In her youth, Southern-soul cult heroine Judy Clay had worked as part of a gospel group, but by the early ‘60s she was a secular solo artist, recording singles for a variety of labels. Her first major success came on Atlantic with “Storybook Children,” her hit 1967 duet with Billy Vera. After another hit with Vera (“Country Girl, City Man”), she moved over to Stax, where she teamed up with William Bell for a few more duets (including the hit “Private Number”), in addition to recording on her own. In the ‘70s, she worked mostly as a backup singer, subsequently going back to her gospel roots before dying in a car accident in 2001.