In 2021, Merry Clayton returned with a vengeance. In her solo first album in 27, years the singer once again poured her heart out on record. Beautiful Scars bears the mark of a musician who has suffered tremendous loss, but remains defiantly joyous and hopeful. Her voice remains confident and unmistakable, singing a title track that references, in part, a 2014 car crash that result in the loss of both of her legs. It also marks a post-humous return for her husband, Curtis Amy, whose sax part from her original recording of “A Song For You” 50 years prior reemerges on a rerecording. As she notes, our interview was recorded on what would have been his 92nd birthday. It was Amy who answered a phone call in the middle of the night that found Clayton recording what may be her best-known performance, dueting alongside Mick Jagger on the Stones classic, “Gimme Shelter.” But that’s just one moment in a 58-year singing career that’s among popular music’s most legendary.

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