Of all the urban legends in music, probably my favourite is the one about Merry Clayton. As the story goes, her incredibly incendiary performance of 'Gimme Shelter' during the Let it Bleed sessions induced a miscarriage. The funny thing about urban legends is they always seem particularly unbelievable, Rod Stewart's semen story notwithstanding, but listening to her on that song, frankly, it doesn't seem that out there. Her vocals are quite literally hair-raising, particularly the 'raaaaape, muuuurdddder' part. In addition to that notorious song, she also backed another ridiculously famous tune, 'Sweet Home Alabama'. On her solo debut Gimme Shelter she never quite burns down the house, but it's fantastic to have an entire album of her voice. In addition to her own cover on the title track, which while no way as intense as the original, there is a wholly unnecessary cover of 'Bridge Over Troubled Waters'. I fucking hate that song, so it's my problem. Others may find it lovely. Her cover of The Doors' 'Tell All the People' is, however, really good. But some of the more powerful, and near hair-raising moments are on the slower numbers like 'Here Comes Those Heartaches Again' and 'I Ain't Gonna Worry My Life Away'. I don't exactly know why Merry never took off as a major artist. It's weird how things work out.
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