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Wilson Pickett (March 18, 1941 – January
19, 2006) was an African-American R&B and soul singer. Known for his
raw, passionate delivery, he was a major figure in the development of
Southern soul music.
****
Early life
Pickett was born in Prattville, Alabama,
and grew up singing in Baptist church choirs.
He was the youngest of 11 children and
called his mother "the baddest woman in my book", telling historian
Gerri Hirshey: "I get scared of her now. She used to hit me with
anything, skillets, stove wood — (one time I ran away and) cried for a
week. Stayed in the woods, me and my little dog." Pickett eventually
left to live with his father in Detroit in 1955.
Early musical career
In Detroit, he formed a gospel music group
called the Violinaires. The group accompanied Sam Cooke, The Soul
Stirrers, The Swan Silvertones, and The Davis Sisters on church tours
across the country. Meanwhile, Pickett's family was struggling to make
ends meet, and when Sam Cooke and Aretha Franklin began singing secular
music (which was then and remains a more lucrative direction), Pickett
was persuaded to do the same.
Pickett's first major break came when he
was invited to join The Falcons in early 1959. One of the first vocal
groups to bring gospel into a popular context, thus paving the way for
soul music, The Falcons also featured some notable members who went on
to become major solo artists; when Pickett joined the group, Eddie Floyd
and Sir Mack Rice were also members of the group. Pickett's biggest
success with The Falcons came in 1962, when "I Found a Love," featuring
Pickett on lead vocals, peaked at #6 on the R&B charts.
Soon after recording "I Found a Love,"
Pickett cut his first solo recordings, including "I'm Gonna Cry," his
first collaboration with Don Covay, an important figure in Southern soul
music. Around this time, Pickett also recorded a demo for a song he
co-wrote called "If You Need Me." A slow-burning soul ballad featuring a
spoken sermon, Pickett sent the demo to Atlantic Records. Jerry Wexler,
a producer at Atlantic Records, heard the demo and liked it so much, he
gave it to one of the label's own recording artists, Solomon Burke.
Burke's recording of "If You Need Me" became one of his biggest hits and
is now considered a soul standard, but Pickett was crushed when he
discovered that Atlantic had given away his song. "First time I ever
cried in my life," Pickett would later recall.
The Atlantic Years
Pickett's first major success as a solo
artist came with "It's Too Late," an original composition he wrote (not
to be confused with the Chuck Willis standard of the same name).
Entering the charts on July 27, 1963, it eventually peaked at #7 on the
R&B charts. Its success convinced Wexler and Atlantic to buy his
contract from Double L Records in 1964.
Atlantic paired him with famed producer
Bert Berns, with whom Pickett recorded "Come Home Baby," a pop duet with
New Orleans singer Tammi Lynn, but the single failed to chart.
Pickett's breakthrough would come at Stax
Records's recording studio in Memphis, where he recorded "In the
Midnight Hour" (1965), perhaps his best-remembered hit.
The genesis of "In the Midnight Hour" was a
recording session on May 12, 1965 in which producer Jerry Wexler
approached studio musicians Steve Cropper and Al Jackson (from Stax
Records house band Booker T. and the M.G.'s) and said, "Why don't you
pick up on this thing here?" He performed a dance step. Cropper later
explained in an interview that Wexler told them that "this was the way
the kids were dancing; they were putting the accent on two. Basically,
we'd been one-beat-accenters with an afterbeat; it was like 'boom dah,'
but here this was a thing that went 'um-chaw,' just the reverse as far
as the accent goes." The song that resulted from this encounter
established Pickett as a star and also gave Atlantic Records, a bona
fide hit.
Pickett recorded three sessions at Stax
during that single trip to Memphis; in addition to "In the Midnight
Hour," he also recorded "Don't Fight It," "634-5789" and "Ninety-Nine
and One-Half (Won't Do)," three original compositions he co-wrote with
Eddie Floyd and Steve Cropper, all of which are considered soul
classics.
For his next sessions, Pickett would not
return to Stax; the label's owner, Jim Stewart banned all outside
productions in December 1965. As a result, Wexler took Pickett to Fame
studios, another recording studio with an even closer association to
Atlantic Records. Located in a converted tobacco warehouse in nearby
Muscle Shoals, Alabama, Fame was very influential in shaping soul music,
and Pickett recorded some of his biggest hits there, including "Mustang
Sally," "Funky Broadway," and what is perhaps the definitive version of
"Land of 1000 Dances".
Pickett was also a popular songwriter, with
songs he wrote recorded by such artists as Led Zeppelin, Van Halen, The
Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, the Grateful Dead, Booker T. and the MGs,
Genesis, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Hootie & the Blowfish, Echo & The
Bunnymen, Roxy Music, Bruce Springsteen, Los Lobos, The Jam, Ani
DiFranco, among others.
By the early 1970s, Pickett had released
several more hits, including a cover of The Beatles' "Hey Jude" (with a
young Duane Allman on guitar) and a cover of "Sugar, Sugar" by The
Archies. His last hit song was "Fire and Water" in 1972.
Later life
Pickett continued to record sporadically
with several different labels, but outside of music, his life remain
troubled. In 1987, he was given two years' probation and fined $1,000
for carrying a loaded shotgun in his car. In 1991, he was arrested for
allegedly yelling death threats while driving a car over the mayor's
front lawn in Englewood, New Jersey, and less than a year later was
charged with assaulting his girlfriend.
Conversely, Pickett was continuously
honored for his past musical contributions. Pickett was inducted into
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991, and his music was prominently
featured in the film The Commitments, with Pickett as an off-screen
character. In 1993, he was given a Pioneer Award by the Rhythm and Blues
Foundation.
In 1993, he was convicted of drunk driving
and sentenced to one year in jail after hitting an 86 year-old man with
his car. Pickett had been previously convicted of various drug offenses.
Several years after his release, he
returned to the studio and received a Grammy nomination for the 1999
album It's Harder Now. Pickett spent the twilight of his career playing
dozens of concert dates a year until 2004, when he began suffering from
health problems.
Pickett died of a heart attack January 19,
2006 at a hospital near his Ashburn, Virginia home and was laid to rest
next to his mother in Louisville, Kentucky.
Discography
Albums
In the Midnight Hour (1965, Atlantic) US:
#107
The Exciting Wilson Pickett (1966) US: #21
The Best of Wilson Pickett (1967) US: #35
The Wicked Pickett (1967) US: #42
The Sound of Wilson Pickett (1967) US: #54
I'm In Love (1967) US: #70
The Midnight Mover (1968) US: #91
Hey Jude (1968) US: #97
Wilson Pickett in Philadelphia (1970) US:
#64
Right On (1970) US: #197
The Best of Wilson Pickett, Vol. II (1971)
US: #73
Don't Knock My Love (1972) US: #132
Mr. Magic Man (1973) US: #187
Wilson Pickett's Greatest Hits (1973) US:
#178
Pickett in the Pocket (1974)
I Want You (1980)
American Soul Man (1987)
A Man and a Half: The Best of Wilson
Pickett (1992)
It's Harder Now (1999)
Singles
"If You Need Me" (1962, Double L) R&B: #30
US: #64
"It's Too Late" (1963)
"I'm Done to My Last Heartbreak" (1963)
"My Heart Belongs to You" (1963, Verve)
"I'm Gonna Cry" (1964, Atlantic)
"Come Home Baby" (1964)
"In the Midnight Hour" (1965) R&B: #1 US:
#21 UK: #12
"Don't Fight It" (1965) R&B: #4 US: #53 UK:
#29
"634-5789" (1966) R&B: #1 US: #13 UK: #36
"Ninety Nine and a Half" (1966) R&B: #13
US: #53
"Land of 1000 Dances" (1966) R&B: #1 US: #6
UK: #22
"Mustang Sally" (1966) R&B: #6 US: #23 UK:
#28
"Everybody Needs Somebody to Love" (1967)
R&B: #19 US: #29
"I Found a Love Pt. 1" (1967) R&B: #6 US:
#32
"You Can't Stand Alone" (1967) R&B: #26 US:
#70
"Funky Broadway" (1967) R&B: #1 US: #8
"I'm in Love" (1967) R&B: #4 US: #45
"Soul Dance Number Three" (1967) R&B: #10
US: #55
"I'm a Midnight Mover" (1968) R&B: #6 US:
#24 UK: #38
"I've Come a Long Way" (1968) R&B: #46
"She's Looking Good" (1968) R&B: #7 US: #15
"I Found a True Love" (1968) R&B: #11 US:
#42
"Jealous Love" (1968) R&B: #18 US: #50
"A Man and a Half" (1968) R&B: #20 US: #42
"Hey Jude" (1968) R&B: #13 US: #23 UK: #16
"Mini-skirt Minnie" (1969) R&B: #19 US: #50
"Born to Be Wild" (1969) R&B: #41 US: #64
"Hey Joe" (1969) R&B: #29 US: #59
"You Keep Me Hangin' On" (1969) US: #92
"Engine Number 9" (1970) R&B: #3 US: #14
"Sugar, Sugar" (1970) US: #25
"She Said Yes" (1970) R&B: #20 US: #68
"Cole, Cooke, and Redding" (1970) R&B: #11
US: #91
"Don't Knock My Love - Pt. 1" (1971) R&B:
#1 US: #13
"Don't Let the Green Grass Fool You" (1971)
R&B: #2 US: #17
"Call My Name, I'll Be There" (1971) R&B:
#10 US: #5
"Fire and Water" (1972) R&B: #2 US: #24
"Funk Factory" (1972) R&B: #11 US: #58
"Mr. Magic Man" (1973) R&B: #16 US: #98
"Take a Closer Look at the Woman You're
With" (1973) R&B: #17 US: #90
"International Playboy" (1973) R&B: #30
"Soft Soul Boogie Woogie" (1974) R&B: #20
"Take Your Pleasure Where You Find It"
(1974) R&B: #68
"I Want You" (1979) R&B: #41
"Live With Me" (1980) R&B: #95
"Don't Turn Away" (1987) R&B: #74
****
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