How Clare Torry, Lesley Duncan, and Other Female Vocalists Shaped Pink Floyd's Most Emotional Moments

Pink Floyd rarely let session singers into their hermetic world, but when they did, the results were transformative. The most famous is Clare Torry, who walked into Abbey Road in 1973, was handed a rough mix of “The Great Gig in the Sky,” and was told to improvise vocals over it. She didn’t know what she was doing—she thought she’d be fired—but her wordless wail of anguish and ecstasy became the song’s entire emotional architecture. She was paid £30 for the session and wasn’t credited until a 2005 lawsuit settled for a share of royalties.

Lesley Duncan’s contribution was quieter but just as crucial. She sang harmonies on “The Dark Side of the Moon” and later appeared on “Wish You Were Here.” Her featherlight voice on “Eclipse” locks into the final line (“and everything under the sun is in tune”) with a celestial clarity that anchors the album’s crescendo. She also sang on “The Dividing Line” from The Division Bell, but her most famous work outside Floyd is writing “Love Song” for Elton John.

Other female vocalists appeared sporadically: Doris Troy (a soul singer who contributed to Dark Side) and the Blackberries (Venetta Fields and Clydie King, who toured with Floyd and sang on Wish You Were Here). These women weren’t just decoration—they supplied the human warmth that Gilmour’s guitar and Wright’s keyboards couldn’t reach, turning cosmic philosophy into something you could feel in your chest.