The Tragic Real-Life Story Behind The Making Of A Rolling Stones Classic

Merry Clayton has one of those voices you've heard — repeatedly — but probably didn't know the name that went with it. According to a 1986 Los Angeles Times profile, she began to stand out when she joined her father's Los Angeles church choir at the ripe old age of 5. By age 14 she was snagging gigs as a background vocalist. Eventually she auditioned for Ray Charles and became one of the Raelettes, where she spent five-and-a-half years. Her background singing work kicked into overdrive, too, and she contributed to early Joe Cocker recordings as well as Carole King's massively successful Tapestry.

And then came the phone call. Producer Jack Nitzsche was working in the studio with the Rolling Stones, reports Louder Sound. He called Clayton to come down to provide background vocals for a new track. "It was almost midnight," she recalled later. "I was pregnant at the time and I thought, there's no way in the world I'm getting out of bed to go down to some studio in the middle of the night." Her husband, jazz saxophonist Curtis Amy (who also contributed to Tapestry), talked her into it. She went into the studio, says Rolling Stone, wearing a mink coat over silk pajamas, with curlers in her hair, planning to "blow 'em out of the room."