the middle child in a strict Catholic Puerto Rican household. So, once she had made up her mind to be a dancer by the age of 18 and dropped out of college to pursue it, she was also asked

Continuing my dive into documentaries, I’ve gone from one set of brothers to another, but this time I’ve found twins. Matt and Luke Goss were born 29th September 1968 in Lewisham, London, and formed the band Gloss with Craig Logan during their school days in 1986. Once they had turned 18, The Pet Shop Boys’

As we reach the midpoint of Season Four, one aspect I always refer back to when watching and reviewing these biopics is accuracy. So far, they’ve found plenty of ways of keeping the film entertaining but at the sacrifice of some gritty details which oppose the narrative trying to be conveyed. With a story first

In April 2016, Kendrick Lamar inducted five people into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. This included Andre Romelle Young, an entrepreneur worth hundreds of millions after selling his headphones and speakers brand to Apple in 2014, alongside O’Shea Jackson Sr., a Hollywood actor who had starred in several roles including comedy film Ride

Born February 4th 1960 in Mt Vernon, New York, Jonathan David Larson could usually be found sitting in front of a piano. Influenced by Elton John and The Doors (artists I’ve reviewed previously) as well as many others, Larson would pivot from his acting scholarship at Adelphi University to focus on compositions, combining them together

Born 8th December 1943 in Melbourne, Florida, James Douglas Morrison never stayed in one place for too long. The son of a lieutenant meant frequently travelling around United States military bases throughout his childhood, secluding him to his younger siblings and books. Emotionally scarred at four years old by a car accident involving Native Americans

On September 5th 1946, Farrohk Bulsara was born in Stone Town, Zanzibar. Six months later on March 25th 1947, Reginald Dwight was born in Greater London, England. Despite the distance geographically, the paths they follow individually surprisingly mirror each other. Through their childhoods, they were music obsessed, both being inspired by Little Richard and rock