Oh boy, I grew up hearing Sam Cooke, The Soul Stirrers, Mahalia Jackson, sitting on Mahalia Jackson's lap in my dad's church.

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• Merry Clayton:

  My dad sung and played piano. But he was also a man of God. He was a minister. So when Sam Cooke wo

• 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:

  I remember working with Ray Charles when I was quite young, and I would wonder, 'Why would he sing

• 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.

• Merry Clayton:

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

• Merry Clayton:

  I was able to endure and play a special part in music history. And I always managed to keep working

• Hector Ruiz:

  There is no way I could ever look somebody in the eye and say that I can make them feel good about