Wilson Pickett

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Wilson Pickett
Born
March 18, 1941 Prattville, Alabama

Wilson Pickett (March 18, 1941 – January 19, 2006) was an American R&B and soul singer. Known for his raw, passionate delivery, he was a major figure in the development of Southern soul music.

1 Early life
2 Early musical career
3 The Atlantic Years
4 Later life
5 Discography
- 5.1 Albums
- 5.2 Singles
6 References
7 External links

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Later life

Pickett continued to record sporadically with several different labels, but outside of music, his life remained 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. Billy Joel and his band, during a concert in Boston Gardens the night of Pickett's death, performed an outstanding rendition of "In the Midnight Hour" in honor of Pickett.

He was remembered on March 20, 2006 at NYC's BB King Blues Club with performances by the Commitments, his long-term backing band the Midnight Movers, and others including vocalist Southside Johnny Lyons in front of an audience that included many members of his family, including two brothers, a sister and a daughter.

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Discography

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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)

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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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References

Ross, Andrew and Rose, Tricia (Ed.). (1994). Microphone fiends: Youth music and youth culture. Routledge: New York. ISBN 0415909082
Hirshey, Gerri. Nowhere to Run: The Story of Soul Music. Da Capo Press; Reprint edition (September 1, 1994) ISBN 0306805812
Hirshey, Gerri (February 9, 2006). Wilson Pickett, 1941-2006. Rolling Stone #933.

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