Veteran soul singer Wilson Pickett, known for such hits as "Mustang Sally" and "In the Midnight Hour," died yesterday of a heart attack in Virginia, his manager said. He was 64.
Pickett, an Alabama native famed for his trademark screams, flaming delivery and flamboyant costumes, performed on a regular basis until about a year ago, when he began suffering from health problems, said his manager, Margo Lewis.
Dubbed "Wicked" Wilson Pickett by Jerry Wexler, the co-founder of Atlantic Records, where he enjoyed his greatest success, Pickett was one of the leading exponents of the hard-edged Memphis sound, a grittier alternative to the pop singles being churned out by Motown Records in Detroit.
Often recording with the house band of Memphis-based Stax Records, Booker T and the MGs, he enjoyed a long string of hits during the 1960s, including the R&B chart-toppers "634-5789," "Land of 1,000 Dances" and "Funky Broadway."
Breakthrough
"In the Midnight Hour" was his breakthrough hit, transforming the relative unknown into a soul sensation virtually overnight in 1965. Pickett co-wrote the tune with MGs guitarist Steve Cropper in about an hour, and it spent a week atop the R&B singles chart in August of that year.
His luck ran out by the early 1970s, when he switched labels and suffered what he once described as a "career breakdown." An ambitious plan hatched in 1981 to tour as the "Soul Clan" with fellow R&B veterans Solomon Burke, Joe Tex, Don Covay and Ben E. King quickly fizzled.
I think we will hear some of his greatest on Saturday, courtesy of the The Soul Monsta!
Wilson Pickett Passes
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dr dave soul monsta
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Jw You forgot His Best Song Mustang Sally
For sure he has joined the likes of Junior Walker, Marvin Gaye, Charles Hatcher aka Edwin Starr ,Otis Redding, Curtis Mayfield, Ray Charles and many other great soul artists .
We all have to go sometime, But at least they have left the legacy for all time, music sung from depths of their souls......and with more feeling than you could ever imagine, Inspiring millions for decades and decades to come
Rest in Peace Soul Brother!
For sure he has joined the likes of Junior Walker, Marvin Gaye, Charles Hatcher aka Edwin Starr ,Otis Redding, Curtis Mayfield, Ray Charles and many other great soul artists .
We all have to go sometime, But at least they have left the legacy for all time, music sung from depths of their souls......and with more feeling than you could ever imagine, Inspiring millions for decades and decades to come
Rest in Peace Soul Brother!
"I don't often agree with the RSPCA as i believe it is an animals duty to be on my plate at supper time"
