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‘The World According to Allee Willis’ Review: The Songwriter Who Stretched From ‘September’ to the ‘Friends’ Theme Song Gets a Lively Doc
Allee Willis' songwriting career went from Pet Shop Boys to Bob Dylan to Fishbon to Diana Ross. Her story is told in a lively new documentary.
She kept it that way, for the most part, being “absolutely terrified of being onstage.” But she was a flamboyant extrovert in other respects, from her singular crazy-quilt sartorial sense to famously throwing parties for “all the beautiful freaks” in the kitsch-collectible “theme park” she’d made of her San Fernando Valley home. As an “outrageous tomboy” from childhood, she’d constantly been urged to dress and act more “feminine.” Abruptly losing her mother at age 15, she felt the brunt of disapproval from a father who all too quickly transferred his affections to a new wife and step-daughters, never ceasing to find fault with his oddball progeny. Not much concerned with dates or chronology, “The World According” at first creates a certain amount of confusion by suggesting her career basically began in 1978, the annum of “September.” Only later does it note she’d released a solo album (her first and last) four years prior, and already had songs recorded by artists like Bonnie Raitt and Patti LaBelle.
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