WEBVTT - Merry Clayton Finds Redemption 0:00:15.436 --> 0:00:27.236 Pushkin. Mary Clayton is a legendary backup singer and one 0:00:27.276 --> 0:00:30.676 of the few who managed to consistently steal the spotlight 0:00:32.676 --> 0:00:38.476 Sven Man, You bet Up, keep you all Hair, don't 0:00:38.516 --> 0:00:44.276 forget what are You good? Book Ship. Mary grew up 0:00:44.276 --> 0:00:47.196 singing in her father's Baptist church in New Orleans before 0:00:47.236 --> 0:00:50.476 becoming a part of Ray Charles backing group, the Raylettes 0:00:50.716 --> 0:00:55.356 in nineteen sixty six. From there, her powerhouse vocals appeared 0:00:55.396 --> 0:00:59.116 on a number of classic songs from artists like Leonard Skynard, 0:00:59.356 --> 0:01:04.156 Neil Young, and Carol King. Mary's journey from a renowned 0:01:04.156 --> 0:01:07.436 backup singer to a solo artist was documented in the 0:01:07.476 --> 0:01:11.356 Oscar winning documentary Twenty Feet from Stardom. In twenty thirteen, 0:01:12.036 --> 0:01:15.236 almost exactly one year after the film was released, Mary 0:01:15.316 --> 0:01:18.356 was involved in a near fatal car accident in Los Angeles. 0:01:19.156 --> 0:01:22.276 That accident resulted in her losing both of her legs. 0:01:23.276 --> 0:01:26.756 After years of intensive physical therapy, Mary was back in 0:01:26.836 --> 0:01:30.276 the studio working with her longtime producer Lou Adler on 0:01:30.356 --> 0:01:34.556 brand new material. Her new album, Beautiful Scars is a 0:01:34.556 --> 0:01:39.156 testament to her enduring faith, featuring songs by famed songwriter 0:01:39.236 --> 0:01:44.356 Diane Warren and also cold plays Chris Martin. On today's episode, 0:01:44.596 --> 0:01:47.836 Mary Clayton talks to Bruce Headlam about the lasting impression 0:01:47.956 --> 0:01:51.876 hearing Mahalia Jackson and Arita Franklin singing Church left on 0:01:51.956 --> 0:01:54.756 her as a little girl. She also recalls how the 0:01:54.836 --> 0:01:57.156 Rolling Stones convinced her to get out of bed in 0:01:57.196 --> 0:01:59.476 the middle of the night and sing on their nineteen 0:01:59.516 --> 0:02:03.316 sixty nine classic Gimme Shelter, and how Chris Martin was 0:02:03.356 --> 0:02:05.796 the first person to get married back in the studio 0:02:06.116 --> 0:02:13.276 after her tragic car accident. This is broken record. Liner 0:02:13.316 --> 0:02:21.356 notes for the digital age. I'm justin Richmond. Here's Bruce 0:02:21.356 --> 0:02:25.356 Hadlam and Mary Cleaner. So this new album, it's it's 0:02:25.356 --> 0:02:28.556 got some great old songs. It's got a lot of gospel. 0:02:29.036 --> 0:02:32.396 When did the idea for the album come to you? Well, 0:02:32.756 --> 0:02:36.236 it actually, in the beginning didn't come to me. It 0:02:36.236 --> 0:02:38.276 came to my uncle Lou. I was when I was 0:02:38.276 --> 0:02:41.836 in the hospital after my accident. I would speak to 0:02:41.916 --> 0:02:44.636 lu like every day, you know, maybe two or three 0:02:44.676 --> 0:02:47.916 times a day. And because I was in the hospital 0:02:47.956 --> 0:02:50.956 for almost five months, I would speak to Lou and 0:02:50.996 --> 0:02:53.636 he kept saying to me, said Mary, when you get 0:02:53.676 --> 0:02:57.116 out of there, you need to be singing. I said, yeah, sure, 0:02:57.316 --> 0:03:00.196 suresh sure. You know, he would keep he would keep 0:03:00.236 --> 0:03:03.676 revisiting the same thing, and of course I said, well, yeah, 0:03:03.996 --> 0:03:05.756 well I'll think about all of this. So when I 0:03:05.796 --> 0:03:09.116 finally got out of the hospital, he said to me, well, 0:03:09.116 --> 0:03:10.876 what do you think you think you want to you 0:03:10.916 --> 0:03:13.596 want to record again? I said, well, I really don't know. 0:03:14.116 --> 0:03:16.476 I've got to get through what I'm going through before 0:03:16.516 --> 0:03:19.556 I even think about recording again. He said, but you 0:03:19.636 --> 0:03:22.716 gotta be okay, don't don't you know, don't worry. The 0:03:22.756 --> 0:03:24.716 main thing he said, I want you to do is 0:03:25.116 --> 0:03:28.436 get well, and want you get well, we're revisited again. 0:03:29.116 --> 0:03:33.196 So about eight months into my recovery, I got a 0:03:33.276 --> 0:03:36.836 call from from my then manager and he says, you know, 0:03:37.116 --> 0:03:40.316 I got a great call from well from Chris Martin. 0:03:40.676 --> 0:03:42.956 Let's say Chris Martin. What do they call it? Boy? 0:03:43.196 --> 0:03:45.476 He said, well, they wanted to call to see how 0:03:45.516 --> 0:03:48.956 you were doing, and how's Mary and how she fielding, 0:03:49.036 --> 0:03:51.676 how's the recovery going and whatever. He said, well, well, 0:03:51.676 --> 0:03:54.516 we're gonna be in Talented about two weeks and we 0:03:54.556 --> 0:03:57.036 would love it if married we can get married to 0:03:57.036 --> 0:03:59.796 come by the studio. So I spoke to my manager 0:03:59.796 --> 0:04:01.036 and I said, you know what, that would be a 0:04:01.036 --> 0:04:03.476 great time for me to get out and just kind 0:04:03.476 --> 0:04:05.396 of hang in the studio and hang with the guys, 0:04:05.476 --> 0:04:08.396 you know. So I went to the studio and we 0:04:08.556 --> 0:04:12.156 just kind of out and talked and listen to them. 0:04:12.156 --> 0:04:15.396 This is when they were recording Kalidoscope. But now in 0:04:15.476 --> 0:04:18.356 the meantime, Lewis called me said, I hear that you're 0:04:18.436 --> 0:04:21.356 visiting Chris Martin. I said, yeah, I'm here with the 0:04:21.436 --> 0:04:24.916 guys at the Old A and M studios. So of course, 0:04:24.956 --> 0:04:29.036 after the Kaleidoscope sessions, he kept saying to me, Mary, 0:04:29.836 --> 0:04:33.556 you need to be recording. So we called my great 0:04:33.636 --> 0:04:37.396 producer f and Terry Young, and Terry said, you know what, 0:04:37.556 --> 0:04:41.316 I've got three great songs. I'm coming over. I said, okay, 0:04:41.516 --> 0:04:43.556 And he came over with Old What a Friend? That 0:04:43.636 --> 0:04:46.276 was the first song, and then he came back with 0:04:46.436 --> 0:04:49.956 God's Love. Then he came back again with another song, 0:04:50.596 --> 0:04:53.596 and we just went over the songs and Lou heard 0:04:53.596 --> 0:04:55.916 it and we loved it. So he says, you know what, 0:04:56.036 --> 0:04:57.956 I'm gonna make a call and we're gonna get going 0:04:57.996 --> 0:05:00.836 to studio. Where would you like to do this? I said, well, 0:05:00.956 --> 0:05:03.196 I'd love to do it at I'd like to go 0:05:03.276 --> 0:05:05.716 home and do it, which is a in recording studio 0:05:05.756 --> 0:05:08.996 to me, which is the Hanson studio, And we would 0:05:09.316 --> 0:05:13.356 Henson and it was on That's amazing. Now had you 0:05:13.436 --> 0:05:16.636 known cold Play before you sang on that album? I 0:05:16.716 --> 0:05:18.836 knew Chris, I didn't know the rest of the guys. 0:05:19.316 --> 0:05:21.996 So what was it like, first time after your accident 0:05:22.036 --> 0:05:25.116 to be in there singing? What did it feel like? Well, 0:05:25.156 --> 0:05:28.116 it felt like any other recording session really, or any 0:05:28.156 --> 0:05:30.396 of it, you know, just hanging out with some friends 0:05:30.436 --> 0:05:33.756 and they wanted my presence and my spirit to be there. 0:05:34.276 --> 0:05:36.676 So as I as we were kind of hanging out, 0:05:36.796 --> 0:05:39.556 Chris says, you know what, let's go out to the piano. 0:05:40.316 --> 0:05:42.756 So here he comes, you know, he's wheeling me out 0:05:42.756 --> 0:05:46.396 to the piano. And we got to the piano. He said, Mary, 0:05:46.556 --> 0:05:49.916 can you sing this little part? So what little part? 0:05:49.916 --> 0:05:52.236 I wasn't supposed to sing? He's, oh, you can sing 0:05:52.356 --> 0:05:54.876 this little part. So he says, go on the booth. 0:05:54.956 --> 0:05:56.676 Let's let's go on the booth and put that on. 0:05:57.276 --> 0:05:59.836 But that's how that started. Then I put one part 0:05:59.876 --> 0:06:02.276 on a background part of then I put another background 0:06:02.356 --> 0:06:05.836 part on. Then they called me two other times to 0:06:06.516 --> 0:06:08.876 do the same thing again, and we just kind of 0:06:09.236 --> 0:06:12.116 kick didn't had a great time and did a little recording. 0:06:12.156 --> 0:06:14.156 But I didn't have a problem going in the studio. 0:06:14.236 --> 0:06:17.756 That was like drinking water. What songs had you done 0:06:17.756 --> 0:06:21.116 in that studio? Well? I did the Mary Clayton album there, 0:06:21.596 --> 0:06:23.796 and that very studio, which I didn't even know where 0:06:23.796 --> 0:06:26.476 I was going. I had no idea that the studio 0:06:26.596 --> 0:06:29.356 that the session with Coldplay was even going to be 0:06:29.596 --> 0:06:32.196 at Hinson A and m I just you know, they 0:06:32.196 --> 0:06:34.276 were driving and they wouldn't tell me anything. So when 0:06:34.316 --> 0:06:36.796 I got there and they took me into the studio, 0:06:36.836 --> 0:06:40.476 I said, oh my god, this is my studio. You 0:06:40.516 --> 0:06:42.156 know this is where I did this Mary? What did 0:06:42.156 --> 0:06:44.276 you do here? I said? Did the Mary Clayton help here? 0:06:44.676 --> 0:06:48.156 And we also did Tapestry here. The Mary Clayton album 0:06:48.276 --> 0:06:51.716 was your second album, right, Was Gimme Shelter your first? Yes? 0:06:52.236 --> 0:06:55.876 So that had that incredible version of Southern Man on it. Yes, 0:06:56.436 --> 0:06:59.956 do you remember recording that? Of course? I remember every 0:06:59.996 --> 0:07:02.636 session I ever did. I want to hear about that 0:07:02.676 --> 0:07:04.916 one because it's such a great song. The way you 0:07:04.956 --> 0:07:08.756 do it it was fabulous. Well, thank you. Lou. Had 0:07:09.156 --> 0:07:13.356 just at that song to my husband, who also worked 0:07:13.356 --> 0:07:16.436 for Lou at on the A and M lot, and 0:07:16.556 --> 0:07:18.316 we got home on it even and he said, you 0:07:18.316 --> 0:07:21.196 know what, we need to listen to this song. Lou asked, 0:07:21.236 --> 0:07:23.876 you know, to check it out to see if you'd 0:07:23.916 --> 0:07:26.596 like it and if you want to record it. So 0:07:26.636 --> 0:07:29.316 I listened to it, and I listened to it again. 0:07:29.356 --> 0:07:31.316 I listen to it a couple of times. I said, 0:07:31.356 --> 0:07:33.356 you know what, if we just bump this up a 0:07:33.396 --> 0:07:35.676 little bit, I think this would be a great song. 0:07:35.756 --> 0:07:39.876 The message was incredible at that time. So then I 0:07:39.916 --> 0:07:42.956 had my great friend Billy Preston played on that. I 0:07:43.076 --> 0:07:46.756 had I think Joe Sample, I had a couple of 0:07:46.756 --> 0:07:49.916 the Crusaders, I had David T. Walker, I had all 0:07:49.956 --> 0:07:52.356 the great musicians on it. So we got through it 0:07:52.476 --> 0:07:54.596 and did the way we wanted to do it. Then 0:07:54.636 --> 0:07:58.076 we loved it. Had you known Billy Preston from Ray 0:07:58.156 --> 0:08:00.956 Charles then when you sang with him, Well, this is 0:08:00.996 --> 0:08:04.596 another story. Billy and I were childhood friends. We knew 0:08:04.596 --> 0:08:07.356 each other from nine years old. Are you kidding? No, 0:08:07.916 --> 0:08:10.996 Billy went to a church called Victory Baptist Church, he 0:08:11.076 --> 0:08:13.396 and his mom and family, and I went to a 0:08:13.556 --> 0:08:15.956 church on the other side of the town called Mariah 0:08:16.036 --> 0:08:21.796 Baptist Church. So these two black churches would always visit 0:08:21.876 --> 0:08:24.956 each other. They would like hold revivals where a minister 0:08:24.996 --> 0:08:28.076 would come in and preach for a whole week, you know, 0:08:28.196 --> 0:08:30.116 and hold these great new Bibles, and they have these 0:08:30.116 --> 0:08:33.396 great choirs to sing. And I went to Billy's church 0:08:33.476 --> 0:08:36.076 and saw this little guy nine years old playing this 0:08:36.156 --> 0:08:40.596 Hammond organ, and I said, well, who is that? And 0:08:40.716 --> 0:08:44.596 my mom said, that's Billy. That's Robbie, Robbie's Robbie's son, Billy, 0:08:44.676 --> 0:08:48.156 little little Billy. So they got us together and we 0:08:48.236 --> 0:08:51.556 became great friends as kids. And whatever Billy would do, 0:08:51.756 --> 0:08:54.396 I would do. Wherever Billy would play, I would play, 0:08:54.476 --> 0:08:56.356 so we kind of mimicked each other. And where every 0:08:56.396 --> 0:08:58.356 record company he would go to, I would go to. 0:08:58.516 --> 0:09:01.236 Whatever he would do, he would always recommend me to 0:09:01.276 --> 0:09:04.636 do vocals. So that's how our whole situation worked until 0:09:05.156 --> 0:09:08.116 you know, he left this earth. Did you sing with 0:09:08.196 --> 0:09:14.116 him in church? Where? When? Oh God, yes, yes, absolutely. 0:09:14.316 --> 0:09:16.836 When we were kids, we always sung. Billy would play 0:09:17.036 --> 0:09:19.876 and I would sing. And did you sing solo in 0:09:19.876 --> 0:09:23.956 your church? Of course I was the baby. I was 0:09:23.996 --> 0:09:28.196 the baby girl from God. I've had to be four, 0:09:28.356 --> 0:09:31.116 maybe four or five years old. And your dad was 0:09:31.156 --> 0:09:35.836 the pastor, Yes he was now. But New Orleans had 0:09:35.996 --> 0:09:40.876 such great secular music as well as church music. Yes, 0:09:41.236 --> 0:09:43.676 when you got older, did you go out and start 0:09:43.716 --> 0:09:46.756 seeing like New Orleans greats or did your dad not 0:09:46.916 --> 0:09:51.596 like that? What happened in my situation was at my 0:09:51.716 --> 0:09:55.116 dad's church. It was every maybe two weeks, there would 0:09:55.156 --> 0:09:58.236 be great singers that were in town doing gospel in 0:09:58.396 --> 0:10:01.796 New Orleans, and they would all come to my dad's 0:10:01.876 --> 0:10:06.356 church to sing. You know. My dad's great friend was 0:10:06.396 --> 0:10:11.436 Mahalia Jackson, and Mahelia loved I just loved. They were 0:10:11.516 --> 0:10:14.596 really great. They kind of came up together. And she 0:10:14.636 --> 0:10:16.716 would always when she was in talent, you'd always come 0:10:16.756 --> 0:10:19.676 and I some kind of way would find where she 0:10:19.916 --> 0:10:22.636 was and go and sit us nestled myself right up 0:10:22.716 --> 0:10:26.116 under her. She would be on one side, and Lynda 0:10:26.076 --> 0:10:29.116 the Hopkins. She would always sit with Lynda Hopkins. Lynda 0:10:29.156 --> 0:10:32.236 Hopkins was my dad's friend also. She was a great singer. 0:10:32.996 --> 0:10:36.796 So when Mahelia was there. Whatever she was saying, I 0:10:36.796 --> 0:10:40.556 would mimic her the next Sunday and different sundays. Sam 0:10:40.676 --> 0:10:42.996 Cook may walk in, and you know, he may be 0:10:43.076 --> 0:10:45.276 in town, and he would come and sing your dad's 0:10:45.356 --> 0:10:48.236 church and with the Solstres. He was the solstress at 0:10:48.276 --> 0:10:52.356 that time. So all the gospel, all the great gospel singers, 0:10:52.356 --> 0:10:55.276 and Rita's dad, remember Franklin would come and he would, 0:10:55.396 --> 0:10:58.596 you know, have a word or whatever, and Aretha would sing, 0:10:59.476 --> 0:11:02.596 you know, so everybody kind of knew each other, you know. 0:11:02.596 --> 0:11:04.876 And I was like, I was about like seven or 0:11:04.916 --> 0:11:08.196 eight years old. Did you ever sing with Aretha or 0:11:08.276 --> 0:11:12.756 with Mahalia? Well I didn't sing with Mahalia, but I 0:11:12.796 --> 0:11:16.716 did sing with Aretha. If anyone knows me more than 0:11:16.836 --> 0:11:20.436 thirty years, my family doesn't know me as Mary Clayton. 0:11:20.796 --> 0:11:24.036 All my family and close close friends call me baby 0:11:24.116 --> 0:11:28.116 sister to my sister named me that. Before I was born. 0:11:28.676 --> 0:11:30.596 My mom asked her what does she want for Christmas? 0:11:30.596 --> 0:11:32.956 And she said, I want a baby sister. So Christmas 0:11:33.036 --> 0:11:36.076 Day I came. So all my life I've always been 0:11:36.116 --> 0:11:39.876 known to my family, close inner circle friends as baby sister. 0:11:40.476 --> 0:11:44.036 So Aretha would call me and say, let me speak 0:11:44.076 --> 0:11:46.436 to Big Daddy. I said, she speak to Big Daddy. 0:11:46.676 --> 0:11:48.316 But that's what they would call my husband, Let me 0:11:48.316 --> 0:11:50.956 speak to Big and Curtis would get on the phone 0:11:50.996 --> 0:11:53.156 and he'd work out whatever they wanted to work out. 0:11:53.196 --> 0:11:55.356 And my husband would come to me and say, the 0:11:55.476 --> 0:11:57.356 queen wants you to come to New York. I said, 0:11:57.356 --> 0:12:00.316 the quick, come to New York. Yeah, she's doing Avery 0:12:00.356 --> 0:12:02.716 Fisher Hall, or she's doing whatever, and she wants you 0:12:02.756 --> 0:12:04.636 to come. She wants to see you, and she wants 0:12:04.636 --> 0:12:07.396 you to come and sing with her. So they would 0:12:07.396 --> 0:12:08.876 pack me up and send me to New York or 0:12:08.876 --> 0:12:11.436 where Wheretha was. And I was singing with her group. 0:12:11.876 --> 0:12:14.076 You know, I was saying, whoever, whatever she wanted me 0:12:14.116 --> 0:12:16.156 to do, I was there for her and this one 0:12:16.196 --> 0:12:18.556 all for years. I have to ask you, do you 0:12:18.596 --> 0:12:23.436 remember Sam cooking the Soulsters singing? Absolutely? Do you remember 0:12:23.476 --> 0:12:26.596 what they sang? I think it was Jesus gave me 0:12:26.636 --> 0:12:32.196 water and it was not from the whale. Jesus gave 0:12:32.236 --> 0:12:38.276 me water. Jesus gave me water. Jesus gave me water. 0:12:38.756 --> 0:12:43.996 I want to let us play this way. Yeah, yeah, 0:12:44.036 --> 0:12:47.756 I remember that. Wow, What I don't understand is how 0:12:47.796 --> 0:12:49.756 you went from your singing in your dad's church. You 0:12:49.836 --> 0:12:54.036 were in New Orleans and then you moved to LA. 0:12:54.156 --> 0:12:56.236 I think it was pretty young you moved to LA. 0:12:56.636 --> 0:12:58.836 I moved to LA when I was eight, almost nine 0:12:58.916 --> 0:13:03.036 years old. Oh, I see, when did you start singing 0:13:03.076 --> 0:13:05.556 on records? Then? When did you start doing backup and 0:13:06.196 --> 0:13:09.356 that kind of thing? Well? I started doing back up 0:13:10.116 --> 0:13:13.196 at fourteen. I would think. I was in junior high school, 0:13:13.716 --> 0:13:17.996 getting ready to go to high school. And I went 0:13:18.156 --> 0:13:21.716 to a session with someone I don't remember who, and 0:13:21.756 --> 0:13:23.476 they heard me sing it said, you know what, you 0:13:23.516 --> 0:13:24.996 need to join the group. Why don't you come and 0:13:25.076 --> 0:13:28.756 just sing with us? So they picked me up. I 0:13:28.836 --> 0:13:31.636 went to the session and I sung just so happened. 0:13:31.636 --> 0:13:35.716 This particular session was for Bobby Darren. Was that the 0:13:35.756 --> 0:13:39.316 song who Can I count On? No? No, no, no, 0:13:39.316 --> 0:13:42.316 no no. It wasn't that particular song. This is where 0:13:42.316 --> 0:13:45.116 he heard me sing and asked me, who are you? 0:13:45.356 --> 0:13:48.556 What is your name? He said, you're singing really loud, 0:13:49.036 --> 0:13:52.116 and I would back up and we start again, and 0:13:52.196 --> 0:13:54.796 I would start singing loud again, you know, and I'd 0:13:54.836 --> 0:13:57.476 back up some more, and then they he said, well, 0:13:57.476 --> 0:14:00.716 who is who is that voice? So he finally brought 0:14:00.716 --> 0:14:02.996 me in the booth, brought me behind the board and 0:14:03.076 --> 0:14:06.316 said sing your part. So i'd sing my part. He says, wow, 0:14:06.716 --> 0:14:10.956 you sure can't sing. And we had another session. He said, 0:14:10.996 --> 0:14:12.796 you know what, I would certainly like to speak to 0:14:12.836 --> 0:14:15.556 your parents because I like to record you. You know. 0:14:15.596 --> 0:14:18.876 You got with my mom and they talked about what 0:14:18.996 --> 0:14:22.956 was necessary. And what was necessary was that I take 0:14:22.956 --> 0:14:25.516 a nap. They would pick me up from school. I'd 0:14:25.556 --> 0:14:28.316 take a nap and they had to correct my homework 0:14:28.316 --> 0:14:31.276 and then I could go downstairs and cat Capitol Records 0:14:31.316 --> 0:14:33.956 and sing with Chordy Rogers in the big band. Was 0:14:33.956 --> 0:14:36.756 that scary for you? Well, no, when you know, when 0:14:36.796 --> 0:14:39.276 you when you come up singing in the church, I 0:14:39.396 --> 0:14:41.596 came up with singing with some great singers. So I 0:14:41.636 --> 0:14:44.996 wasn't intimidated at all. I never happened and intimidated to 0:14:44.996 --> 0:14:48.916 sing with anybody at any time, anywhere and with anybody. 0:14:48.916 --> 0:14:52.156 It really didn't bother me at all. And I remember 0:14:52.236 --> 0:14:56.036 that session because it was sort of late in the evening, 0:14:56.116 --> 0:14:59.316 almost like about six six thirty seven in Eden, and 0:14:59.396 --> 0:15:01.276 I kept saying, what are they going to do my song? 0:15:01.356 --> 0:15:03.876 What are we going to do our song? So mister Darren, 0:15:03.876 --> 0:15:05.636 he would tell me. He says, well, so the next 0:15:05.636 --> 0:15:08.156 song is going to be our song. So they put 0:15:08.156 --> 0:15:11.036 me in a booth. My section was on one side 0:15:11.276 --> 0:15:12.836 and he was in front of me on the other 0:15:12.876 --> 0:15:16.436 side in the microphone. So I would start singing and 0:15:16.476 --> 0:15:18.036 he told me what he wanted me to sing, and 0:15:18.076 --> 0:15:21.276 I just sung it, and he was like, where does 0:15:21.316 --> 0:15:24.156 that come from? It was funny to me, where do 0:15:24.236 --> 0:15:26.396 you how We'll talk to you how to sing like that? 0:15:26.796 --> 0:15:28.476 You know? I said, I don't know. I just sing 0:15:28.556 --> 0:15:31.756 like that in church all the time. He says, well, 0:15:31.796 --> 0:15:36.036 you should be singing all the time. So when when 0:15:36.076 --> 0:15:38.516 we did the listing back, I was able to hear 0:15:38.636 --> 0:15:41.076 myself and say to me. I said to myself, oh 0:15:41.156 --> 0:15:45.396 my god, that really sounds good. Did you want to 0:15:45.396 --> 0:15:47.836 be a singer at that point? Was it just something 0:15:47.876 --> 0:15:52.356 you did? No, I didn't particularly want to be a singer. 0:15:53.076 --> 0:15:55.876 I just wanted to sing, you know. I didn't know 0:15:55.956 --> 0:15:59.836 that it really meant being a singer. I just loved singing. 0:16:00.396 --> 0:16:02.236 And what was Bobby Darren like? Was he was he 0:16:02.276 --> 0:16:04.756 a nice guy in the studio? Was he helpful? He 0:16:05.036 --> 0:16:09.116 was wonderful. He was just a joy, what a joy, 0:16:09.236 --> 0:16:13.036 A very kind, very loving man. I mean, he was 0:16:13.196 --> 0:16:15.876 very It was a big session. This was a huge session. 0:16:16.316 --> 0:16:18.596 And this was with short You are just big band, 0:16:19.276 --> 0:16:22.476 you know. So to hear that, to hear that orchestra, 0:16:23.476 --> 0:16:26.716 and well you heard the song, you heard the orchestration, yes, 0:16:27.516 --> 0:16:30.716 it was it was just it was killer. I said, 0:16:30.796 --> 0:16:33.756 Oh my god, I get the scene with all of this. 0:16:34.476 --> 0:16:36.596 And I would always say, wow, that sounds like Ray 0:16:36.676 --> 0:16:39.156 Charles is bad because he was like the only guy 0:16:39.196 --> 0:16:41.356 that we would get a chance to really see maybe 0:16:41.396 --> 0:16:44.476 once a year, was Ray Charles. Growing up, you'd only 0:16:44.516 --> 0:16:47.996 see Ray Charles was the only guy you would see. Yeah, 0:16:48.036 --> 0:16:51.156 why was that? Well, my father was a minister. You 0:16:51.196 --> 0:16:54.836 couldn't be hanging out and lollygagging somewhere you had no 0:16:54.956 --> 0:16:57.836 business being at that age, at four eighteen fifteen years old. 0:16:57.916 --> 0:17:00.876 That was not gonna happen, not my house. Did he 0:17:00.956 --> 0:17:05.716 make an exception for Ray Charles? Absolutely, m Do you 0:17:05.716 --> 0:17:08.636 remember the first time you saw him, Yes, Billy and 0:17:08.676 --> 0:17:11.676 I here here we go again, Billy and I. Billy 0:17:11.716 --> 0:17:15.076 and I and my sister went to see him. And 0:17:15.156 --> 0:17:17.996 my dad allowed that, and my and my music professor 0:17:18.076 --> 0:17:21.396 Eddie Kendricks. So we go and see Ray and Billy 0:17:21.436 --> 0:17:25.276 and I find our way at the really front of 0:17:25.356 --> 0:17:27.876 the stage. They were standing you could stand and watch 0:17:27.916 --> 0:17:30.476 the show. And we were standing at the front of 0:17:30.516 --> 0:17:32.396 the stage and I was talking to Building. He was 0:17:32.436 --> 0:17:34.516 talking to me, and he looked at me and he said, 0:17:34.996 --> 0:17:36.916 we can do this. I said, I could sing like 0:17:36.996 --> 0:17:39.876 those girls. He said, I can play like those guys. 0:17:40.556 --> 0:17:42.116 And we looked at each other and said, you know, 0:17:42.196 --> 0:17:44.236 one day we may just get a chance to sing 0:17:44.276 --> 0:17:47.156 with Ray Charles. I said, boy, that show would be great. 0:17:47.956 --> 0:17:51.196 And you know, about five or six years later, you know, 0:17:51.276 --> 0:17:53.756 he heard Billy and just lost his mind when he 0:17:53.756 --> 0:17:59.316 heard Billy loved the Billy. Ray absolutely adored Billy. So 0:17:59.516 --> 0:18:01.596 Billy called me one day and said, hey, what are 0:18:01.596 --> 0:18:04.796 you doing. I said, I'm folding towels. He says, you 0:18:04.836 --> 0:18:06.716 need to get up here. Did you get up here? 0:18:06.716 --> 0:18:09.876 And saying for Ray? I said, Ray, who Ray Charles, 0:18:10.196 --> 0:18:13.116 but all something cute and come up here to the 0:18:13.196 --> 0:18:16.836 RPM building. Well, of course I did what he said, 0:18:17.196 --> 0:18:20.516 and I went to the RPM building, had my sister 0:18:20.556 --> 0:18:23.676 to take me to the RPM building and sung for 0:18:23.796 --> 0:18:25.956 Ray and left with a contract. He wanted to go 0:18:25.996 --> 0:18:28.676 out on tour with him. So he spoke to my mom, 0:18:28.836 --> 0:18:30.596 you know, my mom and dad, and they said, you know, 0:18:31.276 --> 0:18:34.156 we have to see about that. And then we my 0:18:34.236 --> 0:18:36.916 mother found out that Billy was going, and his mother 0:18:36.956 --> 0:18:39.636 found out that I was, you know, thinking about going, 0:18:40.356 --> 0:18:43.516 and the parents talked and you know, they figured out, 0:18:43.516 --> 0:18:45.196 you know, it's be a good gray experience for them. 0:18:45.236 --> 0:18:47.276 We have to have somebody to look out for them. 0:18:47.996 --> 0:18:50.876 So the lookout person for us was Curtis Amy, who 0:18:50.956 --> 0:18:54.556 was the musical director. He's a pretty good lookout guy. Yeah, 0:18:54.836 --> 0:18:58.556 he was. You know, I met him. We fell deeply 0:18:59.156 --> 0:19:03.116 and love with each other and married in nineteen seventy 0:19:03.436 --> 0:19:06.556 and was married for thirty two years. So when did 0:19:06.556 --> 0:19:09.076 you start touring with Ray Charles? Then? What year was 0:19:09.196 --> 0:19:13.316 that in nineteen sixty six? What was he like as 0:19:13.316 --> 0:19:17.516 a bandleader, Ray Charles? Oh boy, he was a taskmaster. 0:19:17.796 --> 0:19:20.156 You had to be on your game. If you were 0:19:20.196 --> 0:19:22.036 not on your game, you could not be on tour 0:19:22.116 --> 0:19:25.356 with him. He was a wonderful man and a great teacher. 0:19:25.876 --> 0:19:29.956 Everything I learned. I knew how to sing harmony, but 0:19:30.036 --> 0:19:32.116 I mean I really knew how to sing harmony when 0:19:32.116 --> 0:19:35.476 when you know, when I parted and left to Ray Charles, 0:19:35.756 --> 0:19:39.196 he had that very close close because he had four singers, 0:19:39.196 --> 0:19:42.476 four girls. That's hard harmony to sing if you're not 0:19:42.916 --> 0:19:45.716 you don't have a good ear, you know. But he 0:19:45.836 --> 0:19:50.156 taught us. We would rehearse for us every day because 0:19:50.196 --> 0:19:52.436 he wanted a certain sound and you had to sing it, 0:19:52.956 --> 0:19:54.396 and you know, you had to sing it the way 0:19:54.436 --> 0:19:57.396 he taught you to sing it. So did he did 0:19:57.396 --> 0:20:00.476 he do a lot of the arranging himself or he 0:20:00.596 --> 0:20:03.996 did he have arrangements for you know, he had arrangements 0:20:04.036 --> 0:20:05.876 for us. He knew what he wanted his girls to 0:20:05.916 --> 0:20:09.436 sound like, right, he knew exactly. He already had his 0:20:09.476 --> 0:20:11.796 big arrangements. But he know what he knew with his book, 0:20:11.876 --> 0:20:15.596 he wanted his vocals to sound like you know. So 0:20:15.716 --> 0:20:19.316 that's why that's why he meticulously took time. I mean, 0:20:19.516 --> 0:20:21.516 we were rehearsed every day. We get into a city 0:20:21.756 --> 0:20:24.276 and he'd ran out the ballroom and we'd sit in 0:20:24.276 --> 0:20:28.076 this big ballroom with this big baby grand and we'd 0:20:28.076 --> 0:20:30.236 sit around the piano and he'd work out parts with 0:20:30.356 --> 0:20:32.116 us every day. It didn't matter if you knew it 0:20:32.116 --> 0:20:35.356 and knew the part or not you were you. You 0:20:35.396 --> 0:20:37.796 had to sing it again because he had to know 0:20:37.876 --> 0:20:41.876 that you knew it. Wow. Yeah, can you remember what 0:20:41.916 --> 0:20:45.596 were the hard songs to sing with him? Of his heads? 0:20:45.756 --> 0:20:48.636 For me, it was Together Again. If you saw twenty 0:20:48.636 --> 0:20:51.796 feet from starting I talked about that song. I mean 0:20:51.836 --> 0:20:54.676 I could not hear the second part. I just could 0:20:54.716 --> 0:20:57.876 not hear it. Bobby Wolmack was in the band at 0:20:57.876 --> 0:21:02.036 that time, and Bobby everybody had everybody was trying to 0:21:02.036 --> 0:21:04.316 help me with these notes. He said, Baby, I'm gonna 0:21:04.356 --> 0:21:07.316 play this part. I'm gonna play a first note. And 0:21:07.356 --> 0:21:09.836 when you hear that note on my guitar, you that's 0:21:09.916 --> 0:21:12.676 the part you come in on. My husband, Curtis said, okay, 0:21:12.756 --> 0:21:15.996 I'm gonna play this particular note on the saxophone. Everybody 0:21:16.076 --> 0:21:18.036 was trying to help me. I could not hear the note. 0:21:19.236 --> 0:21:23.196 So we were in Carnegie Hall, and do you know 0:21:23.236 --> 0:21:26.036 when when it came time to sing that song, I 0:21:26.076 --> 0:21:30.276 got ready to sing. The song was Together Again and 0:21:30.436 --> 0:21:35.796 my part was twogether rocking the Great Skies An that 0:21:35.916 --> 0:21:38.756 was the second part. I could not hear it and 0:21:38.876 --> 0:21:41.076 I did not sing the correct note. And do you 0:21:41.116 --> 0:21:43.556 know that he took his finger and banged out my part. 0:21:45.196 --> 0:21:48.556