NEW YORK – Wilson Pickett, who delivered soul classics like “In the Midnight Hour” and “Mustang Sally” with the force of a jackhammer, died Thursday at a hospital near his home in Virginia after suffering a heart attack. He was 64.
His sharp, powerful voice helped shape both the soul music and the hardest-pounding dance grooves of the 1960s.
But it was his private troubles that helped him earn the nickname “The Wicked Pickett.” He was in and out of minor trouble with the law through the “80s and “90s, from an arrest for tearing up a neighbor’s front lawn to a brawl that cost him part of his eyesight.
“He never made it easy on himself and sometimes not on other people, either,” said Sam Moore, Pickett’s label mate on Atlantic in the “60s. “But he sure could put on a show.”
Pickett also retained his skills despite his personal troubles. Almost a decade after he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991, his widely acclaimed comeback album, “It’s Harder Now,” received a Grammy nomination.
Born in Pratville, Ala., on March 18, 1941, Pickett was introduced to music in church and developed the gospel-flavored style he would later apply to rhythm and blues.
“When I was a boy, I’d buy the 78s of the gospel groups like the Five Blind Boys and the Hummingbirds,” he said in 1999. “I still listen to them today.”
In 1959, after his family had moved to Detroit, he joined the R&B group the Falcons, whose lead singer was Joe Stubbs, brother of Four Tops lead singer Levi Stubbs.
“But I had my own idea how my music should sound,” said Pickett, and in 1964 he signed with Atlantic.
A year later, Atlantic sent him to Memphis, Tenn., for a session at Stax Records, where he and ace session guitarist Steve Cropper wrote “Midnight Hour.”
“That record opened us up to a different way of musical thinking,” Cropper said years later. “We used that beat on a whole lot of records.”
“Midnight Hour” had such a deep soul groove that some pop-oriented top-40 stations were reluctant to play it, but it forced itself to No. 21 on the pop charts anyhow – and No. 1 on the R&B charts.
As years passed it would become one of the most-played records of its era.
Pickett’s powerful voice and thundering grooves also made him a favorite on the dance floor, and he followed with a string of hits that included “Mustang Sally,” “634-5789,” “Funky Broadway” and “Land of a Thousand Dances.”
“Wilson was a consummate entertainer,” said his manager, Margo Lewis. “No matter what your age, his records even today still pull you out of your seat onto the dance floor.”
Pickett is survived by his fiancee, Gail Webb, two sons and two daughters. There will be a viewing in Virginia next week with burial in Kentucky.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.