tavis: good evening. from los angeles, i am tavis smiley. tonight, part two of our conversation with two exceptional singers finally getting their turn in the spotlight. merry clayton,d just nominated for an academy award. the film is not to be missed and chronicles the conflicts of a career spent mostly in the background providing musical support for stars like sting, bruce springsteen, and the rolling stones. part two coming up right now.

>> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. tavis: if you were here last night, you know why i am still laughing. just laughing for the last 23 hours. we are back with part two of our claytontion with merry and darlene love.

to 10, like 18ne was what i loved last night. it is out now, and they are two of the four women chronicled in movie. we finished talking about how it is that you navigate from going from being raised in black churches to the secular thing and both of you obviously got over that. darlene, you were making the point last night that you finally got to a place where it was just music for you. tell me about it. in church, you have the music where you jump and shout. you have the quiet music where you sit and meditate. i get so much from just meditating on hams. hymns.

i want to hear what god is saying so that i can keep navigating through life. people really did respect that is how i was. they knew i wasn't doing something with somebody else. that is the way i was all the time. tavis: how does one go about -- -- they of you have have the individual products that feature the best of their work. how does one go for years and for decades being 20 feet from stardom. the documentary unveils this. your human. sometime you will get the feeling that you want to step a

little further into the spotlight. how do you navigate that? >> even though the records that i did were marvelous. they were fabulous and wonderful and worked on by the record company. what female black woman do you know sitting on top of sunset boulevard. down with a smile on her face? big, huge pictures. i knew the records and stuff that i did was going to be gone. but during the time i was doing all of that, i had health issues. several things happened to me. patientr was a lupus and i was a child working with the machine. i had things in my life that had nothing to do with music. they did notime, do what they were supposed to

do. how much more do i have to do? off.e worked my face in the record did not go further than this? said god is not ready to let you go yet. go, he is ready to let you you will let you know because you will be gone. you have to realize who you are. you will know what you're going to do 40 years from now. it will be ok. keep the faith and do what you will be doing. we did some of everything all the time. toward not only by the different producers, but

i was mentor to buy my husband on a daily basis telling me it is cool and everything is going to be all right. you have to really know who you are and don't let anything stop you. i kept my eye on the prize. it is going to happen. >> you can go do kickboxing at 5:00. this was the 27th year. do you think david letterman would be having me on the show? tavis: how did that start?

you show up every year. >> it started at the bottom line , a club in new york. david came to see the show. then next night, he told paul, that is the greatest song i have ever done. see how much warmer my studio is then dave? [laughter] i thought that would get a hallelujah. this is inside television. people tease me that it is a little chilly. go to the letterman studio. it is about five below.

ableknow i am going to be to see my breath one of these days. tavis: there are major artists about their love for background singers. bruce springsteen, mick jagger. i really did not know what to expect. i did not expect artists of this caliber. bruce springsteen barely says anything. sting?ot the boss and stayi it was wonderfully produced. when you are a background singer, this is just a generic question -- i want to know how

you feel appreciated or not appreciated by the artist. has your experience been that you felt appreciated? >> mine always was. they were excited about having us on their record as much as we were excited about doing it. >> and when we all get to the session, what are we going to do? it is fun. i don't know how they picked those people. what they said about us, they really feel that. they wouldn't go anywhere without us. my experience because every time you walk in the studio -- today, the young people go into the studio and they do their own thing. -- we wentheir caps to the studio like we were going to church but a level down.

q jeans that looked like they were painted on us, makeup would be wonderful. we went in like wonderful women. we walked in the studio. their eyes would light up. the girls are here. let's get started. to get going because we possibly had another session right after that. seriously. [laughter] look, we are going in. we go hi, how are you doing? a couple of in hours we had to get those tree hours into get paid. at 6:00.ve a session we may be going to another session right after that. tavis: and your voice is held up through all of this? >> if you sing in church, you

can sing anywhere. tavis: but you could do eight or nine takes. >> it was no big thing to us. that is another 25 or 50. wonderful. let's do it two or three times. choir sound, make it sound really big. we would do just wonderful. ok, we will see you now. are you through with us? call us again. [laughter] and we would be gone. it was so fun working together. meetingyounger and these stars. and they really did like us. i'm not saying this to denigrate or demonize or cast

this on anybody. a one of the things that i love about this is that you can sing. you can saying. -- sang. s-a-n-g. so much of the stuff today is produced. i love music and i go to concerts all the time. i know that if my stuff is that produced, i will be really disappointed. >> [indiscernible] there is a budget for tuning. ofis: that is my long way

asking if it is difficult to listen to stuff nowadays? >> it is because it is so manufactured. you can tell it is not real instruments. everything is done on the computer. it is amazing because i have a hard time singing to that. i want live music. we were at billboard the other night and we did not know where -- i was shopping with my stylist. out and we are eating. someone is coming up behind you. i said ok. merry clme if i was ayton. i am. hand?d, can i shake your

it was steve mcqueen. the director of 12 years a slave. >> he comes to the billboard the other night and he introduces us. i thought that was so fabulous. tavis: what comes from the heart reaches the heart. people hear you all below and it touches the heart. and i amalking earlier pretty sure this is you. did you tell the story about the one night that you could not hit the note right? i will let you tell the story. i was trying to be nice. >> we were at carnegie hall. merry. tell the story,, >> stop laughing.

ray had a thing where we would get into the city and he would reverse the girls four hours sound it was time to check. you had to be on your notes and you had to know your part. here we go to rehearsal. get to the ballroom. we are at the pn o and there is a song called "together again -- at the piano and there is a song called "together again. coke it is the second part. ." it is the second part. part. it is my he said, that's not your part. what is it? this is it right here. sing it one more time. every time you got to that part, i could not hear it. we get to carnegie hall.

ray sang together again -- that's wrong, sister merry. bang, bang, bang. tavis: at carnegie hall? >> yes. i will learn every song that you know, brother. you will never have the chance to embarrass me like that again. carnegie hall. then i will sing, "together again." ♪ and i get a big laugh. yo uknou know that's just terri. dead, but you still got that part. >> and i got the movement, too. >> merry, you finally got your

part. tavis: i'm sweating. >> he wanted us to be excellent. he didn't want -- he had with drummers. i said come down on one, i did not say and-a. [laughter] he would check your dress to make sure that the dress wasn't too short. i know you're there, sister merry. r smell.ou smell king wasn't hitting that ray wanted him to hit and ray said, bb, i thought you could play, man. he was a cold beast. genius.e wa s a

,verything i know about harmony i went to the college of blossom and the university of ray charles. i suspect as much as you all have taught the artists that with, you have learned from them. can you give me an example? something that you have learned about your craft from any of the artists. >> something i learned from dionne warwick. i was really upset at a particular record company and she was getting ready to record with them. the girls were doing the background. we knew everything and i was livid. i did not want to go in there and do it. i learned control of my temper because she reached over and

said, baby, don't let them take you to thehere. i never forgot that. whenever i get that upset, i don't want them to have that power that they have that over me. this was over 30 years ago and i never forgot about it. don't let them take you there. and i won't. you end up being the one that's hurting because they don't care. tavis: we were talking about the fact that at one point in your career before you were inducted into the rock 'n roll hall of hit, you had cut a bunch of records. and you were cleaning people's houses. at that point or any other point, did you ever thought about -- have you ever thought about getting out of the business? both of you had some ups and downs in this business. >> yes.

i did, but you know what? i kept reminding myself that you have a gift. you don't give gifts away. in probably have something your house that somebody gave you 15 years ago and you will never get rid of that. nobody can take it away from me. take it from me and that is what i thought about at my lowest. and when that song came on the plainer?n it be any and i knew godre was going to help me get where i was trying to get. i am too stubborn to give up. >> i remember things that were told to me by my godmother.

>> she always mentor to me. you'd better get with yourself. there is no work. god will take you through whatever you need to go through. it is going to come up when you need it. who do you think you are? you have a gift. born, we gave you back to god. ok. words, you can't be reeled back in.

and then i said, i'm too good to give up. i know what i have is god-given. i kept that faith of who i was. it always brought me back to myself. are you crazy? people wish they could sing like you. my mom used to say, when you are born, they broke the mold. that is it. that is what kept me in the midst. i wasn't the one to say it, but you're way too funny. i am in it for each of you. you have a minute apiece. theblessing of music, or best thing about music is what? >> lifting people's spirits. i get joy out of performing to people and you can tell whether

they like you or not. the minute you walk out on the stage. mey don't even have to tell that they had a good time. i know they had a good time. better thanhing lifting somebodies spirits with music. the other night, we did a thing called use it cares with carol king where we honor her. i did a song with her. we did a song called way over yonder. carol, butong with they decided to break it up so each one of the ladies could have a piece of it. we got prayed up before we walked out there. the anointing came over us on

that stage. us, darlene, lisa fischer, and the anointing just came over us. we walked out on that stage and started that song. artist got through, the just propelled them out of their seat. you can kick behind and take names and know that you know that you are wonderful, that is my joy. tavis: all right. that's it. i can do no more. that's it. feetroject is called "20 to stardom." it is out on dvd and cd, nominated for an academy award for best documentary and features merry clayton and darlene love.

i love me some lisa fisher. i had a good time. and you didn't even think. >> if i had a little time, i would drop it. i had a heckuva time. love you both. >> we are proud of the work you are doing and we love you. tavis: comeback anytime. it is our show for tonight. as always, keep the faith. >> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. tavis: hi, i'm tavis smiley. join me next time for a deep dive into what is grabbing the country's attention in the coming week. that is next time, we will see you then.

>> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> be more. pbs.

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