Merry Clayton Quotes & Sayings

“I got put out of my church choir because my pastor said, 'We can't have baby sister singing the blues and coming in here and singing on Sunday morning.'”

“I always say that I went to the College of Blossoms and the University of Ray Charles.”

“I knew how to sing in choirs and sing in church, but I didn't know how to sing in a studio. That's what Darlene and the Blossoms taught me to do - to be a studio singer.”

“I was very proud to be Mrs. Curtis Amy. My thing in life when I married Curtis Amy was being Mrs. Curtis Amy. Career was fine, but I was enthralled with being Curtis' wife. That was very important to me back then, and that's always important to a young lady from New Orleans. That's our upbringing: to be a wonderful wife and mother first.”

“My dad sung and played piano. But he was also a man of God. He was a minister. So when Sam Cooke would come in town, you know, with The Soul Stirrers at that time, he was singing gospel, they would end up at my dad's church, and it would always be a guest singer for Sunday morning.”

“I have always said every good thing is divinely sent from heaven.”

“Back when I was working with the Stones and with Joe Cocker and Neil Young and Neil Diamond and all of those - 'the boys,' I call them - it was fun.”

“Carole King is one of my dearest friends. We're like family.”

“I was able to endure and play a special part in music history. And I always managed to keep working, even if I wasn't a big solo artist.”

“My family is part Creole, and we're Indian, and we're also very, very black. My father was so black, he was blue.”