© Willis Wonderland Foundation. All rights reserved.
Songwriter / artist Allee Willis, best known for writing the "Friends" theme song, the Earth Wind & Fire mega-hit "September" and "The Color Purple" musical, began filming her life as a kid in 1950s Detroit and never stopped. She pursued creative expression at all costs while struggling with not fitting established gender and sexual norms… until she found a path to love.
“The World According to Allee Willis” may be headed your way! More dates coming soon, stay tuned.
Nicholas Coles
Blackburn Pictures
nickcoles@gmail.com
Katherine Matthews
Obscured Pictures
katherine@obscuredpictures.com
Amanda Lebow
CAA
Director:
Alexis Spraic
Executive Producer:
Larry Mestel, Mark Cuban, Prudence Fenton, Tina Fasbender, Lisa Wolofsky, Susan Danziger
Producer:
Nicholas Coles
Cinematographer:
Jerry Henry, Nick Higgins
Editor:
Alexis Spraic, Carla Roda, Spencer Bakalar
Music:
Mark Mothersbaugh
Before “September” and “Boogie Wonderland” put her on the map, Allee Willis cut her songwriting teeth with “Ain’t No Man Worth It” in the early seventies. The song explores a rough time in her teenage years, after her mother died unexpectedly and her father moved quickly into a new relationship. True to Allee’s artistic style, the song’s got a lot of heart, as well as some darkness and pathos. But, more importantly, it changed the course of her life forever.
This is that story.
Allee was a young copywriter at a record company in New York City when she wrote “Ain’t No Man Worth It” and decided to present it and two other original songs to her boss. Impressed, he forwarded them to the president of Epic Records, without mentioning that Allee was the singer to avoid a conflict of interest. He loved them too and that’s how she scored a record deal!
That album, produced by the legendary Jerry Ragavoy, is Childstar. And with it, Allee quit her record company job to pursue a full-time career as a singer-songwriter. And, the rest, as they say, is herstory!
To promote Childstar, Allee and her backup group, The Angel Babies, sported "Ain't No Man Worth It” tees, infusing humor into their publicity shots and appearances. These shirts, now in her signature light pink, have been recreated for the promotion of The World According to Allee Willis, a documentary celebrating her life and work.
Now, for the first time ever, Childstar is available to stream! Go listen on Spotify or pretty much wherever you stream your music.