Clayton's voice as a backing singer can be heard on songs by
Pearl Bailey,
Phil Ochs,
Burt Bacharach,
Tom Jones,
Joe Cocker,
Linda Ronstadt,
Carole King,
Tori Amos and on several tracks from
Neil Young's
debut album. Clayton is often credited as having recorded with
Elvis Presley but her name does not appear in Elvis's sessionographies.
1960s Clayton began her
recording career in 1962, at the age of 14. She first sang "Who Can I Count On?" as a duet with
Bobby Darin, on his album ''You're the Reason I'm Living''. In 1963, she recorded the first released version of "
The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)", the same year that
Betty Everett's version reached the Top 10 on the
Billboard Hot 100. Early in her career, Clayton performed with
Ray Charles (as one of
the Raelettes). Clayton is best known for her 1969 duet with
Mick Jagger on the Rolling Stones song "
Gimme Shelter" (on some releases her name is misspelled as "Mary"). Clayton performed her parts while pregnant, soon afterward suffering a miscarriage. Clayton was actually the band's second choice for the part; The Stones had asked
Bonnie Bramlett to sing on the song, but Bramlett's husband
Delaney Bramlett refused to let her perform with the Stones.
1970s In 1970, Clayton recorded her own version of "Gimme Shelter", and it became the title track of her debut solo album, released that year. Her solo version peaked at No. 73 on the
pop charts. Her version would be the first of five singles under her name to crack the
Billboard Hot 100. That same year, she performed a live version of "
Lift Every Voice and Sing" for the soundtrack for the
Robert Altman film,
Brewster McCloud, and also contributed vocals to
Donald Cammell and
Nicolas Roeg's film,
Performance. In 1971, she co-wrote the song "Sho' Nuff" about her mother. In 1972, she starred as the original
Acid Queen in the first
London production of
The Who's
Tommy. In 1973, Clayton featured prominently on Ringo Starr's "
Oh My My", which reached Billboard's Top 10 the following year. Along with her frequent partner
Clydie King, Clayton also sang backing vocals on
Lynyrd Skynyrd's "
Sweet Home Alabama". In the mid-1970s Clayton sang on
The Blackbyrds' R&B hit "Rock Creek Park", and continued to release solo albums throughout the next decade, notching several minor
R&B chart singles. They released an album on Atlanta International Records in 1986. In 1987, Clayton co-starred with
Ally Sheedy in the film
Maid to Order.
1990s and later years In 1994, Clayton sang backing vocals and also the "Man with the Golden Gun" bridge for
Tori Amos's hit, "
Cornflake Girl". In 2006, Clayton provided backing vocals for
Sparta's album
Threes, on the songs "Atlas" and "Translations". In 2013, she released
The Best of Merry Clayton, a compilation of her favorite songs. Clayton was featured in the documentary film
20 Feet from Stardom (2013), which premiered at the
Sundance Film Festival, and went on to win the Oscar for best documentary at the
86th Academy Awards.
20 Feet from Stardom also won the 2015
Grammy Award for Best Music Film, with the award being presented to the featured artists, in addition to the production crew for the film. In 2014, Clayton provided vocals for
G. Love & Special Sauce's album
Sugar and in 2015, she was featured on two tracks of
Coldplay's album
A Head Full of Dreams. In 2021, her solo album
Beautiful Scars was released. ==Personal life==