WILSON PICKETT - R&B Music Artists - Corporate Entertainment Booking

Wilson Pickett, one of the greatest soul and R&B performers of all time, died January 19, 2006 from a heart attack at a hospital near his home in Virginia. He was 64.

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
-- inducted 1991

What made Wilson Pickett "Wicked" as in "Wicked Pickett"? A truckload of classic songs, ("Mustang Sally," "In the Midnight Hour," "Funky Broadway") gold albums, induction into the Rock 'n' Roll of Fame, a power-packed album of rocked-up soul, buckwhylin' behavior above the call of duty, career longevity? Not quite.

Wilson Pickett was wicked precisely because no soul singer before came close. Blessed with big lungs and the gruffest tenor voice on the planet, Pickett literally demolished a song, dusted off the gospel / blues hard core and funked it way up. So deep he sang the scared into the profane (on more than one occasion), Wilson Pickett was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of artist.

Wilson Pickett Pickett was first heard as the lead vocalist with doo-wop / R&B quartet, the Falcons. His achingly poignant falsetto lead on the Falcons' breakout smash "I've Found a Love" (1965) soon earned him an Atlantic Records contract and one-way ticket to Memphis.

Freed from the artistic/musical constraints of a vocal group, head full of stories, mouth full of voices to tell them, the deepest musicians from Stax and Muscle Shoals pumping behind him, Pickett swaggered to the mic, waited four bars learned and teasingly mic'd, "If you nee-ee-eed a little lovin' / Call on meee / Awwl-right."

Wilson Pickett Those 10 title words changed Pickett's life overnight when the song they were attached to ("634-5789") blew-up to R&B #1 (Pop #3). In just 10 words he made all the ladies in the house say "Ooww!" all the party dawgs "woof-woof" and everybody called him the Wicked Pickett. Between 1966 and 1970, Pickett ran a long string of classic floor quakers and boudoir shakers ("In the Midnight Hour," "Funky Broadway," "I'm in Love").

While the hits kept Wilson Pickett on the road for a grueling 11 months a year, they also allowed him the time to become a most charismatic live vocalist and performer whose testosterone-dripped / gospel-tripped renditions never failed to surpass the originals. By the end of 1988, Pickett limited his tour schedule to only major festivals and large events. (He performed with Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel for Bruce's induction ceremonies into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame).

An incomparable singer and dynamic performer, Wilson Pickett was one of the icons of American music, the bad boy of soul whose hits are a permanent part of America's collective imagination. He brought songs to life with passion and soul-shouting style.

Notable songs include --

In the Midnight Hour
I Found a Love
Engine Number 9
634-5789 (Soulsville, U.S.A.)
Funky Broadway
Land of 1000 Dances
Mustang Sally
I'm in Love
Peace Breaker
Man and a Half

Wilson Pickett will be missed. Remember him through his music.

For booking information regarding other artists, click HERE!

Genre: --. Rock
Styles:
   Deep Soul
   Southern Soul
   Soul
   Classic Rock
   R&B/Soul
   Soul
   R&B

Years active:
60s, 70s, 80s, 90s

Born:
   Mar 18, 1941
      in Alabama
         in Prattville

Died:
Jan 19, 2006

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