Movies Like Lady Sings the Blues

If you liked Lady Sings the Blues (1972), a drama and music movie directed by Sidney J. Furie, here are 20 movies with a similar feel, based on TMDB's recommendations. Each one links to its cast, trailer and where it's streaming.

1
The Doors (1991)
★ 7.1/10Also music and drama
The story of the famous and influential 1960s rock band and its lead singer and composer, Jim Morrison.
2
The United States vs. Billie Holiday (2021)
★ 6.5/10Also music and drama
Billie Holiday spent much of her career being adored by fans. In the 1940s, the government targeted Holiday in a growing effort to racialize the war on drugs, ultimately aiming to stop her from singing her…
3
Valley of the Dolls (1967)
★ 6.1/10Also drama
Lured by their dreams of fame and fortune, three ambitious young women enter the world of show business and discover how easy it is to sink into a celebrity nightmare of ego, alcohol and pills — the beloved "dolls."
4
Ray (2004)
★ 7.5/10Also drama and music
Born on a sharecropping plantation in Northern Florida, Ray Charles went blind at seven. Inspired by a fiercely independent mom who insisted he make his own way, He found his calling and his gift behind a piano…
5
Get Rich or Die Tryin' (2005)
★ 6.9/10Also drama and music
A tale of an inner city drug dealer who turns away from crime to pursue his passion, rap music.
6
Get On Up (2014)
★ 6.8/10Also drama and music
A chronicle of James Brown's rise from extreme poverty to become one of the most influential musicians in history.
7
Rocketman (2019)
★ 7.3/10Also music and drama
The story of Elton John's life, from his years as a prodigy at the Royal Academy of Music through his influential and enduring musical partnership with Bernie Taupin.
8
Hounddog (2008)
★ 6.5/10Also drama
A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.
9
Factory Girl (2006)
★ 6/10Also drama
In the mid-1960s, wealthy debutant Edie Sedgwick meets artist Andy Warhol. She joins Warhol's famous Factory and becomes his muse. Although she seems to have it all, Edie cannot have the love she craves from Andy, and…
10
Cadillac Records (2008)
★ 7.1/10Also drama and music
The story of sex, violence, race and rock and roll in 1950s Chicago, and the exciting but turbulent lives of some of America's musical legends, including Muddy Waters, Leonard Chess, Little Walter, Howlin' Wolf, Etta…
11
Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
★ 8.4/10Also drama
A former Prohibition-era Jewish gangster returns to the Lower East Side of Manhattan over thirty years later, where he once again must confront the ghosts and regrets of his old life.
12
Blaze (2018)
★ 6.3/10Also drama and music
Inspired by the life of Blaze Foley, the unsung songwriting legend of the Texas outlaw country movement that spawned the likes of Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson. The film weaves together three periods in Blaze's life…
13
Crossroads (1986)
★ 7.4/10Also drama and music
A wanna-be blues guitar virtuoso seeks a long-lost song by legendary musician, Robert Johnson.
14
The Joker is Wild (1957)
★ 8.1/10Also drama
A Prohibition-era nightclub crooner has his career is cut short when his throat is slashed by a mob boss.
15
The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things (2004)
★ 5.8/10Also drama
Young Jeremiah lives in a stable environment with loving foster parents until the day his troubled mother, Sarah, returns to claim him. Jeremiah becomes swept up in his mother's dangerous world of drugs, seedy hotels…
16
Black Snake Moan (2006)
★ 6.8/10Also drama
A God-fearing bluesman takes to a wild young woman who, as a victim of childhood sexual abuse, is looking everywhere for love, but never quite finding it.
17
Requiem for a Dream (2000)
★ 8/10Also drama
The drug-induced utopias of four Coney Island residents are shattered when their addictions run deep.
18
Better Man (2024)
★ 7.6/10Also music and drama
Follow Robbie Williams' journey from childhood, to being the youngest member of chart-topping boyband Take That, through to his unparalleled achievements as a record-breaking solo artist – all the while confronting the…
19
To Write Love on Her Arms (2015)
★ 6.7/10Also drama and music
The story follows 19-year-old Renee who has always loved fairy tales: the idea of a princess, a hero and a happily ever after. But Renee’s life is that of a darker tale: she’s a young woman battling addiction…
20
Bird (1988)
★ 6.8/10Also drama and music
Saxophone player Charlie ‘Bird’ Parker comes to New York in 1940 and is quickly noticed for his remarkable way of playing. He becomes a drug addict but his loving wife Chan tries to help him.