It was one of those things that happen to you if you spend too much time online, someone posts a video, you do some googling, and the next thing you know you're on a page to see who the background singer was on the Rolling Stones' hit "Gimme Shelter", and then you find out it's a fascinating story, involving a wonderfully talented woman.

Merry Clayton's haunting vocals on "Gimme Shelter" are even more haunting when isolated and heard on their own, which happens at the end of this video in which Merry, Stones lead singer Mick Jagger and Merry's friend recount the story of how she came to sing the lyrics, which were originally intended for blues singer Bonnie Bramlett.

The video clip is from the Academy Award winning documentary, "20 Feet From Stardom", which is about the contributions of background singers in pop music.

Merry is currently recovering from a car accident she recently was involved in in Los Angeles.

Merry later would go on to provide backing vocals for Lynyrd Skynyrd, on a little song they did called "Sweet Home Alabama".

And if you're like me, you now want to hear the original.

More From 98.7 WFGR