Merry Clayton (born December 25, 1948) is an American soul and gospel singer and an actress. She provided a number of backing vocal tracks for major performing artists in the 1960s, most notably in her duet with Mick Jagger on the Rolling Stones song "Gimme Shelter". Clayton is featured in 20 Feet from Stardom, the Oscar-winning documentary about background singers and their contributions to the music industry.
Clayton began her recording career in 1962, at the age of 14. She first sang on "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". Along with her frequent partner Clydie King, Clayton also sang backing vocals on Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama". 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, she featured prominently on Ringo Starr's "Oh My My", which reached Billboard's Top 10 the following year. 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. Her soundtrack work continued into the 1980s, including "You're Always There When I Need You", the title track for the 1980 Get Smart film, The Nude Bomb, and the song "Yes" from Dirty Dancing, which hit No. 45 on the Hot 100. In the mid-1980s, Clayton was in the gospel group Brilliance, formed by Della Reese. The other members were O.C. Smith, Vermettya Royster, and Eric Strom. They released an album on Atlanta International Records in 1986.
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 2021, her solo album Beautiful Scars was released. Throughout her career as a backup singer, Clayton's singing can be heard on songs by Pearl Bailey, Phil Ochs, Burt Bacharach, Tom Jones, Joe Cocker, Linda Ronstadt, Carole King, and on several tracks from Neil Young's debut album.
