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.'

Next quotes

• Merry Clayton:

  I started with Bobby Darin. He signed me to Capitol when I was 15. I was 14, getting ready to be 15

• Merry Clayton:

  You get royalties from certain songs that you do when you do background. It's according to the work

• Merry Clayton:

  Oh boy, I grew up hearing Sam Cooke, The Soul Stirrers, Mahalia Jackson, sitting on Mahalia Jackson

• Merry Clayton:

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• Merry Clayton:

  My mother was a lupus patient. I was a child with the lupus gene.

• Merry Clayton:

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

• Merry Clayton:

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• Merry Clayton:

  I was very proud to be Mrs. Curtis Amy. My thing in life when I married Curtis Amy was being Mrs. C

• Merry Clayton:

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

• Merry Clayton:

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