Some of rock’s greatest singers have catalogs that stretch for miles, with B-sides and deep cuts as plentiful as the well-known favorites.
We are truly grateful that our dear Merry is still with us. He’s just laughing. Merry Clayton, the “Gimme Shelter” backup singer whose story was featured in the documentary 20 Feet From Stardom, was badly injured in a car accident in Los Angeles earlier this week. We want to hear from you!

In a 2013 interview with NPR’s All Things Considered, Jagger gushed over Clayton’s incredible performance: “When we got to Los Angeles and we were mixing it, we thought, ‘Well, it’d be great to have a woman come and do the rape/murder verse,’ or chorus or whatever you want to call it,” he said.

For all that know her personally, and those that have been blessed by her God-given talents, please know that her spirit is very strong and her faith unwavering. The band who had sprung out of the creative freedom of the sixties was going to close out the decade in pole position as the most progressive pop group on the planet. Clayton’s searing performance is about as powerful and emotional as rock ‘n’ roll can ever get and, while it is a shame that Clayton’s name isn’t as well known as The Rolling Stones, the song is also linked to another tragedy for the singer. “It’s been a beautiful, precious run,” she said, “and I am loooo-ving it.”. It’s dark and dangerous overtone mirrored the niche the Stones had carved for themselves. The most famous use of her voice came on her contribution to the Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter,” where she sings the line, “Rape! ’20 Feet From Stardom’ subject ‘has a long road of recovery ahead’. Jerry Jeff Walker, Outlaw Country Architect and 'Mr. In the studio, the track was brimming with energy but missing a crucial component.

Want more Rolling Stone? It's one of rock and roll's most pervasive and legendary stories.

I said No, I’m in bed. Remembered as one of The Rolling Stones’ crowning moments, the track was deeply mired in the distrust and disgust their guitarist Keith Richards found himself stuck in after his then-girlfriend Anita Pallenberg (whom Richards had taken from Brian Jones not long before) while she rehearsed sex scenes with Mick Jagger for his upcoming feature film debut. You know she’s pregnant!’ But Nitzsche succeded to bring my husband on his side. And they need someone to come and sing a duet with them, but I can’t get anybody to do it. Originally released in 1969 as the first track on the Rolling Stones' Let It Bleed, "Gimme Shelter" is a haunting, layered, remarkable piece of music. It’s lifting, the orchestral sound would be a sign of their future, and the heady cocktail within which it was concocted was all trademark Stones. Many have pointed towards the session as the sole reason for the loss as the emotional stress, intensity of the recording session and its late-night timings took its toll on Clayton and her unborn child. Merry sustained severe injuries to her lower body, including major trauma to her lower extremities. Share.

Originally released in 1969 as the first track on the Rolling Stones' Let It Bleed, "Gimme Shelter" is a haunting, layered, remarkable piece of music.

The track features guest vocals by Merry Clayton. In an interview with All Things Considered, Jagger recalled that the inclusion of a female singer on the song was a spur of the moment decision, and that Clayton was called in the middle of the night, summoned to a Los Angeles recording studio with little information and given a few shots at recording her part. When Mick Jagger got a hold of the song, he soon turned its focus towards the violence of the world around him, namely the Vietnam War. Sign up for our newsletter. It’s not the sort of lyric you give anyone–‘Rape, murder/It’s just a shot away’–but she really got into it, as you can hear on the record.”, Clayton had travelled to the studio in the middle of the night while pregnant without much thought to who the band were or what the song could be. ‘Gimme Shelter’ Singer Merry Clayton: Just a Shot Away. Music: Soul/R & B: 848064011248.

And I’m hunkered down in my bed with my husband, very pregnant, and we got a call from a dear friend of mine and producer named Jack Nitzsche. Hers is the voice that, if you’re listening properly – and you should, believe me – will make the hair on the back of your neck stand up. Merry Clayton is the voice you hear on Gimme Shelter, the one that leaves Mick Jagger flailing behind. In an interview with Rolling Stone shortly before the compilation was released, Clayton talked about how much she was enjoying the boost from the film and the opportunity to work with the other singers represented in it.
Jack Nitzsche called and said you know, Merry, are you busy? In the end, he managed to convince me: ‘Honey, you know, you really should go and do this date.’”. The tragic turn of events has since famously been attributed to the strain that she put herself through, screaming the track's lyrics three times in a row after waking up in the middle of the night. There's a darker tragedy wrapped around the Rolling Stones' "Gimme Shelter," as well. Watch below Clayton discuss the song alongside some words from Mick Jagger.