Clare Torry’s Improvised Vocal on 'The Great Gig in the Sky'

Clare Torry was a 22-year-old session singer when Pink Floyd called her into Abbey Road in 1973. She was told to “sing the song” but was given no lyrics—just a backing track with a simple blues progression. Producer Alan Parsons suggested she think of herself as an instrument, so she climbed onto the studio balcony and started wailing, crying, and moaning. No one told her what to do, so she just let her voice echo through the room.

The band was blown away by her first take. David Gilmour later said she’d nailed an emotional arc that sounded like birth, death, and everything in between. Torry was paid the standard session fee of £15—then nothing more for years. She had no idea how iconic the track would become. In 2004, she took legal action and eventually received a royalty share as co-writer, and the album reissues now credit her.

Her wordless improvisation turned a quiet interlude into the album’s rawest moment. It works because there are no words to distract—just a human voice crying out in a way that’s universal. Torry wasn’t trying to be famous; she just climbed a balcony and screamed, and it became one of rock’s most unforgettable vocal performances.