Clare Torry and the Great Gig in the Sky

Clare Torry was one of the most important British vocalists of the early 70s. And you are forgiven for not knowing her name. This is fair. She was a session singer who never gained the fame of some of her contemporaries. But she was always there, adding her distinctive sound to various recordings. She would also become immortalized through a late-night session that no one predicted would last in the musical memories of so many fans.

Miss Torry sang with Olivia-Newton John, Alan Parsons Project and Meat Loaf in her work as a back-up vocalist. None of her own recordings became great hits, although there are compilations of her work that are worth listening to. It was a wet Sunday evening in 1972 that gave her a place in musical history. She was called into Abbey Road studios to add her voice to an instrumental track that a band had trouble completing. At first, it seemed as though the session would go nowhere. The band offered nothing but rejections when she gave standard interpretations with lyrics along the lines of “Baby, oh how I love you,” etc. It would take several sessions before Miss Torry hit upon the idea of turning her vocal performance into a completely emotional performance divorced from any discernable lyrics. Finally, the band felt satisfied with what it heard and sent her on her way. She went out to dinner with her boyfriend that night without any knowledge of how moving and important her contribution was until she saw the album on sale at a local record shop. Still, she had made her 30 pounds for the work.

That session had produced the immortal The Great Gig in the Sky, arguably the most moving track on Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon. Her wailing, cooing performance has been described as someone in an “orgasmic or terrified” emotional state. There is very little reason to make any sort of distinction between the two when considering the album’s themes of loneliness, longing, despair and paranoia. Miss Torry managed to encapsulate all of this with her vocal. And it was all her idea. Rick Wright's piano feels like it was added as an afterthought.

Oh, that 30 pounds would not do. Clare Torry would sue the band for copyright and a share of royalties on the song. From 2005 onwards, “The Great Gig in the Sky” would be credited as a Rick Wright/Clare Torry creation.

She must have the final word: “If it had been the Kinks, I would have been over the moon.”