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WILSON PICKETT 
Wilson Pickett was born in Prattville, Alabama on March 18, 1941. He went on to be considered by many critics to be second only to Otis Redding among the 60's male soul singers.
He was the youngest of 11 children and ran away many times as a child to escape vicious beatings from his mother. At the age 14 he went to live with his father in Detroit. Shortly after his arrival, he joined a gospel group, The Violinaires. Four years later, he abandoned gospel music in favor of the more lucrative R&B music and became the lead singer of The Falcons. The group's mixture of R&B and gospel music played a major part in the development of what became known as soul music. Despite this,the group had little success, their biggest hit being "I Found a Love" in 1962. Shortly afterwards, he made his first solo recording for the Correctone label, which made no impact. He then signed for the Double L Label and had minor hits in 1963 with "If You Need Me" and "It's Too Late." He sent a demo of "If You Need Me" to Atlantic Records who gave the song to one of their own artists who had greater success with the song than Pickett did. Despite this, it persuaded Atlantic to buy out his Double L contract. After a lack of success with his first Atlantic single, the label sent him to the Stax studios in Memphis and paired him with Booker T and the MGs. One of the first results was "In the Midnight Hour" which was co-written by Pickett and MGs guitarist Steve Cropper. The song crossed over from the R&B charts to the pop charts and remains an all time classic soul record. The Memphis sessions also produced "Don't Fight It", "634-5489" and "Ninety-Nine and One-Half won't do". After his initial success, Atlantic moved him to the Fame studios in Muscle Shoals. It was here that he recorded his next trio of hits, "Mustang Sally," "Funky Broadway," and "Land of 1000 Dances." He continued recording hits at Muscle Shoals throughout the late 1960s, however by the end of the decade it seemed that he was running out of ideas. Atlantic then moved him to Philadelphia to work with Leon Huff and Kenny Gamble, which brought him fresh success with "(Get Me Back On Time) Engine Number 9," "Don't Let the Green Grass Fool You," and "Don't Knock My Love". In 1972, he left Atlantic and signed with RCA, but musical fashions had changed and he was never the same force again. He had several run-ins with the law and had bouts of heavy drinking and drug abuse. He spent some time in a rehabilitation facility in the late 90s. He continued to tour on the nostalgia circuit, but his career as a recording artist was effectively over. He was inducted into the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame in 1991, and in 1993, he was given the Pioneer award by the Rhythm and Blues Foundation. In 1999, he recorded his first album for 12 years, "It's Harder Now," which earned him a Grammy nomination. He continued his live performances until 2004. Wilson Pickett died from a heart attack in Reston, Virginia, on January 19, 2006. He was 64. Sources And Links To Other Wilson Pickett Internet Resources: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - Wilson Pickett. www.classicbands.com - Wilson Pickett. Wikipedia - Wilson Pickett. Alabama Music Hall of Fame - Wilson Pickett. SIGN UP TO OUR EMAIL NEWSLETTER If you would like us to keep you updated with changes and improvements to thatsalabama.com, please enter your email address here: If you would like to support thatsalabama.com with a donation via paypal, please click on this button: |
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