Merry Clayton Quotes

The falsetto stuff, it must be a reaction to the black gospel singers that I really enjoy listening to.

Like all soul singers, I grew up singing in church but sometimes I would leave early and sit in the car listening to gospel band, The Blind Boys of Alabama. Hearing their lead singer Clarence made me connect the idea of church and show business and see how I could make a career singing music that stirred the soul.

Growing up in Cleveland, I learned about singing from my mother, who had once sung professionally and who admired Mahalia Jackson and Aretha Franklin.

I was a big fan of black gospel. As a kid, there were black groups I sang with from my teen years to my early 20s.

The gospel music and doo-wop is what has informed me personally.

I've always loved gospel music. Being raised in Mississippi, it was kind of part of the atmosphere down there.

I had experiences or exposure to music in church. I went to a church, it was very unique. It was a predominantly African American Catholic church. So they would have - one mass would be traditional church music, and then the other mass would be gospel music.

I sang in church growing up. Memphis is the blues capital of the world, we like to say.

The Blind Boys are truly the deepest well of American musical heritage you can discover.

From the spiritual came the blues, gospel, and rhythm-and-blues. I heard all of that music growing up, and that has influenced how I approached classical music. I'm sure of it.

People have this perception of soul music of somebody shouting.

Whether looking at pop music, hip-hop or R&B, it's rare to find an artist who hasn't been touched or affected by the power and soul of gospel music. In fact, many of today's popular artists such as Whitney Houston, John Legend, and Katy Perry started their careers in the church choir.

I have been singing gospel music since I was four years old.

Listen to any cantor, any good hazan, sing and you can hear a little bit of Ray Charles going on.

You have to have a little soul in your singing. The kind of soul that's in the spirituals. That's why I'd like to include spiritual material in the sets I do. It's a part of my life.

My brothers and I had a gospel quartet, and that was the only music people listened to. But I was already gravitating towards songs by Sam Cooke, and then one day I put on a Jackie Wilson record, and baby, I was thrown right out of the house.

I think maybe the vehicle for me was 'Sam Cooke's Greatest Hits.' It has a song called, 'Touch the Hem of His Garment.' Do you know that song? I kind of got obsessed with that song and started exploring and getting more of his old recordings with the Soul Stirrers and really getting into that super, super deeply.

I started out in gospel music. A lot of people don't know that I started out in gospel music, and I've never lost sight of it.

Soul and blues were a definite influence on me. It was raw and naked emotion which you didn't get much where I come from.

When I was little I was into gospel music.

I love early blues like Bessie Smith, Muddy Waters, and Howlin' Wolf. I listened to the way these people sang, and it was just beautiful - straight from the soul. That, for me, was an inspiration.

I was always drawn to gospel music and the roots of African-American music. It's the foundation of rock and roll.

The idea of music coming from the Church is not new.

Gospel music was very prevalent in my house. My mother also loved Nat King Cole. That was some of the first music that I heard. Mahalia Jackson, Nat King Cole and the Mississippi Mass Choir.

Santa Monica, where I have always lived, is not a town where you will find storefront Church of God in Christ churches. So, the whole idea of gospel quartet singing is something I never knew existed until I began to hear it on record.