The greatest "unknown" vocalist behind "The Rolling Stones" iconic "Gimme Shelter"

[PD-Cock]

4 months pregnant, hair in rollers, she answers a late evening phone call that changed her life, forever. Still in her bathrobe hair in rollers & very pregnant, Merry Clayton left home that evening headed for the studio to audition before relative unknown group from England hoping to take America's teenagers to heights not seen.
When she finished, Mick's jaw hit the floor.
Listen closely, you can here Mick shouting "WOOO" in the background.
Sadly, Merry miscarried not long after her auditioning but, her career exploded, blessed w/ another child Merry Clayton's career etched in music history.

 

[Henry322]

Fantastic track. She was in the the 1987 film “Maid to Order” with Ally Sheedy. A great singer.

 

[Harvard Gamecock]

Sir, I will take the liberty to speak for most audiophiles, and rock/pop aficionados.

We are very aware of the contributions of Ms. Merry Clayton.

I would strongly suggest to watch the documentary 20 ft from Stardom. ( Highlighting many background singers that most individuals are unaware of )

 

[Gradstudent]

Sadly, Merry miscarried not long after her auditioning

Sadly She miscarried the next day:

Curtis Amy, Charles’s musical director and Clayton’s future husband. They were married for 32 years before his death in 2002.

It was Amy who took the call from the producer Jack Nitzsche, ringing late one night in 1969 and hoping that Clayton would sing on a track being recorded by the Rolling Stones. Still in her pyjamas, hair in rollers and four months pregnant, she arrived at Sunset Sound Studios in Hollywood minutes later, cementing her place in rock history with her ferocious “it’s just a shot away” vocal line on Gimme Shelter. “I called Curtis: ‘These boys want me to sing about rape and murder.’ I wanted them to hear me, talking real loud to my husband on the phone. But we got the gist – that it was part of the song and not something just flying out of the sky. I was tired, it was cold and my voice cracked. We listened back and they said: ‘Oh that’s bloody fabulous. Can you do it again?’”

The day after the session with the Stones, Clayton suffered a miscarriage. She attributes it to the strain she put on her body pushing the heavy studio doors and reaching to hit the vocal peaks. “We lost a little girl. It took me years and years and years to get over that. You had all this success with Gimme Shelter and you had the heartbreak with this song.” Although she recorded her own version of the song for her 1970 studio album (itself entitled Gimme Shelter), it took her a long time to listen to the Stones’ song because she so closely associated it with losing her child. “It left a dark taste in my mouth. It was a rough, rough time.”

 

[PrestonyteParrot]

Sir, I will take the liberty to speak for most audiophiles, and rock/pop aficionados.

We are very aware of the contributions of Ms. Merry Clayton.

I would strongly suggest to watch the documentary 20 ft from Stardom. ( Highlighting many background singers that most individuals are unaware of )

All it takes is that one big break. Some get blessed and some don't.

 

[PrestonyteParrot]

Here's an interesting piece of trivia I happened to run across

 

[92Pony]

4 months pregnant, hair in rollers, she answers a late evening phone call that changed her life, forever. Still in her bathrobe hair in rollers & very pregnant, Merry Clayton left home that evening headed for the studio to audition before relative unknown group from England hoping to take America's teenagers to heights not seen.
When she finished, Mick's jaw hit the floor.
Listen closely, you can here Mick shouting "WOOO" in the background.
Sadly, Merry miscarried not long after her auditioning but, her career exploded, blessed w/ another child Merry Clayton's career etched in music history.

Good find PD - Thanks for posting! I had never given that background vocal a lot of thought, but hearing it isolated like that - Wow!! She could wail!