Merry Clayton

Merry Clayton, American singer and actress

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Born: December 25, 1948
Age in 2026: 78
Zodiac sign: Capricorn
Birth year: 1948

About Merry Clayton

Merry Clayton (born December 25, 1948) is an American soul and gospel singer. She contributed vocals to numerous tracks and worked with many major recording artists for decades, including a duet with Mick Jagger on the Rolling Stones song "Gimme Shelter". Clayton is prominently featured in 20 Feet from Stardom, the Oscar-winning documentary about background singers and their contributions to the music industry. Clayton's voice as a backing singer can be heard on songs by Pearl Bailey, Phil Ochs, Burt Bacharach, Tom Jones, Joe Cocker, Linda Ronstadt, Carole King, Tori Amos and on several tracks from Neil Young's debut album. Clayton is often credited as having recorded with Elvis Presley but her name does not appear in Elvis's sessionographies.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Career and life highlights

Clayton and the Reverend A.G.

The world when Merry Clayton was born

Merry Clayton was born in 1948. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1948

#1 song"Twelfth Street Rag" – Pee Wee Hunt
Top movieHamlet
Top TV showTexaco Star Theater (Milton Berle)
Best-selling bookThe Naked and the Dead – Norman Mailer

Headlines and milestones

Major sports momentCleveland Indians win the World Series
Top headlineState of Israel declared
Technology milestoneLong-playing vinyl record (LP) introduced
Defining fadTelevision sets in homes
Notable inventionVelcro
World population2.50 billion

United States snapshot

U.S. leaderHarry S. Truman
Sports championCleveland Indians (World Series)
Also wonBaltimore Bullets (BAA)
U.S. population146.6M

1948 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Merry Clayton's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure	1948	2026
Gas	$0.26	$3.45/gal
Average home	$8,300	$435,000
Average income	$5,000	$67,500
Minimum wage	$0.40	$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket	$0.40	$11.95
Postage stamp	$0.03	$0.73
Population	146.6M	341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, IMDb, MusicBrainz. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.