1
00:00:02,320 --> 00:00:05,480
Speaker 1: I'm Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the Thing

2
00:00:05,920 --> 00:00:10,360
Speaker 1: from My Heart Radio. We have a special episode for

3
00:00:10,440 --> 00:00:14,000
Speaker 1: you this week. I want you to meet someone, Talia Schlanger. Hi, Talia,

4
00:00:14,280 --> 00:00:17,079
Speaker 1: Hey Alec, it's great to be here. So, Talia, you're

5
00:00:17,160 --> 00:00:20,240
Speaker 1: a performer and musician. Tell us a little bit more

6
00:00:20,239 --> 00:00:23,040
Speaker 1: about yourself. Yeah. Right now, I'm recording an album of

7
00:00:23,040 --> 00:00:25,040
Speaker 1: my own original music that I write and sang and

8
00:00:25,079 --> 00:00:27,840
Speaker 1: play on guitar. But I started my career professionally in

9
00:00:27,880 --> 00:00:30,200
Speaker 1: theater when I was fourteen, doing a bunch of musicals

10
00:00:30,280 --> 00:00:32,640
Speaker 1: towards the States with the Green Day Show American Idiot,

11
00:00:32,920 --> 00:00:36,839
Speaker 1: and went to school for broadcasting, writing for radio and TV.

12
00:00:37,520 --> 00:00:41,000
Speaker 1: You're also a radio host and producer. You've interviewed a

13
00:00:41,040 --> 00:00:43,320
Speaker 1: lot of people, correct, Yeah. I used to host the

14
00:00:43,479 --> 00:00:46,760
Speaker 1: NPR syndicated show World Cafe. We interviewed a different musician

15
00:00:46,920 --> 00:00:50,199
Speaker 1: every day. You're Canadian, and you frequently guest host on

16
00:00:50,200 --> 00:00:52,479
Speaker 1: the CBC. In fact, that's where I heard you one

17
00:00:52,600 --> 00:00:55,640
Speaker 1: night on my radio. Your voice just jumped out of

18
00:00:55,720 --> 00:00:57,080
Speaker 1: me and I thought, I've got to have run my

19
00:00:57,080 --> 00:00:59,040
Speaker 1: show and here you are. I can't believe it, but

20
00:00:59,120 --> 00:01:02,160
Speaker 1: here I am yes, so tell you as we start

21
00:01:02,200 --> 00:01:04,840
Speaker 1: our second year of shows at My Heart, you'll be

22
00:01:05,080 --> 00:01:07,880
Speaker 1: sitting in the host chair for here's the thing. In fact,

23
00:01:07,920 --> 00:01:10,600
Speaker 1: you have an interview ready. Yeah, I had that chance

24
00:01:10,640 --> 00:01:13,400
Speaker 1: to interview the amazing singer Mary Clayton Alec. Do you

25
00:01:13,480 --> 00:01:16,160
Speaker 1: remember the first time you would have heard her voice? Yes,

26
00:01:16,200 --> 00:01:18,440
Speaker 1: it was her performance as the Acid Queen in the

27
00:01:18,600 --> 00:01:23,320
Speaker 1: London Symphony Orchestra recording of the Who's Tommy, Well tal

28
00:01:23,360 --> 00:01:26,119
Speaker 1: you best of luck to thank you so much, Ali.

29
00:01:27,280 --> 00:01:29,520
Speaker 1: Mary Clayton has the kind of voice that will stop

30
00:01:29,560 --> 00:01:32,440
Speaker 1: you right in your tracks. Even if her name still

31
00:01:32,440 --> 00:01:35,200
Speaker 1: isn't ringing a bell, You've definitely heard her sing on

32
00:01:35,280 --> 00:01:38,639
Speaker 1: some pretty huge songs. She's sang on Leonard Skinner's Sweet

33
00:01:38,680 --> 00:01:41,880
Speaker 1: Home Alabama. Carol King had her on Tapestry. She has

34
00:01:41,920 --> 00:01:45,600
Speaker 1: sunk backups with Ray Charles Neil, Young, Joe Cocker, maybe

35
00:01:45,600 --> 00:01:49,360
Speaker 1: most notably in The Rolling Stones with her unmistakable and

36
00:01:49,520 --> 00:01:54,840
Speaker 1: emotional belting on Jimme Shelter. Mary Clayton told her story

37
00:01:54,960 --> 00:01:58,600
Speaker 1: in the documentary twenty Ft from Stardom. The film celebrates

38
00:01:58,640 --> 00:02:02,600
Speaker 1: the often overlooked contributions of backup singers in popular music.

39
00:02:03,040 --> 00:02:06,160
Speaker 1: Twenty Ft from Stardom won the Academy Award for Best

40
00:02:06,160 --> 00:02:11,040
Speaker 1: Documentary and shined a much deserved spotlight on Clayton's immense talent.

41
00:02:11,760 --> 00:02:15,079
Speaker 1: But shortly after the film's triumph at the Oscars, Clayton's

42
00:02:15,120 --> 00:02:17,520
Speaker 1: life took a dramatic turn when she was in a

43
00:02:17,520 --> 00:02:21,160
Speaker 1: near fatal car accident. This past April, seven years after

44
00:02:21,200 --> 00:02:24,880
Speaker 1: her accident and fifty years after her first solo album,

45
00:02:24,880 --> 00:02:29,040
Speaker 1: Mary Clayton released Beautiful Scars. The album showcases her gospel

46
00:02:29,120 --> 00:02:32,720
Speaker 1: roots and her unbreakable spirit, which can only be described

47
00:02:32,800 --> 00:02:39,079
Speaker 1: as triumphant. I get the feeling of overcoming something very

48
00:02:39,200 --> 00:02:44,240
Speaker 1: very hard that you came through. You know. I didn't

49
00:02:44,240 --> 00:02:47,120
Speaker 1: stay in it. I came through it. That's the feeling

50
00:02:47,160 --> 00:02:50,800
Speaker 1: that I get of Beautiful Scars. A scar is something

51
00:02:50,840 --> 00:02:54,680
Speaker 1: that it always gets a scap. I got a scamp

52
00:02:54,800 --> 00:02:58,120
Speaker 1: on my scar and then I healed it, you know,

53
00:02:58,240 --> 00:03:01,400
Speaker 1: with God's help, of course, because I'm a woman of faith.

54
00:03:01,800 --> 00:03:06,200
Speaker 1: I'm not religious. I'm a very spiritual woman. I am

55
00:03:06,240 --> 00:03:09,680
Speaker 1: a woman of faith, and I did come through it

56
00:03:09,720 --> 00:03:13,120
Speaker 1: with God's hilp. Yeah, and with scars. You know, you

57
00:03:13,120 --> 00:03:16,160
Speaker 1: you can get rid of scars. It takes a minute.

58
00:03:16,480 --> 00:03:21,440
Speaker 1: It took me almost five years, five years and five months,

59
00:03:22,200 --> 00:03:24,680
Speaker 1: but I made it through with fine colors, and I

60
00:03:24,800 --> 00:03:29,680
Speaker 1: came out shiny like gold and sounding like a dream.

61
00:03:29,720 --> 00:03:32,600
Speaker 1: I'll tell you what. Thank you. So you brought it

62
00:03:32,680 --> 00:03:35,440
Speaker 1: up five years ago. Do you mind saying what what

63
00:03:35,480 --> 00:03:37,520
Speaker 1: you went through at that time that left you with

64
00:03:37,600 --> 00:03:41,360
Speaker 1: this beautiful scar. So I had a bit of an

65
00:03:41,360 --> 00:03:46,360
Speaker 1: accident right after I had won every accolade in that

66
00:03:46,400 --> 00:03:49,480
Speaker 1: one can win in a career. Of course, I'm sure

67
00:03:49,520 --> 00:03:52,920
Speaker 1: you know about twenty Feet from Stardom winning the Academy

68
00:03:52,960 --> 00:03:57,120
Speaker 1: Award for the Best Documentary, and we had won everything,

69
00:03:57,200 --> 00:04:00,720
Speaker 1: you know, one Sun Dance we won Golden We were

70
00:04:00,760 --> 00:04:04,960
Speaker 1: just on the high, really happy, and we traveled the

71
00:04:04,960 --> 00:04:10,320
Speaker 1: world promoting that film. And so I had to go

72
00:04:10,760 --> 00:04:14,040
Speaker 1: to sign some papers, do some paperwork, and on the

73
00:04:14,080 --> 00:04:16,599
Speaker 1: way back, I get back on out here as a

74
00:04:16,640 --> 00:04:21,040
Speaker 1: freeway and someone was could you pull over something that's

75
00:04:21,080 --> 00:04:25,159
Speaker 1: going and they kept pointing to my car. So you know,

76
00:04:25,160 --> 00:04:27,600
Speaker 1: when someone is pointing pointing to your car, you're saying,

77
00:04:27,880 --> 00:04:30,640
Speaker 1: oh my god, maybe gases leaking. I've got whatever is

78
00:04:30,640 --> 00:04:33,360
Speaker 1: going on, better pull over to sea. So I pulled

79
00:04:33,360 --> 00:04:35,400
Speaker 1: over to the side after I got through talking to

80
00:04:35,440 --> 00:04:38,600
Speaker 1: the people, trying to figure out what's going on. I

81
00:04:38,640 --> 00:04:40,640
Speaker 1: was getting back onto the freeway to go on my

82
00:04:40,720 --> 00:04:43,920
Speaker 1: way and a young man was getting on the freeway

83
00:04:44,240 --> 00:04:48,440
Speaker 1: driving really fast and t bowed me and it broke

84
00:04:48,520 --> 00:04:51,720
Speaker 1: both of my legs. So my first thought was thank god.

85
00:04:51,720 --> 00:04:53,800
Speaker 1: I had the window down because I was speaking to

86
00:04:53,839 --> 00:04:57,279
Speaker 1: the people on the other side, and when I looked down,

87
00:04:57,600 --> 00:05:00,360
Speaker 1: I looked down and my legs had just I went

88
00:05:00,400 --> 00:05:02,799
Speaker 1: to one side and I said in myself, I said,

89
00:05:03,279 --> 00:05:05,919
Speaker 1: oh my god, I said, I think, and I'm screaming

90
00:05:05,960 --> 00:05:08,880
Speaker 1: out the window. Thank my leg is broken. Call the paramedics.

91
00:05:09,279 --> 00:05:13,200
Speaker 1: Paramedics was right across the street. Thank god, Thank god.

92
00:05:13,600 --> 00:05:16,960
Speaker 1: So the paramedics came and the paramedics. He gets in

93
00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:22,160
Speaker 1: the cardinal on the passenger side and he says to me, oh,

94
00:05:22,480 --> 00:05:26,320
Speaker 1: Ms Clayton, I just saw your movie twenty feet from startom,

95
00:05:26,360 --> 00:05:28,919
Speaker 1: I said, And I'm just in an accident. What do

96
00:05:28,960 --> 00:05:31,400
Speaker 1: you mean you just saw my movie? He says, But

97
00:05:31,480 --> 00:05:34,280
Speaker 1: don't worry. We're gonna take care of you. Anybody you

98
00:05:34,320 --> 00:05:36,400
Speaker 1: want us to call, because I'm gonna give you something's

99
00:05:36,400 --> 00:05:39,680
Speaker 1: gonna knock you out. Wow, And who do you want

100
00:05:39,720 --> 00:05:42,440
Speaker 1: us to call, and of course the numbers that rolled

101
00:05:42,480 --> 00:05:45,359
Speaker 1: off of my tongue was my uncle Lu, who was

102
00:05:45,480 --> 00:05:50,640
Speaker 1: affectionately known as Uncle Lulu admer right, legendary record producer. Yeah,

103
00:05:50,720 --> 00:05:52,680
Speaker 1: who worked with your whole career. Yeah, I called it

104
00:05:52,760 --> 00:05:55,400
Speaker 1: my uncle Leu. So they called Uncle Lou, I'm told,

105
00:05:56,440 --> 00:06:00,600
Speaker 1: and um, they got me out of Aparently they did,

106
00:06:00,640 --> 00:06:02,520
Speaker 1: and they took me right to you Selway, which is

107
00:06:03,040 --> 00:06:06,360
Speaker 1: the hospital here, you know. And the next thing I know,

108
00:06:07,440 --> 00:06:09,919
Speaker 1: I was in intensive to care about five or six days,

109
00:06:11,440 --> 00:06:14,880
Speaker 1: I'm told by my family and dear dear friends. And

110
00:06:14,880 --> 00:06:18,000
Speaker 1: when I came up out of that intensive care, it

111
00:06:18,160 --> 00:06:23,120
Speaker 1: was like, oh my god. I had the doctors, you know,

112
00:06:23,160 --> 00:06:25,400
Speaker 1: when they come to see you in your room, they

113
00:06:25,480 --> 00:06:28,160
Speaker 1: come and not one or two, it's about five or

114
00:06:28,200 --> 00:06:31,320
Speaker 1: six sons they come marching in. After I came to

115
00:06:31,360 --> 00:06:35,400
Speaker 1: myself and the doctors said Ms. Clayton, We've got some

116
00:06:35,440 --> 00:06:39,200
Speaker 1: news for you. And I said, well, what is it?

117
00:06:39,200 --> 00:06:44,480
Speaker 1: He says, well, we had to make some harsh decisions

118
00:06:45,440 --> 00:06:48,600
Speaker 1: in order to save your life. And I'm looking at him,

119
00:06:48,640 --> 00:06:51,560
Speaker 1: so what is it? He said, we had to amputate

120
00:06:51,680 --> 00:06:56,600
Speaker 1: both legs from the knee down. Of course, I just

121
00:06:57,080 --> 00:06:59,600
Speaker 1: my heart. You know. It's just like I had to

122
00:06:59,640 --> 00:07:03,479
Speaker 1: take a ref because I knew that something had happened.

123
00:07:03,480 --> 00:07:07,880
Speaker 1: I didn't know exactly what. So my first question was,

124
00:07:08,880 --> 00:07:12,320
Speaker 1: did anything happen to my voice? You believe that was

125
00:07:12,360 --> 00:07:14,360
Speaker 1: really your first question. That was really the first thing

126
00:07:14,360 --> 00:07:17,440
Speaker 1: that you're thinking about after getting that news, after that news,

127
00:07:17,520 --> 00:07:20,880
Speaker 1: it's the weirdest thing. My sister said, you asked the doctors,

128
00:07:20,880 --> 00:07:24,200
Speaker 1: did anything happen to your voice? I said, doctor, So

129
00:07:24,280 --> 00:07:26,600
Speaker 1: I remember them say, oh no, miss Clayton, we knew

130
00:07:26,600 --> 00:07:29,239
Speaker 1: you were a singer. We made sure, and it happened

131
00:07:29,240 --> 00:07:32,960
Speaker 1: to your voice box. Well, you know, so after they

132
00:07:33,000 --> 00:07:36,760
Speaker 1: told me, um that nothing happened to my voice, so

133
00:07:36,840 --> 00:07:39,440
Speaker 1: I looked at the doctor and said, well, nothing happened

134
00:07:39,480 --> 00:07:42,520
Speaker 1: to my voice. I'll be okay, I'll be all right.

135
00:07:43,440 --> 00:07:46,480
Speaker 1: And my sister told me, she says, you laid back

136
00:07:46,520 --> 00:07:49,360
Speaker 1: in your bed and looked up and start singing this

137
00:07:49,520 --> 00:07:52,160
Speaker 1: song that Ashfrid and Simpson wrote for me for a

138
00:07:52,200 --> 00:07:54,360
Speaker 1: film that I did, called I Can Steal a Shine.

139
00:07:54,920 --> 00:07:56,640
Speaker 1: And I was just singing. She said, we could hear

140
00:07:56,680 --> 00:08:01,040
Speaker 1: you way down the hall singing lud old you know

141
00:08:01,160 --> 00:08:04,239
Speaker 1: I can I can still shine you know, I'm just singing.

142
00:08:04,800 --> 00:08:08,160
Speaker 1: So my sister told the doctors, she said, okay, come

143
00:08:08,440 --> 00:08:11,280
Speaker 1: doctor here, we can go down. She's singing, she'll be fine.

144
00:08:11,640 --> 00:08:14,080
Speaker 1: Oh my god, she's just like a Ersia in church.

145
00:08:14,280 --> 00:08:17,160
Speaker 1: She ershed them right out of the room. And she

146
00:08:17,240 --> 00:08:21,000
Speaker 1: said they walked out just shaking their heads, saying what

147
00:08:21,160 --> 00:08:23,600
Speaker 1: kind of woman she won't to know about her voice

148
00:08:23,640 --> 00:08:26,560
Speaker 1: as she started singing. So the doctors were shaking their

149
00:08:26,560 --> 00:08:29,520
Speaker 1: head and they laughed, you know, and by then loing,

150
00:08:29,560 --> 00:08:31,760
Speaker 1: some other people had gotten there, you know, and uh,

151
00:08:31,880 --> 00:08:33,920
Speaker 1: and then they said, I just sung myself to sleep.

152
00:08:34,440 --> 00:08:36,040
Speaker 1: I don't know how that song goes? How does it? How?

153
00:08:36,040 --> 00:08:39,400
Speaker 1: What song is it? Um? I've loved good enough, I've

154
00:08:39,520 --> 00:08:46,360
Speaker 1: loved heart bitter days. I've never seen I made some wrong.

155
00:08:46,520 --> 00:08:52,040
Speaker 1: It's ride moves, you know what I mean, Just just just

156
00:08:52,559 --> 00:08:58,200
Speaker 1: like you are. I'm waiting father, I'd want to come through.

157
00:09:00,600 --> 00:09:10,240
Speaker 1: Life is heartometime and I've been hurt sometime. I can't

158
00:09:10,280 --> 00:09:22,560
Speaker 1: still shine. I can't still shine, Oh my god. So

159
00:09:22,640 --> 00:09:24,440
Speaker 1: I wanted to know. I wanted to know if my

160
00:09:24,520 --> 00:09:26,920
Speaker 1: voice was working. So my Sageter said, when I found

161
00:09:26,920 --> 00:09:30,000
Speaker 1: out my voice was working, she said, I just suddenly

162
00:09:30,080 --> 00:09:33,120
Speaker 1: just went on to sleep when I sung myself to sleep.

163
00:09:33,160 --> 00:09:36,439
Speaker 1: Can't you believe, Oh my God, thank you so much

164
00:09:36,480 --> 00:09:39,440
Speaker 1: for singing. Just now, like thinking about that moment, you're

165
00:09:39,480 --> 00:09:44,679
Speaker 1: comforting yourself to sleep singing. It's absolutely absolutely thank you

166
00:09:44,720 --> 00:09:49,760
Speaker 1: for that. Oh my God, You're welcome. So that was

167
00:09:49,920 --> 00:09:55,199
Speaker 1: my way of, really, as you said, comforting myself because

168
00:09:55,960 --> 00:09:58,360
Speaker 1: that was a lot to take in. But then again,

169
00:09:58,400 --> 00:10:02,240
Speaker 1: as I said, I am a woman of faith, and

170
00:10:02,360 --> 00:10:06,200
Speaker 1: I knew that God was in control and he had

171
00:10:06,280 --> 00:10:09,800
Speaker 1: me in the palm of his hands, and that his

172
00:10:09,880 --> 00:10:13,000
Speaker 1: word says that I'll never leave you or forsake you,

173
00:10:13,559 --> 00:10:15,880
Speaker 1: even until the ends of the earth. And I truly

174
00:10:15,920 --> 00:10:18,320
Speaker 1: believe that. I believe that all my life. So I

175
00:10:18,400 --> 00:10:21,960
Speaker 1: knew that he was with me during this. I knew

176
00:10:22,040 --> 00:10:25,640
Speaker 1: that he was with me. So I just as I said,

177
00:10:25,679 --> 00:10:29,120
Speaker 1: I just arrested, arrested in him. I just knew he

178
00:10:29,120 --> 00:10:31,400
Speaker 1: would take care of whatever needed to be taken care of,

179
00:10:31,960 --> 00:10:34,880
Speaker 1: and I knew that he would handle whatever he needed

180
00:10:34,880 --> 00:10:39,240
Speaker 1: to handle regarding my will being So you, I mean,

181
00:10:39,280 --> 00:10:41,440
Speaker 1: you have this this faith in God being able to

182
00:10:41,520 --> 00:10:44,080
Speaker 1: handle everything that you're not fail being as you've just said,

183
00:10:44,280 --> 00:10:46,600
Speaker 1: But you also had to put in a massive amount

184
00:10:46,640 --> 00:10:48,920
Speaker 1: of work in terms of rehabilitation, I think, to be

185
00:10:49,000 --> 00:10:52,800
Speaker 1: able to get yourself moving again. And I'm really curious

186
00:10:52,840 --> 00:10:55,800
Speaker 1: to know as a like, singing is such a physical act.

187
00:10:55,840 --> 00:10:58,040
Speaker 1: You use your whole body. When I listened to you singing,

188
00:10:58,080 --> 00:11:00,600
Speaker 1: I can hear you using your whole body. Did the

189
00:11:00,640 --> 00:11:03,800
Speaker 1: physical change for you, change the way that that you

190
00:11:03,880 --> 00:11:07,680
Speaker 1: approach singing at all? You know, to be honest, no,

191
00:11:08,880 --> 00:11:11,920
Speaker 1: not at all. We were talking about that doing the

192
00:11:12,000 --> 00:11:16,000
Speaker 1: recording of Beautiful Scars, and uh, Lou and Terry would

193
00:11:16,080 --> 00:11:18,040
Speaker 1: tell me. You know, a matter of fact, we did

194
00:11:18,040 --> 00:11:21,440
Speaker 1: an interview a couple of weeks ago and Lou was

195
00:11:21,480 --> 00:11:23,679
Speaker 1: saying to the interviewee said Mary was out in the

196
00:11:23,720 --> 00:11:25,800
Speaker 1: studio singing, and Terry and I just looked at each

197
00:11:25,800 --> 00:11:29,920
Speaker 1: other and said, she has not missed a beat. She's

198
00:11:29,960 --> 00:11:34,920
Speaker 1: on the same that she sound when I first met her. Says, unbelievable.

199
00:11:35,440 --> 00:11:38,520
Speaker 1: So you know, sometime when you lose things in life,

200
00:11:39,559 --> 00:11:43,480
Speaker 1: or you have a tragedy in your life, you're given

201
00:11:43,480 --> 00:11:46,000
Speaker 1: other stuff to make up for that. So I was

202
00:11:46,080 --> 00:11:50,440
Speaker 1: given the wind, the air, everything that I need to

203
00:11:50,520 --> 00:11:55,800
Speaker 1: sing without faulting. For some reason. That was that was

204
00:11:55,840 --> 00:11:58,320
Speaker 1: a gift from above that was given to me during

205
00:11:58,360 --> 00:12:01,480
Speaker 1: that period. So no, I didn't have a hard time singing.

206
00:12:01,920 --> 00:12:04,960
Speaker 1: I really really didn't. And I had such a good time,

207
00:12:05,760 --> 00:12:12,719
Speaker 1: such a great, wonderful, loving, peaceful, happy time working with

208
00:12:12,840 --> 00:12:16,760
Speaker 1: Uncle Lewin Terry. It's one of the greatest writers that

209
00:12:16,840 --> 00:12:19,280
Speaker 1: I've ever had the opportunity to work with. What it

210
00:12:19,320 --> 00:12:22,280
Speaker 1: comes to the music, you got to be spot on,

211
00:12:22,679 --> 00:12:25,560
Speaker 1: you know, and if you're wise, you'll listen to what

212
00:12:25,600 --> 00:12:27,320
Speaker 1: he has to say when he's telling you to do

213
00:12:27,360 --> 00:12:30,800
Speaker 1: certain things. So I became very wise on this project,

214
00:12:31,160 --> 00:12:34,480
Speaker 1: and I listened to every technique and everything he told me.

215
00:12:34,760 --> 00:12:37,000
Speaker 1: I would listen, I would apply it, and it worked

216
00:12:37,000 --> 00:12:40,520
Speaker 1: out great for us. It's incredible. I mean, the record

217
00:12:40,600 --> 00:12:43,160
Speaker 1: is spectacular, but it's really something like there's so many

218
00:12:43,160 --> 00:12:45,280
Speaker 1: moving moments on it, but it's something to hear you

219
00:12:45,320 --> 00:12:48,440
Speaker 1: say that you know you're taking feedback about technique and stuff.

220
00:12:48,440 --> 00:12:50,000
Speaker 1: I mean, you put on your first solo record more

221
00:12:50,040 --> 00:12:52,679
Speaker 1: than fifty years ago and you sounded perfect then, Like

222
00:12:52,960 --> 00:12:55,720
Speaker 1: it's just so what a humble wait for you to feel.

223
00:12:55,760 --> 00:12:57,680
Speaker 1: I guess that you still have something to to learn

224
00:12:57,720 --> 00:13:04,000
Speaker 1: from somebody else, And oh my god, if you're not learning, Darling,

225
00:13:04,200 --> 00:13:08,040
Speaker 1: you're not growing. I can still learn a whole lot,

226
00:13:09,040 --> 00:13:13,360
Speaker 1: you know, especially in this craft called music, and in

227
00:13:13,480 --> 00:13:17,240
Speaker 1: this music industry, you're you're always learning. And if you're wise,

228
00:13:17,280 --> 00:13:20,720
Speaker 1: as I said before, you'll listen. I've always been a listener.

229
00:13:20,760 --> 00:13:24,440
Speaker 1: That's how I learned by listening and watching. You know.

230
00:13:24,520 --> 00:13:28,200
Speaker 1: I'll always hung out with people that were were older

231
00:13:28,240 --> 00:13:30,840
Speaker 1: than me. You know, I never hung out with the kids.

232
00:13:31,120 --> 00:13:32,920
Speaker 1: I was never wanting to do that. I want to

233
00:13:32,920 --> 00:13:35,079
Speaker 1: hang out with the little older people. You know that

234
00:13:35,559 --> 00:13:38,920
Speaker 1: the wise sisters, you know in the church or you know,

235
00:13:38,960 --> 00:13:40,960
Speaker 1: because that was our life, was the church. I'd sitting

236
00:13:41,000 --> 00:13:44,200
Speaker 1: not listen all the time, and I watched them. I

237
00:13:44,320 --> 00:13:47,880
Speaker 1: listened to different choir members and the directors of the choir,

238
00:13:47,960 --> 00:13:50,680
Speaker 1: and I would take what they did and I would

239
00:13:50,800 --> 00:13:54,000
Speaker 1: apply it to when I was singing with Ray Charles,

240
00:13:54,440 --> 00:13:56,520
Speaker 1: when I was singing with the Stones, when I was

241
00:13:56,520 --> 00:13:58,600
Speaker 1: singing with Joe Cocker, when I was singing with my

242
00:13:58,640 --> 00:14:00,880
Speaker 1: god mother, Dela Rees, when I was singing with my

243
00:14:00,880 --> 00:14:02,959
Speaker 1: Haley jack not singing with but when I knew my

244
00:14:03,040 --> 00:14:07,559
Speaker 1: Haley Jackson everything that everything that she did, because she

245
00:14:07,600 --> 00:14:09,080
Speaker 1: would sitting I would always sit with her in my

246
00:14:09,120 --> 00:14:11,920
Speaker 1: dad's church. When she'd come to visit, I would find her,

247
00:14:12,040 --> 00:14:16,080
Speaker 1: you know, Haley, Uh, there she is. There's Haley, And

248
00:14:16,120 --> 00:14:19,480
Speaker 1: I'd run to wherever she was and would nestle in

249
00:14:19,640 --> 00:14:23,040
Speaker 1: between she and another great singer, her name was Linda Hopkins.

250
00:14:23,080 --> 00:14:26,920
Speaker 1: They would always come visit my dad's church. Right, So

251
00:14:27,240 --> 00:14:30,600
Speaker 1: all these ladies, I would just be really quiet that

252
00:14:30,640 --> 00:14:33,760
Speaker 1: would mimic everything they would do. I would do, you know.

253
00:14:33,880 --> 00:14:38,120
Speaker 1: But that's a process of learning, that's right. So you

254
00:14:38,240 --> 00:14:40,560
Speaker 1: just painted us sort of a picture of your dad's

255
00:14:40,640 --> 00:14:43,000
Speaker 1: church that you grew up in and sitting with these

256
00:14:43,120 --> 00:14:46,800
Speaker 1: these gospel greats and sing from them. Does that then

257
00:14:46,800 --> 00:14:49,640
Speaker 1: translate to everything else that you do, like I'm thinking of.

258
00:14:49,880 --> 00:14:52,320
Speaker 1: I know, Sam Cook also was at your church when

259
00:14:52,320 --> 00:14:54,200
Speaker 1: you're growing up, and he was with the Soul Stirs,

260
00:14:54,240 --> 00:14:57,120
Speaker 1: this incredible gospel group before he did secular music. But

261
00:14:57,160 --> 00:14:59,440
Speaker 1: there was a carry over, Like whether he's singing gospel

262
00:14:59,520 --> 00:15:02,160
Speaker 1: or whether he singing secular music, you feel you have

263
00:15:02,280 --> 00:15:04,600
Speaker 1: the feeling that it's coming from the same place. Is

264
00:15:04,640 --> 00:15:07,160
Speaker 1: that true for you as well? I mean, it doesn't matter,

265
00:15:08,040 --> 00:15:11,440
Speaker 1: no matter, and that's really a no matter. I mean,

266
00:15:11,840 --> 00:15:15,640
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter what I'm singing, there's gonna be a

267
00:15:15,680 --> 00:15:20,000
Speaker 1: gospel field in there, right and um, when I was singing,

268
00:15:20,240 --> 00:15:24,600
Speaker 1: really doing a lot of background singing, That's what the

269
00:15:24,640 --> 00:15:27,160
Speaker 1: grouts from Europe want, That's what they wanted, That's what

270
00:15:27,240 --> 00:15:30,200
Speaker 1: the Stones wanted, That's what Joe Cocker wanted. That's what

271
00:15:30,440 --> 00:15:32,760
Speaker 1: Barbara Streisan wanted when she would hire us. You know

272
00:15:33,120 --> 00:15:35,160
Speaker 1: she's singing the way you would sing in your church.

273
00:15:35,280 --> 00:15:39,320
Speaker 1: Don't don't hide it. The field that I want is

274
00:15:39,360 --> 00:15:42,800
Speaker 1: that feel that you guys have. And it all came

275
00:15:42,840 --> 00:15:45,760
Speaker 1: back to where we came from and we came out

276
00:15:45,800 --> 00:15:49,440
Speaker 1: of the church. So yes, everything I sing, even when

277
00:15:49,480 --> 00:15:53,280
Speaker 1: I did um, I was the original Acid Queen and

278
00:15:53,400 --> 00:15:57,080
Speaker 1: Tommy with the London Symphony Orchestra, which is the musical

279
00:15:57,120 --> 00:15:59,720
Speaker 1: for people who are not familiar to the who the

280
00:15:59,720 --> 00:16:03,920
Speaker 1: band their musical Tommy, that's an incredible role. I was

281
00:16:04,000 --> 00:16:06,880
Speaker 1: the original Tina did the film, but I was the

282
00:16:06,880 --> 00:16:12,119
Speaker 1: original last Queen on the record for the double album

283
00:16:12,160 --> 00:16:14,800
Speaker 1: with because Lou was one of the producers. Lou Asler

284
00:16:15,000 --> 00:16:18,400
Speaker 1: and Lou Reisner were the producers of that album, so

285
00:16:18,560 --> 00:16:21,280
Speaker 1: naturally Lou was gonna have me to say that character

286
00:16:21,520 --> 00:16:24,880
Speaker 1: you know. So even when I did Tommy, you could

287
00:16:24,920 --> 00:16:28,000
Speaker 1: hear gospel in there. If your childie all he could be.

288
00:16:28,120 --> 00:16:31,600
Speaker 1: Now this girl can put him right, you know what

289
00:16:31,640 --> 00:16:35,400
Speaker 1: I mean. You could hear that gospel in there. You know,

290
00:16:35,720 --> 00:16:38,200
Speaker 1: whatever I saying, it's gonna there's gonna be some gospel

291
00:16:38,240 --> 00:16:41,040
Speaker 1: feeling there no matter what I say, you know. So

292
00:16:41,960 --> 00:16:44,680
Speaker 1: that's just who I am, and that's just what I do.

293
00:16:48,760 --> 00:16:53,360
Speaker 1: Vocalist Mary Clayton. If you like interviews with groundbreaking musicians,

294
00:16:53,520 --> 00:16:57,040
Speaker 1: make sure you check out Alex Conversation with David Crosby.

295
00:16:57,880 --> 00:16:59,920
Speaker 1: We always produced our records and we had when we

296
00:17:00,040 --> 00:17:03,000
Speaker 1: called the reality rule. You come into the room, just us,

297
00:17:03,120 --> 00:17:06,679
Speaker 1: nobody else and I seeing each other as song, and

298
00:17:06,680 --> 00:17:10,520
Speaker 1: they either liked it, and if they liked it, you know,

299
00:17:10,560 --> 00:17:13,920
Speaker 1: then we start figured out how to sing it. And

300
00:17:13,960 --> 00:17:16,879
Speaker 1: these are hugely talented guys. Man, they came with a

301
00:17:16,880 --> 00:17:21,440
Speaker 1: lot of stuff. Neil's nickname is sometimes it's CSN sometimes

302
00:17:21,480 --> 00:17:25,080
Speaker 1: why you know, and when it would be CS and

303
00:17:25,240 --> 00:17:27,720
Speaker 1: Y it was a lot bigger. The reason to cuss

304
00:17:27,760 --> 00:17:31,439
Speaker 1: always Neil's decision, because if there's twenty thousand people in

305
00:17:31,440 --> 00:17:34,560
Speaker 1: the stadium, Neil put ten of them there here the

306
00:17:34,560 --> 00:17:37,480
Speaker 1: rest of Alec and David Crosby's conversation at Here's the

307
00:17:37,520 --> 00:17:41,040
Speaker 1: Thing dot Org. After the break, Mary Clayton shares the

308
00:17:41,080 --> 00:17:43,840
Speaker 1: story of how she got her start in the music business,

309
00:17:43,960 --> 00:17:48,800
Speaker 1: which meant juggling after school recording sessions with homework and knaps.

310
00:17:59,560 --> 00:18:01,880
Speaker 1: I'm telling I Ash Langer sitting in for Alec Baldwin,

311
00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:06,360
Speaker 1: and this is Here's the Thing. Mary Clayton's powerhouse vocals

312
00:18:06,480 --> 00:18:09,280
Speaker 1: stand out in a crowd. That's been clear since her

313
00:18:09,440 --> 00:18:14,359
Speaker 1: very first professional recording gig with a legendary crooner. I

314
00:18:14,440 --> 00:18:19,600
Speaker 1: was almost fifteen and we were doing this record with

315
00:18:19,680 --> 00:18:26,000
Speaker 1: a gentlemle name Bobby Darren. And Bobby Darren wanted background singers,

316
00:18:26,080 --> 00:18:30,240
Speaker 1: but he wanted the gospel sound. He was very, very

317
00:18:30,280 --> 00:18:35,399
Speaker 1: soulful man, and he loved African American singers. He loved it.

318
00:18:35,760 --> 00:18:39,359
Speaker 1: So I was called for this record date at Capitol Records.

319
00:18:39,520 --> 00:18:41,720
Speaker 1: It was myself and a group of other girls and

320
00:18:42,720 --> 00:18:48,000
Speaker 1: we did this background session and for some reason, he

321
00:18:48,080 --> 00:18:51,119
Speaker 1: kept saying to the singers, there's someone who is a

322
00:18:51,200 --> 00:18:55,720
Speaker 1: little bit loud. So they would say, okay, Bobby, we'll

323
00:18:55,800 --> 00:18:58,520
Speaker 1: we'll ask her to stand back. So the girls would say,

324
00:18:58,680 --> 00:19:01,960
Speaker 1: Mary stand back a little bit, and I'd stand back

325
00:19:02,000 --> 00:19:05,440
Speaker 1: a little bit and um, he said, okay, starting all

326
00:19:05,480 --> 00:19:08,840
Speaker 1: over again. We start singing again, and he said, you

327
00:19:08,840 --> 00:19:12,000
Speaker 1: know that voice is still it's good, but it's just

328
00:19:12,119 --> 00:19:16,240
Speaker 1: still a little loud. So they'd asked me to step back, Mary,

329
00:19:16,320 --> 00:19:18,880
Speaker 1: step back a little bit more. So I step back,

330
00:19:18,920 --> 00:19:21,520
Speaker 1: step back, so more remind you. By the end of

331
00:19:21,520 --> 00:19:24,000
Speaker 1: the session, I was all both out the room right

332
00:19:24,119 --> 00:19:29,439
Speaker 1: until down the street, almost our studio ad until I

333
00:19:29,480 --> 00:19:33,000
Speaker 1: was able to adjust that. Because I'd never sing in

334
00:19:33,080 --> 00:19:36,280
Speaker 1: a recording session before, so I didn't know how to

335
00:19:36,320 --> 00:19:39,520
Speaker 1: really really blend. I'd sung in choirs, you know, but

336
00:19:39,680 --> 00:19:41,600
Speaker 1: I never I didn't know how to and they taught

337
00:19:41,600 --> 00:19:43,040
Speaker 1: me how to blend, but I don't know. I guess

338
00:19:43,240 --> 00:19:47,400
Speaker 1: hearing yourself back and the headphones. I learned very quickly, though.

339
00:19:47,920 --> 00:19:51,679
Speaker 1: So he said, excuse me, what is your name? I

340
00:19:51,720 --> 00:19:54,919
Speaker 1: said Mary? He said, can you come in? So I

341
00:19:55,000 --> 00:19:56,760
Speaker 1: went behind the booth, you know, and I went in

342
00:19:56,880 --> 00:19:59,800
Speaker 1: thea in the control room. He said, can you sing

343
00:19:59,880 --> 00:20:02,960
Speaker 1: your apart? So I sung my part to him. He said,

344
00:20:03,040 --> 00:20:06,760
Speaker 1: that's that voice I keep hearing. I said yes. He

345
00:20:06,840 --> 00:20:09,359
Speaker 1: said how old are you? I said, I'm gonna be

346
00:20:09,920 --> 00:20:14,680
Speaker 1: fifteen Christmas. What you're singing like that? At fifteen? He said,

347
00:20:14,680 --> 00:20:18,040
Speaker 1: I think I need to talk to your parents. I said,

348
00:20:18,040 --> 00:20:19,800
Speaker 1: we'll wait a minute. Did I do something wrong? Oh no,

349
00:20:19,880 --> 00:20:21,840
Speaker 1: you don't do anything wrong. You're doing something very right.

350
00:20:22,200 --> 00:20:24,600
Speaker 1: But you're very You're a little bit loud, he said,

351
00:20:24,640 --> 00:20:26,879
Speaker 1: But I'd like for you to come in tomorrow with

352
00:20:26,960 --> 00:20:29,160
Speaker 1: your parents. I'd like to take a meeting with your parents.

353
00:20:29,600 --> 00:20:31,760
Speaker 1: So we took a meeting with Mr Darren about a

354
00:20:31,800 --> 00:20:34,600
Speaker 1: week or two later, and he wanted to sign me.

355
00:20:34,680 --> 00:20:37,919
Speaker 1: So he signed me the Capitol at fifteen on his label,

356
00:20:38,240 --> 00:20:41,360
Speaker 1: which was T and M Music at Capitol Records. So

357
00:20:41,520 --> 00:20:45,119
Speaker 1: that was my first experience in the recording studio. And

358
00:20:45,119 --> 00:20:47,080
Speaker 1: we did several singles, you know, a lot of things

359
00:20:47,119 --> 00:20:49,879
Speaker 1: because I was stealing. God, I was in high school,

360
00:20:50,080 --> 00:20:51,639
Speaker 1: you know, I was still in high school, trying to

361
00:20:51,640 --> 00:20:54,000
Speaker 1: get through high school to graduate to go to college.

362
00:20:54,600 --> 00:20:59,560
Speaker 1: So that was my first first experience in a recording studio.

363
00:21:00,920 --> 00:21:03,280
Speaker 1: So you're a teenager and your parents are called in

364
00:21:03,320 --> 00:21:04,960
Speaker 1: and he's like, I want to sign your daughter. What

365
00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:07,040
Speaker 1: did they think of that? Were they like you have

366
00:21:07,119 --> 00:21:08,760
Speaker 1: to do your homework first, or they were like, go

367
00:21:08,880 --> 00:21:12,080
Speaker 1: for it. So he wanted me to do another session.

368
00:21:13,119 --> 00:21:17,040
Speaker 1: And the session required me to be at the studio

369
00:21:17,160 --> 00:21:21,320
Speaker 1: at about four o'clock in the evening. So Mr D

370
00:21:21,520 --> 00:21:23,520
Speaker 1: like we called him Mr D. Mr D said, okay,

371
00:21:23,680 --> 00:21:25,879
Speaker 1: we'll have a car and a driver to pick her

372
00:21:25,920 --> 00:21:29,199
Speaker 1: up from school. My mother said, okay, you can have

373
00:21:29,280 --> 00:21:32,040
Speaker 1: a car on the driver to pick her up from school.

374
00:21:32,080 --> 00:21:34,520
Speaker 1: She said, but these are the requirements. She has to

375
00:21:34,560 --> 00:21:39,720
Speaker 1: do her homework. She has to take a nap because

376
00:21:39,760 --> 00:21:42,080
Speaker 1: she would have been up early early in the morning

377
00:21:42,080 --> 00:21:44,840
Speaker 1: for school. And then she can come down. We will

378
00:21:44,880 --> 00:21:47,639
Speaker 1: be there by then and sing with Shorty Rogers and

379
00:21:47,760 --> 00:21:51,440
Speaker 1: his big band in your studio. But these are the requirements.

380
00:21:51,520 --> 00:21:53,680
Speaker 1: My father said. Now, if you can meet those requirements,

381
00:21:54,119 --> 00:21:56,880
Speaker 1: sure she can do the session. But oh yes, they

382
00:21:56,920 --> 00:22:00,960
Speaker 1: had to pick me up. Mr Darren had to correct

383
00:22:01,119 --> 00:22:05,880
Speaker 1: my homework. I mean it was something I had English

384
00:22:05,960 --> 00:22:08,520
Speaker 1: or something, you know, math or whatever. But he came

385
00:22:08,600 --> 00:22:10,320
Speaker 1: up and checked out. He had a lady to come,

386
00:22:10,880 --> 00:22:13,760
Speaker 1: a teacher to come and check my homework, made sure

387
00:22:13,840 --> 00:22:15,680
Speaker 1: that the lights were out. I took a two hour

388
00:22:15,800 --> 00:22:18,520
Speaker 1: nap that I got my god. Because he had everything

389
00:22:18,560 --> 00:22:21,119
Speaker 1: in his big office there and he came in. They

390
00:22:21,119 --> 00:22:24,040
Speaker 1: woke me up to prepare me to go downstairs to

391
00:22:24,160 --> 00:22:26,800
Speaker 1: sing with Shorty Rice is big band. I'm talking about

392
00:22:26,840 --> 00:22:29,520
Speaker 1: a big band. I'm not talking about I'm not talking

393
00:22:29,560 --> 00:22:32,960
Speaker 1: about a little small six piece band. I'm talking about

394
00:22:32,960 --> 00:22:36,719
Speaker 1: an eighteen piece orchestra. And he was doing a record

395
00:22:36,800 --> 00:22:43,000
Speaker 1: called You're the Reason I'm Living Okay, and I did

396
00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:44,600
Speaker 1: to do it with him on this album call You

397
00:22:44,680 --> 00:22:47,920
Speaker 1: the Reason I'm Living and the duet was called who

398
00:22:47,960 --> 00:22:50,520
Speaker 1: can I count on If I can't count on you?

399
00:22:51,560 --> 00:22:54,720
Speaker 1: And he was floored. He said, all of that voice

400
00:22:54,760 --> 00:22:58,280
Speaker 1: is coming out a little bit body. I said, yeah,

401
00:22:58,280 --> 00:23:02,159
Speaker 1: I guess, so he says, well, was incredible. So Shorty

402
00:23:02,200 --> 00:23:04,080
Speaker 1: would come over and he said, I told you she

403
00:23:04,119 --> 00:23:06,960
Speaker 1: could sing. JE said, Bobby, I told you this young

404
00:23:07,040 --> 00:23:10,240
Speaker 1: lady could sing. And he was just like shaking his head.

405
00:23:10,400 --> 00:23:12,879
Speaker 1: Mr Darren, He said, I can't not believe you're singing

406
00:23:12,960 --> 00:23:15,520
Speaker 1: like this to be the age that you are. And

407
00:23:15,600 --> 00:23:17,639
Speaker 1: my mother just looked at him. She was she was

408
00:23:17,680 --> 00:23:19,919
Speaker 1: in the booth with me, so she just looked up

409
00:23:19,960 --> 00:23:22,439
Speaker 1: at him, so you know, she was trained. And of

410
00:23:22,480 --> 00:23:25,640
Speaker 1: all the church now and we we sing in the church.

411
00:23:25,720 --> 00:23:28,800
Speaker 1: We don't play you know, you either sing or you're

412
00:23:28,800 --> 00:23:30,879
Speaker 1: gonna play an instrument. You know you're gonna be one

413
00:23:31,040 --> 00:23:32,960
Speaker 1: for the other. Because see, I'm from New Orleans, and

414
00:23:32,960 --> 00:23:36,000
Speaker 1: in New Orleans, you sing, you play an instrument, you

415
00:23:36,040 --> 00:23:39,199
Speaker 1: go to college. You know, that's just the way that was.

416
00:23:39,560 --> 00:23:42,560
Speaker 1: That's unbelievable. I mean, you've got this person. He's a

417
00:23:42,640 --> 00:23:45,760
Speaker 1: huge star. He believes in you so much. You come in,

418
00:23:46,080 --> 00:23:48,439
Speaker 1: you crush it. He's going to these great lengths to

419
00:23:48,480 --> 00:23:50,640
Speaker 1: make sure that you can be on these sessions for him.

420
00:23:50,720 --> 00:23:53,320
Speaker 1: What did you dream for yourself at that point? Because

421
00:23:53,400 --> 00:23:56,320
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm thinking, your kid, kid, you must have thought,

422
00:23:56,320 --> 00:23:58,879
Speaker 1: I can I've got something. What did you dream for

423
00:23:58,880 --> 00:24:01,480
Speaker 1: yourself at that point? I didn't think any of that stuff.

424
00:24:02,119 --> 00:24:04,639
Speaker 1: I just thought, you know, this is really really nice.

425
00:24:04,880 --> 00:24:06,760
Speaker 1: I wonder can I do this when I get out

426
00:24:06,760 --> 00:24:08,800
Speaker 1: of school? You know. And I've spoken to some of

427
00:24:08,880 --> 00:24:12,639
Speaker 1: the other girls and older ladies that we're doing background session.

428
00:24:12,920 --> 00:24:14,600
Speaker 1: I said, you guys do this all the time. They say,

429
00:24:14,600 --> 00:24:17,639
Speaker 1: oh yeah, we do maybe two sessions, maybe three or

430
00:24:17,640 --> 00:24:20,240
Speaker 1: four sessions a week. I said, well, how much do

431
00:24:20,320 --> 00:24:23,000
Speaker 1: you make? And they told me at that time they

432
00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:27,680
Speaker 1: were paying background saying and if you doubled that particular song,

433
00:24:27,720 --> 00:24:30,240
Speaker 1: which is put another track over that you get another

434
00:24:31,600 --> 00:24:35,920
Speaker 1: That was incredible money for a fifteen sixteen year old

435
00:24:36,320 --> 00:24:40,000
Speaker 1: in the sixties, in the six daies. Oh my god.

436
00:24:40,560 --> 00:24:44,040
Speaker 1: And I said, that's that's pretty nice. So of course

437
00:24:44,080 --> 00:24:46,600
Speaker 1: when I when I got out of school, you know,

438
00:24:47,200 --> 00:24:49,639
Speaker 1: and they just started call I started getting these calls.

439
00:24:49,760 --> 00:24:52,679
Speaker 1: You know, Jack would call Mary, there's a great session

440
00:24:52,720 --> 00:24:54,840
Speaker 1: going on. It would be good miss Ms Clayton, be

441
00:24:54,880 --> 00:24:57,000
Speaker 1: a good, good thing for Mary to go to this session.

442
00:24:57,280 --> 00:24:59,600
Speaker 1: She'll get paid. We'll make sure she'd get paid. Union's

443
00:24:59,680 --> 00:25:02,159
Speaker 1: gaye old. And after so a few years of that,

444
00:25:02,240 --> 00:25:04,840
Speaker 1: I said, Mama said, well, you know, would you like

445
00:25:04,920 --> 00:25:07,919
Speaker 1: to do this as as maybe her career, because you

446
00:25:07,960 --> 00:25:09,480
Speaker 1: know you couldn't do this as a career if you

447
00:25:09,520 --> 00:25:12,640
Speaker 1: want to, it's how you feel about it, I said,

448
00:25:12,680 --> 00:25:15,560
Speaker 1: Mama loved to sing. She said, well, this is good

449
00:25:15,560 --> 00:25:19,400
Speaker 1: training for you, whatever you want to do. But by

450
00:25:19,440 --> 00:25:22,440
Speaker 1: then I had gotten this great call from my great

451
00:25:22,440 --> 00:25:26,760
Speaker 1: friend Billy Preston, my childhood friend, one of the greatest

452
00:25:27,080 --> 00:25:31,280
Speaker 1: keyboard and organists and songwriters in the world, Billy Preston.

453
00:25:31,520 --> 00:25:34,720
Speaker 1: So Billy called one day and he says, what are

454
00:25:34,760 --> 00:25:37,760
Speaker 1: you doing? I said, why are you whispering? He says, listen,

455
00:25:38,440 --> 00:25:42,119
Speaker 1: whatever you're doing, I need you to drop it because

456
00:25:42,119 --> 00:25:44,840
Speaker 1: I want you to come up and sing for Ray.

457
00:25:45,160 --> 00:25:49,080
Speaker 1: I said, Ray, Who is it? Ray Charles? I said,

458
00:25:49,119 --> 00:25:52,200
Speaker 1: what I said? The Ray Charles? He says, only wanted

459
00:25:52,280 --> 00:25:55,000
Speaker 1: Ray Charles. He said, get dressed, put on something cute,

460
00:25:55,320 --> 00:25:57,840
Speaker 1: smell good, and and be real cute. And you come

461
00:25:57,880 --> 00:26:00,360
Speaker 1: up to Ray's office. They're going on tour and their

462
00:26:00,440 --> 00:26:03,359
Speaker 1: auditioning singers. And I told Rady that you were just

463
00:26:03,480 --> 00:26:06,320
Speaker 1: fantastic and that you would just be great for his group.

464
00:26:07,680 --> 00:26:10,600
Speaker 1: Well I would, I would have to sing from Mr Charles.

465
00:26:11,280 --> 00:26:13,399
Speaker 1: And I left with a contract, you know, for my

466
00:26:13,480 --> 00:26:15,920
Speaker 1: parents to check out to see if this would be

467
00:26:16,040 --> 00:26:18,760
Speaker 1: something that I want to do. So Billy and I

468
00:26:18,800 --> 00:26:21,200
Speaker 1: made it this big story. He said, you tell your

469
00:26:21,240 --> 00:26:25,080
Speaker 1: mother that my mother's gonna let me go and then

470
00:26:25,119 --> 00:26:27,840
Speaker 1: we and then you're gonna We had this big thing,

471
00:26:28,400 --> 00:26:32,359
Speaker 1: you know, we were doing this big covert operation, you know,

472
00:26:32,520 --> 00:26:34,760
Speaker 1: to get on this tour. My mother would say, do

473
00:26:34,800 --> 00:26:36,840
Speaker 1: you guys really think we're crazy? Do you do you

474
00:26:36,840 --> 00:26:41,639
Speaker 1: know who we are? We are? Your mother? You have

475
00:26:41,760 --> 00:26:43,800
Speaker 1: to have a chaperone if you go out there on

476
00:26:43,840 --> 00:26:46,639
Speaker 1: this tour. So she told Mr. Child My dad said, well,

477
00:26:46,680 --> 00:26:49,240
Speaker 1: you know what, I have a good girl here and

478
00:26:49,280 --> 00:26:50,840
Speaker 1: I want her to come back here just the way

479
00:26:50,880 --> 00:26:53,680
Speaker 1: she left, and if she doesn't, you're gonna have a problem.

480
00:26:53,840 --> 00:26:56,159
Speaker 1: My mother, my mother told Mr Charles, you have a

481
00:26:56,160 --> 00:26:57,840
Speaker 1: problem with her father, and that's not the one you

482
00:26:57,880 --> 00:27:01,760
Speaker 1: want to have a problem with. So Ray, you know,

483
00:27:01,920 --> 00:27:04,240
Speaker 1: he came and he spoke to my mom said, don't

484
00:27:04,240 --> 00:27:07,240
Speaker 1: worry about her. Everything's gonna be just fine, and we'll

485
00:27:07,240 --> 00:27:09,760
Speaker 1: have chaperons and Billy, they're gonna be the youngest one

486
00:27:09,760 --> 00:27:12,040
Speaker 1: on the tour. We're gonna take good tear of don't don't,

487
00:27:12,040 --> 00:27:15,119
Speaker 1: don't worry about it. Miss Clayton. It's okay. I'm just

488
00:27:15,160 --> 00:27:17,600
Speaker 1: letting you know in front, so you know behind you

489
00:27:17,600 --> 00:27:20,480
Speaker 1: want no problem with me? Now, this is my baby,

490
00:27:21,040 --> 00:27:24,120
Speaker 1: you know. So Billy and I and you know, we

491
00:27:24,200 --> 00:27:26,560
Speaker 1: got it together, and we got a wardrobe, my parents

492
00:27:26,600 --> 00:27:28,840
Speaker 1: got a wardrobe and everything together, and we went out

493
00:27:28,880 --> 00:27:31,040
Speaker 1: on this tour to Ray Charles and had the time

494
00:27:31,320 --> 00:27:35,280
Speaker 1: of our lives with a big this big orchestra. He

495
00:27:35,320 --> 00:27:38,600
Speaker 1: had this huge orchestra and he had three other singers,

496
00:27:38,840 --> 00:27:43,520
Speaker 1: you know, so he rehearsed us profusely because he was

497
00:27:43,560 --> 00:27:46,320
Speaker 1: a perfectionist and he wanted it to be the way

498
00:27:46,359 --> 00:27:48,800
Speaker 1: he wanted it to be, you know, to singer to

499
00:27:48,880 --> 00:27:52,879
Speaker 1: Ray Charles. That was something to say in the mid sixties,

500
00:27:53,200 --> 00:27:55,919
Speaker 1: what do you do well, I singer? You what you

501
00:27:56,160 --> 00:28:00,000
Speaker 1: sing with Ray Charles? Well, yeah, i'd seing with Ray Charles. Well,

502
00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:02,159
Speaker 1: oh my goodness, sure, we'll let you have this. So

503
00:28:02,200 --> 00:28:06,159
Speaker 1: we'll let you have that whatever you want. You know. Unbelievable,

504
00:28:06,240 --> 00:28:08,600
Speaker 1: And just like that, you're a Raylette. And there you go.

505
00:28:08,760 --> 00:28:13,160
Speaker 1: I was a Raylett and I didn't let ray Oh.

506
00:28:13,440 --> 00:28:15,760
Speaker 1: That was a big thing that people said. They said

507
00:28:15,760 --> 00:28:18,639
Speaker 1: that in order to be a Raylet you had to

508
00:28:18,720 --> 00:28:22,920
Speaker 1: let Rolsa. Not in me. Yikes. I married his conductor

509
00:28:23,119 --> 00:28:25,440
Speaker 1: and was married to his conductor for thirty two years

510
00:28:26,240 --> 00:28:29,760
Speaker 1: until he closed his eyes and left this earth. Yeah,

511
00:28:29,920 --> 00:28:33,920
Speaker 1: unbelievable saxophone player. Yeah, yeah, the great Curtis saying me,

512
00:28:34,080 --> 00:28:39,640
Speaker 1: that's right. Singer Mary Clayton follow here's the thing on

513
00:28:39,640 --> 00:28:43,200
Speaker 1: the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcasts or wherever you

514
00:28:43,240 --> 00:28:47,360
Speaker 1: get your podcasts. When we return, Mary Clayton talks about

515
00:28:47,360 --> 00:28:50,360
Speaker 1: the benefits and the challenges of being a black female

516
00:28:50,440 --> 00:29:03,720
Speaker 1: artist in the nineteen seventies. I'm Talia Schlanger in for

517
00:29:03,760 --> 00:29:07,160
Speaker 1: Alec Baldwin and this is here's the thing. By the

518
00:29:07,200 --> 00:29:10,080
Speaker 1: time she was twenty one, Mary Clayton was a seasoned

519
00:29:10,160 --> 00:29:13,360
Speaker 1: pro having already performed with some of the biggest names

520
00:29:13,360 --> 00:29:16,640
Speaker 1: in music. But it was a surprise phone call late

521
00:29:16,680 --> 00:29:19,680
Speaker 1: one night from a famous producer that launched her career

522
00:29:20,120 --> 00:29:24,840
Speaker 1: into the stratosphere. Jack Niici. This is a producer. Jack

523
00:29:24,920 --> 00:29:29,120
Speaker 1: Nietchi calls and he says, listen, there's a bunch of

524
00:29:29,160 --> 00:29:33,600
Speaker 1: guys in town. They're they're rolling And before he can

525
00:29:33,600 --> 00:29:36,120
Speaker 1: get out stones I'm saying, and my husband's takes a phone.

526
00:29:36,160 --> 00:29:38,840
Speaker 1: He says, Man, why you call them Mary so late?

527
00:29:38,960 --> 00:29:41,960
Speaker 1: You know she's pregnant. He says, Man, we're getting ready

528
00:29:41,960 --> 00:29:44,360
Speaker 1: to go to bed. He said, Man, you gotta let

529
00:29:44,360 --> 00:29:47,160
Speaker 1: her work on this date. This date is gonna be wonderful.

530
00:29:47,480 --> 00:29:49,440
Speaker 1: We got to set a car and don't worry about her.

531
00:29:49,440 --> 00:29:51,920
Speaker 1: I'm coming into Limo and I'll take care of her,

532
00:29:52,280 --> 00:29:55,080
Speaker 1: take her there and then I'll bring it back. He said, Man,

533
00:29:55,320 --> 00:29:58,000
Speaker 1: it is really really late. She's put lotion on her

534
00:29:58,040 --> 00:30:00,560
Speaker 1: hands when she starts to put lotion in her hands.

535
00:30:00,720 --> 00:30:05,080
Speaker 1: It's bedtime. So so I had these beautiful silk, pink

536
00:30:05,160 --> 00:30:09,480
Speaker 1: silk pajamas. So my husband says, baby, aren't you gonna

537
00:30:09,560 --> 00:30:11,760
Speaker 1: change your clothes? I said no, So I said, do

538
00:30:11,880 --> 00:30:13,920
Speaker 1: I have to go? Curtis? He said, yeah, baby, just go.

539
00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:16,440
Speaker 1: I won'ta take you long. He said, this could be

540
00:30:16,520 --> 00:30:19,320
Speaker 1: really really important. He said, you know, these boards from England.

541
00:30:19,760 --> 00:30:22,320
Speaker 1: Just maybe something that that would be really really good

542
00:30:22,360 --> 00:30:25,120
Speaker 1: for you, you know, later on in your career, you know.

543
00:30:25,760 --> 00:30:28,040
Speaker 1: So he's talking to me as he's nudging me to

544
00:30:28,160 --> 00:30:30,960
Speaker 1: the front door, and we opened the door and the

545
00:30:31,120 --> 00:30:34,560
Speaker 1: limo is sitting way down the driveway like waiting for me,

546
00:30:34,720 --> 00:30:38,200
Speaker 1: you know. So I get in the car. I said, okay,

547
00:30:38,200 --> 00:30:40,680
Speaker 1: I'm going, I said, but I'm not gonna be going along.

548
00:30:40,760 --> 00:30:43,920
Speaker 1: So I take this Chanelle scarf that rollers in my hair,

549
00:30:44,280 --> 00:30:46,840
Speaker 1: and I put the Chanelle scarf because I'm not taking

550
00:30:46,920 --> 00:30:48,800
Speaker 1: your rollers out of my hair. And I put the

551
00:30:48,880 --> 00:30:51,960
Speaker 1: Chanelle scarf over my hand. I tied beautifully and put

552
00:30:51,960 --> 00:30:54,600
Speaker 1: a little bit of makeup on, a lipstick off. I

553
00:30:54,680 --> 00:30:57,760
Speaker 1: went get to the studio and I said the guy,

554
00:30:57,800 --> 00:31:00,680
Speaker 1: I see somebody coming through the back door, and who

555
00:31:00,800 --> 00:31:04,240
Speaker 1: was it but Keith and Mick. So they come to

556
00:31:04,280 --> 00:31:07,200
Speaker 1: me and they say, are you married? I said, yes,

557
00:31:07,240 --> 00:31:09,800
Speaker 1: I am, I said, and who are you? He said, well,

558
00:31:09,840 --> 00:31:12,480
Speaker 1: I'm I ain't bloody Keith and this is Mick right here.

559
00:31:13,160 --> 00:31:15,560
Speaker 1: You know how they talk? I said, well, hi, how

560
00:31:15,640 --> 00:31:18,960
Speaker 1: are you? Said? Oh, we're fine. We're glad you're here. Mary.

561
00:31:19,320 --> 00:31:20,800
Speaker 1: So okay, So what do you want me to sing?

562
00:31:20,960 --> 00:31:25,160
Speaker 1: He said, because I can't stay long? Wow. So Mix said,

563
00:31:25,360 --> 00:31:28,120
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go and gonna go and get it. They said,

564
00:31:28,120 --> 00:31:30,000
Speaker 1: you want to come into booth. I see, I'll come

565
00:31:30,000 --> 00:31:32,520
Speaker 1: in and listen to the tracks. I listened to the track.

566
00:31:33,040 --> 00:31:35,520
Speaker 1: I said, it's pretty cool. He said, we just want

567
00:31:35,560 --> 00:31:38,000
Speaker 1: you to sing this part right here, and you're gonna

568
00:31:38,040 --> 00:31:41,400
Speaker 1: do an answer to what you know, justice slowle verse

569
00:31:41,520 --> 00:31:43,880
Speaker 1: right here to say, and then on the second time

570
00:31:43,920 --> 00:31:45,480
Speaker 1: we'll let you know after you get through with this,

571
00:31:45,520 --> 00:31:49,160
Speaker 1: what you're gonna do next. So after I did war

572
00:31:49,400 --> 00:31:52,080
Speaker 1: Children just a Shadow with just a Shadow low along

573
00:31:52,160 --> 00:31:57,280
Speaker 1: with with Mick. I did that part and I said, wow,

574
00:31:57,760 --> 00:32:01,160
Speaker 1: this is really something. I that part with him, and

575
00:32:01,200 --> 00:32:05,000
Speaker 1: then here comes Keith out the booth. He said, well, darling,

576
00:32:06,120 --> 00:32:07,880
Speaker 1: this is the second one you have to do? And

577
00:32:08,280 --> 00:32:11,440
Speaker 1: I said what, And I've read the lyric and I said,

578
00:32:11,880 --> 00:32:16,640
Speaker 1: rape murder. It's just a shot away. And it was

579
00:32:16,760 --> 00:32:20,360
Speaker 1: rape murder again, it's just a shot away. So I

580
00:32:20,360 --> 00:32:22,880
Speaker 1: looked at him myself, Honey, I'm here by myself. I'm

581
00:32:22,880 --> 00:32:25,240
Speaker 1: not getting ready to sing anything but a rape and

582
00:32:25,280 --> 00:32:29,320
Speaker 1: a murder. It's you're also sorry, you're twenty one years

583
00:32:29,360 --> 00:32:32,720
Speaker 1: old and you're pregnant also, like, let's be honest, like

584
00:32:32,800 --> 00:32:36,000
Speaker 1: that's and it was, and it was high, it was high.

585
00:32:36,160 --> 00:32:39,800
Speaker 1: The key was high. Yeah. So I did that part

586
00:32:40,200 --> 00:32:41,880
Speaker 1: and then he told me the gist of the song.

587
00:32:42,280 --> 00:32:45,200
Speaker 1: He told me what it meant. I said, oh, okay.

588
00:32:45,240 --> 00:32:48,200
Speaker 1: So then we sung that part and they I told him,

589
00:32:48,200 --> 00:32:49,720
Speaker 1: I said, you guys, go in and just let me

590
00:32:49,760 --> 00:32:52,240
Speaker 1: do my point. I urged them right on out. I said,

591
00:32:52,240 --> 00:32:53,560
Speaker 1: you guys going, You don't have to be out here

592
00:32:53,600 --> 00:32:55,360
Speaker 1: with me. I've been doing this for a while and

593
00:32:55,440 --> 00:32:57,840
Speaker 1: I know what I'm doing. So they left and they

594
00:32:57,840 --> 00:33:04,200
Speaker 1: went to the booth. So I started to sing. And

595
00:33:04,360 --> 00:33:08,200
Speaker 1: at that period, it was civil rights movement going on.

596
00:33:09,640 --> 00:33:13,600
Speaker 1: Dr King had just been assassinated, it was the war

597
00:33:13,640 --> 00:33:17,520
Speaker 1: in Vietnam and I really had to call on all

598
00:33:17,560 --> 00:33:22,080
Speaker 1: of my ancestors to help me. After I found out

599
00:33:22,120 --> 00:33:25,480
Speaker 1: what we were really singing about. I called on my grandmother,

600
00:33:25,880 --> 00:33:29,719
Speaker 1: my great grandmother. I called everybody that ever loved me

601
00:33:30,680 --> 00:33:32,640
Speaker 1: that we're not here anymore. I called on them to

602
00:33:32,720 --> 00:33:35,440
Speaker 1: come and help me because I needed help and in

603
00:33:35,520 --> 00:33:38,800
Speaker 1: this particular song, in this night. So I called on

604
00:33:38,880 --> 00:33:41,200
Speaker 1: them and they came and they helped me. You know,

605
00:33:41,320 --> 00:33:43,160
Speaker 1: I know people believe in that and some people don't.

606
00:33:43,240 --> 00:33:46,640
Speaker 1: I believe in and people coming to helping people that

607
00:33:46,760 --> 00:33:49,200
Speaker 1: anybody who is they ever loved me. I called them

608
00:33:49,240 --> 00:33:52,560
Speaker 1: to come up and help me that night, and they did.

609
00:33:52,880 --> 00:33:59,000
Speaker 1: And I remember when I came to myself because it

610
00:33:59,080 --> 00:34:01,640
Speaker 1: was like out of body experience when I when I

611
00:34:01,680 --> 00:34:08,920
Speaker 1: did the very high party, that shiny what just that

612
00:34:09,160 --> 00:34:14,879
Speaker 1: shint I And it just seems like everything in me,

613
00:34:14,920 --> 00:34:17,799
Speaker 1: from everything that was going on in the world, all

614
00:34:17,840 --> 00:34:20,080
Speaker 1: of the stuff that was going the just came through me.

615
00:34:20,719 --> 00:34:23,560
Speaker 1: And I was screaming, you know, just with all of

616
00:34:23,680 --> 00:34:26,600
Speaker 1: everything that was within me, and all I could hear

617
00:34:26,600 --> 00:34:30,160
Speaker 1: and see was making Keith and Jimmy and everybody in

618
00:34:30,200 --> 00:34:32,839
Speaker 1: the booth just oh, they were screaming back in the back,

619
00:34:32,960 --> 00:34:35,319
Speaker 1: you know, So apparently I did a pretty good job.

620
00:34:35,400 --> 00:34:37,040
Speaker 1: I said, well, I'm gonna give you one more for

621
00:34:37,120 --> 00:34:42,239
Speaker 1: safety and I'm out, Mary, can you do it one

622
00:34:42,239 --> 00:34:44,600
Speaker 1: more time? Can you keep the screaming? I said, I'm

623
00:34:44,600 --> 00:34:47,080
Speaker 1: gonna give you whatever I have. I said, you do

624
00:34:47,160 --> 00:34:51,000
Speaker 1: know that I'm carrying a baby right now. It says, oh, yes, darling,

625
00:34:51,400 --> 00:34:53,719
Speaker 1: you you do with Just do the best. I said,

626
00:34:53,719 --> 00:34:56,560
Speaker 1: don't worry about it, I'll get it done. So I

627
00:34:56,600 --> 00:34:59,719
Speaker 1: gave them one more for safety. And as I gave

628
00:34:59,760 --> 00:35:03,080
Speaker 1: them that, they weren't back in the booth. I need

629
00:35:03,080 --> 00:35:05,120
Speaker 1: to listen. To listen back, I was waving goodbye and

630
00:35:05,160 --> 00:35:07,960
Speaker 1: I was going on. I think I did two passes

631
00:35:08,480 --> 00:35:10,920
Speaker 1: of that, and the next thing I knew it was

632
00:35:10,960 --> 00:35:14,920
Speaker 1: the biggest hit of life. Wow, you know, it was

633
00:35:14,960 --> 00:35:19,400
Speaker 1: giving shelter everywhere I write today. It's a huge record

634
00:35:19,440 --> 00:35:23,120
Speaker 1: to deal right today. You know, I think what you

635
00:35:23,200 --> 00:35:26,880
Speaker 1: did on that song is one of the most powerful

636
00:35:27,840 --> 00:35:31,879
Speaker 1: moments of recording in all of music history. Like I'm

637
00:35:31,880 --> 00:35:33,960
Speaker 1: not joking when I say that, Like I really mean

638
00:35:34,000 --> 00:35:37,000
Speaker 1: that very seriously. You can hear everything that you've just said.

639
00:35:37,040 --> 00:35:39,560
Speaker 1: You can hear the entire civil rights movement. You can

640
00:35:39,560 --> 00:35:42,239
Speaker 1: hear your ancestors, you can hear all of humanity, you

641
00:35:42,280 --> 00:35:46,040
Speaker 1: can your birth and death, you can hear everything in it.

642
00:35:46,040 --> 00:35:49,840
Speaker 1: It's harrowing and it's what you've given so much of yourself.

643
00:35:50,120 --> 00:35:53,240
Speaker 1: And that same year you put out your first solo album,

644
00:35:53,440 --> 00:35:55,440
Speaker 1: Give Me Shelter. You use that at the title of

645
00:35:55,520 --> 00:36:00,640
Speaker 1: the title track. The version, your version is absolutely unbelievable

646
00:36:01,160 --> 00:36:03,280
Speaker 1: and it's so different. So tell me what you wanted

647
00:36:03,320 --> 00:36:05,600
Speaker 1: for yourself as a solo artist at that moment in

648
00:36:05,680 --> 00:36:09,320
Speaker 1: time after, you know, after having this massive hit with

649
00:36:09,360 --> 00:36:11,400
Speaker 1: the Rolling Stones and putting out your own solo record.

650
00:36:12,280 --> 00:36:16,560
Speaker 1: You know, it's very weird to say, but at that time,

651
00:36:16,600 --> 00:36:19,560
Speaker 1: I was so young. I was so young. I just

652
00:36:19,640 --> 00:36:23,200
Speaker 1: wanted to sing, and I had met this lovely, wonderful,

653
00:36:23,440 --> 00:36:27,759
Speaker 1: precious human being named Lou Addler who believed in me.

654
00:36:28,360 --> 00:36:31,520
Speaker 1: I wasn't thinking too much of anything back then other

655
00:36:31,560 --> 00:36:34,400
Speaker 1: than I really wanted to sing, and I wanted it

656
00:36:34,440 --> 00:36:37,640
Speaker 1: to be good, and I wanted to make him proud. Yeah,

657
00:36:37,680 --> 00:36:41,040
Speaker 1: I wanted to make my husband and my family proud.

658
00:36:41,040 --> 00:36:43,760
Speaker 1: But I really, when someone is believing you and putting

659
00:36:44,280 --> 00:36:48,840
Speaker 1: money and putting everything they could put into you, into you.

660
00:36:48,840 --> 00:36:51,960
Speaker 1: You want to make them proud. You know, I have

661
00:36:52,000 --> 00:36:54,799
Speaker 1: no doubt that you made him proud. Do you think

662
00:36:54,800 --> 00:36:56,879
Speaker 1: he wanted you to be the biggest star in the world, though,

663
00:36:56,920 --> 00:36:59,279
Speaker 1: I think that you wanted I like I think he did.

664
00:36:59,800 --> 00:37:03,640
Speaker 1: He did. Things happened that you have no control over.

665
00:37:04,400 --> 00:37:09,319
Speaker 1: At that time, it was Aretha, Aretha, Aretha right right.

666
00:37:09,400 --> 00:37:12,799
Speaker 1: Aretha was grateful as a great friend of mine, and

667
00:37:13,000 --> 00:37:15,640
Speaker 1: I knew her since I was like eight nine years old.

668
00:37:16,600 --> 00:37:20,000
Speaker 1: But a lot of time you couldn't get earplay on

669
00:37:20,040 --> 00:37:23,320
Speaker 1: the radio if you were you were an artist like myself,

670
00:37:23,400 --> 00:37:25,920
Speaker 1: even though you were in the same field that she

671
00:37:26,120 --> 00:37:30,080
Speaker 1: was in. It was Aretha and Diana Ross, the Supremes,

672
00:37:30,120 --> 00:37:34,040
Speaker 1: the Motown era, so you couldn't really get traction. You

673
00:37:34,080 --> 00:37:37,640
Speaker 1: can get so much, so much traction, and then he

674
00:37:37,680 --> 00:37:41,279
Speaker 1: would drop off, you know. But he always wanted the

675
00:37:41,320 --> 00:37:46,400
Speaker 1: best for me, always wanted the best for me. I

676
00:37:46,440 --> 00:37:48,560
Speaker 1: didn't necessarily want to be a huge star. I just

677
00:37:48,600 --> 00:37:51,960
Speaker 1: wanted to sing, especially at one I mean, please, really,

678
00:37:52,480 --> 00:37:56,640
Speaker 1: I didn't even know. I didn't even know of being.

679
00:37:56,680 --> 00:37:58,640
Speaker 1: The only star that I knew was Bobby Darren and

680
00:37:58,719 --> 00:38:03,960
Speaker 1: Ray Charles. Wow, that perspective that you have is incredible

681
00:38:04,000 --> 00:38:08,879
Speaker 1: and it makes it I feel mad because I love

682
00:38:08,920 --> 00:38:12,839
Speaker 1: your early solo works and I feel like I play

683
00:38:13,000 --> 00:38:14,640
Speaker 1: like I play your first time at parties, like I

684
00:38:14,680 --> 00:38:17,040
Speaker 1: love I love it, and it's like it's incredible, and

685
00:38:17,160 --> 00:38:21,200
Speaker 1: I think that for me, like when you say at

686
00:38:21,239 --> 00:38:23,560
Speaker 1: that moment it was Aretha, Aretha, Areatha or Diana Ross,

687
00:38:23,600 --> 00:38:25,960
Speaker 1: like there's an element for me to me anyway of

688
00:38:26,200 --> 00:38:28,640
Speaker 1: racism and sexism there where it's like there's only allowed

689
00:38:28,680 --> 00:38:33,839
Speaker 1: to be one person. Absolutely absolutely that's the way it was.

690
00:38:34,680 --> 00:38:38,800
Speaker 1: But see, that's that's the way that it was. An

691
00:38:38,840 --> 00:38:43,440
Speaker 1: African American artist, you know, in a field of music

692
00:38:44,520 --> 00:38:49,560
Speaker 1: where to them their star could only be one. Was

693
00:38:49,680 --> 00:38:52,440
Speaker 1: read the Franklin to be one. On the other side

694
00:38:52,440 --> 00:38:55,440
Speaker 1: of R and B and pop, Diana Ross, you know,

695
00:38:55,520 --> 00:38:58,080
Speaker 1: could only be one. And that's just the way it was.

696
00:38:58,160 --> 00:39:00,960
Speaker 1: That's the way it was set up. So that's what happened.

697
00:39:01,000 --> 00:39:04,840
Speaker 1: But I was always busy and I was always working always.

698
00:39:05,400 --> 00:39:07,239
Speaker 1: It sounds like maybe you've got the best of all

699
00:39:07,320 --> 00:39:09,359
Speaker 1: the things, you know what I think I did. I

700
00:39:09,400 --> 00:39:12,160
Speaker 1: think I did because I was constantly going to the

701
00:39:12,200 --> 00:39:17,120
Speaker 1: bank and I love that good. Well, you deserve to

702
00:39:17,160 --> 00:39:19,840
Speaker 1: get paid but I will say that the other evidence

703
00:39:19,920 --> 00:39:21,600
Speaker 1: of you sort of coming out on top of this

704
00:39:21,719 --> 00:39:24,600
Speaker 1: is that we listen to beautiful scars and it's like

705
00:39:24,920 --> 00:39:27,319
Speaker 1: there's no wear and tear on your voice, like you

706
00:39:27,360 --> 00:39:29,960
Speaker 1: haven't lost God. Like it's almost rude, like how can

707
00:39:30,000 --> 00:39:32,399
Speaker 1: you still do that? How can you sing like that?

708
00:39:32,480 --> 00:39:34,520
Speaker 1: It's I'm just how so thrilled for you that you're

709
00:39:34,560 --> 00:39:37,920
Speaker 1: able to do that. The only thing I can say

710
00:39:38,760 --> 00:39:43,040
Speaker 1: is that this is my gift from God. And when

711
00:39:43,040 --> 00:39:46,879
Speaker 1: God gives you a gift, that's what it is. That's

712
00:39:46,920 --> 00:39:50,400
Speaker 1: his gift. We all have have gifts, and when he

713
00:39:50,440 --> 00:39:52,320
Speaker 1: but when He gives you a gift, when He annoys

714
00:39:52,360 --> 00:39:56,880
Speaker 1: you and appoint you with this beautiful gift, if you

715
00:39:57,000 --> 00:40:00,880
Speaker 1: take care of it and you nurture it, God honors that.

716
00:40:01,280 --> 00:40:03,880
Speaker 1: I think that He honors that. And you know I

717
00:40:04,280 --> 00:40:06,640
Speaker 1: often said, oh my God, God, I just thank you

718
00:40:06,719 --> 00:40:12,759
Speaker 1: so much that you left my gift intact. And I

719
00:40:12,840 --> 00:40:16,360
Speaker 1: knew that when my gift was intact and I was

720
00:40:16,480 --> 00:40:19,239
Speaker 1: left intact, that he had something else that he wanted

721
00:40:19,280 --> 00:40:22,000
Speaker 1: me to do. He wasn't finished. My destiny was not finished.

722
00:40:22,840 --> 00:40:24,880
Speaker 1: Had I been finished, had he been finished with me,

723
00:40:25,120 --> 00:40:28,760
Speaker 1: I would have perished in that accident, you know, because

724
00:40:28,840 --> 00:40:31,320
Speaker 1: if anyone would looked at the car they were sending to,

725
00:40:31,400 --> 00:40:35,160
Speaker 1: Novo made it out of this, you know. I said,

726
00:40:35,200 --> 00:40:40,040
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, there's some one of these many people

727
00:40:40,080 --> 00:40:42,520
Speaker 1: I have to touch with this gift before I leave

728
00:40:42,560 --> 00:40:45,480
Speaker 1: this earth. I think I know the answer to this,

729
00:40:45,640 --> 00:40:47,840
Speaker 1: But I'll ask you, what do you pray for before

730
00:40:47,880 --> 00:40:51,040
Speaker 1: you go out and sing for people? That they will

731
00:40:51,080 --> 00:40:54,919
Speaker 1: be touched, that they will be delivered from whatever they're

732
00:40:54,920 --> 00:40:58,440
Speaker 1: going through, that they would come away with a smile

733
00:40:58,640 --> 00:41:01,560
Speaker 1: on their face and know that they can make it

734
00:41:01,600 --> 00:41:06,200
Speaker 1: in any situation that you go through. You can make

735
00:41:06,280 --> 00:41:09,839
Speaker 1: it through anything. But you have to know who you are.

736
00:41:11,120 --> 00:41:13,360
Speaker 1: Mary Clayton. I'm so honored to get to talk to

737
00:41:13,360 --> 00:41:15,719
Speaker 1: you today. Thank you. What a gift you've given the

738
00:41:15,760 --> 00:41:17,640
Speaker 1: world with the music that you make in the way

739
00:41:17,680 --> 00:41:19,719
Speaker 1: that you speak of it. Thank you so so much,

740
00:41:20,040 --> 00:41:27,800
Speaker 1: my pleasure. Bless you, guys, My thanks to singer Mary Clayton.

741
00:41:28,160 --> 00:41:30,319
Speaker 1: I'm Talish Langer. I'll be here from time to time

742
00:41:30,360 --> 00:41:33,279
Speaker 1: as guest host on Here's the Thing. This episode was

743
00:41:33,360 --> 00:41:37,560
Speaker 1: produced by Kathleen Russo, Zach mcknee's Maureen Hoban and Carrie

744
00:41:37,560 --> 00:41:41,359
Speaker 1: Donna Hue. Our engineer is Frank Imperial. Alec Baldwin will

745
00:41:41,400 --> 00:41:44,879
Speaker 1: be back in with new episodes of Here's the Thing,

746
00:42:00,800 --> 00:42:03,040
Speaker 1: Make the Bname Come to to