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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZPICKETT, Wilson(b 18 March 1941, Prattville AL; d 19 January 2006) One of the great '60s soul singers, aka 'Wicked' Pickett. The family moved to Detroit '50s; he formed a vocal group that sang in churches, was recruited by local R&B group the Falcons, went solo and had R&B hits on Lloyd Price's Double-L label ('If You Need Me', 'It's Too Late' '63), and signed to Atlantic. After two flop singles Jerry Wexler sent him to Memphis to record at Stax with Booker T and the MGs: 'In The Midnight Hour' '65 was no. 1 R&B (co-written with Steve Cropper), '634-5789' did it again '66 (by Cropper and Eddie Floyd; later covered by Ry Cooder); both crossed over strongly to the pop chart. He continued recording in Memphis, Muscle Shoals, Miami; had 30 top 40 R&B/soul hits '63-71 (not counting '64, when the Billboard R&B chart was not published, because so many black and white kids were buying the same records); other no. ones included 'Land Of 1,000 Dances' '66, 'Funky Broadway' '67 (both top ten pop), 'Don't Knock My Love' '71 (no. 13 pop); he had 38 entries in the Hot 100, 16 in top 40. Among highlights were two-sided hits 'You Can't Stand Alone'/'Soul Dance Number 3' and 'Stag-O-Lee'/'I'm In Love' '67, 'Jealous Love'/'I've Come A Long Way' '68, also 'Mustang Sally', 'Engine No. 9', 'Hey Jude', many more. He switched to RCA '73, recorded for UA/EMI America (I Want You '79, The Right Track '81). Had 14 albums in the top 200 '65-73; the hits compilations and reissues are on Rhino. |