From: AAP
January 20, 2006
Performer .. Pickett live onstage in New Orleans in 2001 / AP VETERAN soul singer Wilson Pickett, known for such hits as Mustang Sally and In the Midnight Hour, has died of a heart attack near his home in Virginia. He was 64.
"He was in hospital very near his home in Virginia," his manager Margo Lewis said.
"He'd been ill for a while and was forced in 2005 to take a hiatus from performing," Ms Lewis said.
Born on March 18th, 1941 in Prattville, Alabama, Pickett moved with his family as a sixteen year-old to Detroit where he joined the gospel-soul group The Violinaires. In 1961 he joined the established soul group The Falcons, penning their 1962 hit I Found Love.
Deciding to branch out, Pickett went solo and signed with independent Double L Records, where he wrote and recorded If You Love Me and It's Too Late, a tune covered and made a hit by Solomon Burke.
It was on this tune that Pickett rapped about 'the midnight hour', a closing line to the song that Stax records guitar legend Steve Cropper adopted for Pickett's first smash hit.
Jerry Wexler, the legendary executive and producer with Atlantic records, took Pickett with him to Memphis, home to the soul label Stax and paired him with Booker T and the MGs, with whom Pickett would record his biggest hits.
1965 saw the partnership first bear fruit, with the monster hit "In the Midnight Hour" launching Pickett as a world wide star. The original rhythm of the song was adapted, according to MGs guitarist Steve Cropper, to match a dance popular with teens at the time called "the jerk" and so got its trademark syncopated beat.
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 1965.
Pickett toured Australia in 2003, double-billed with Max Merritt and Meteors as part of a rock revival tour. An earlier tour in the 1990s saw Pickett play to small crowds on a tour inspired by the success of the film The Commitments, which featured his music. With a small band lacking the precision of his Stax ensembles, Pickett's shows were forgettable affairs.
Promoter Michael Chugg who brought Pickett out for the 2003 tour, recalled the artist as a 'perfectionist', who halted his band's performance during the Melbourne show of that tour to berate band members for not keeping up with him.
"I brought him back past his best, but some nights he was unbelievable," said Chugg today. "Pickett for so many people in Australia was their first touch of black music, he was a great artist who turned a lot of young white people onto his music in the 60s."
Wilson Pickett appeared with fellow soul legends Eddie Floyd and Johnny Lang appear in the 1998 movie Blues Brothers 2000, where they performed 634-5789.
Wilson Pickett's son Michael said of his father "He did his part. It was a great ride, a great trip, I loved him and I'm sure he was well-loved, and I just hope that he's given his props."
January 20, 2006
Performer .. Pickett live onstage in New Orleans in 2001 / AP VETERAN soul singer Wilson Pickett, known for such hits as Mustang Sally and In the Midnight Hour, has died of a heart attack near his home in Virginia. He was 64.
"He was in hospital very near his home in Virginia," his manager Margo Lewis said.
"He'd been ill for a while and was forced in 2005 to take a hiatus from performing," Ms Lewis said.
Born on March 18th, 1941 in Prattville, Alabama, Pickett moved with his family as a sixteen year-old to Detroit where he joined the gospel-soul group The Violinaires. In 1961 he joined the established soul group The Falcons, penning their 1962 hit I Found Love.
Deciding to branch out, Pickett went solo and signed with independent Double L Records, where he wrote and recorded If You Love Me and It's Too Late, a tune covered and made a hit by Solomon Burke.
It was on this tune that Pickett rapped about 'the midnight hour', a closing line to the song that Stax records guitar legend Steve Cropper adopted for Pickett's first smash hit.
Jerry Wexler, the legendary executive and producer with Atlantic records, took Pickett with him to Memphis, home to the soul label Stax and paired him with Booker T and the MGs, with whom Pickett would record his biggest hits.
1965 saw the partnership first bear fruit, with the monster hit "In the Midnight Hour" launching Pickett as a world wide star. The original rhythm of the song was adapted, according to MGs guitarist Steve Cropper, to match a dance popular with teens at the time called "the jerk" and so got its trademark syncopated beat.
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 1965.
Pickett toured Australia in 2003, double-billed with Max Merritt and Meteors as part of a rock revival tour. An earlier tour in the 1990s saw Pickett play to small crowds on a tour inspired by the success of the film The Commitments, which featured his music. With a small band lacking the precision of his Stax ensembles, Pickett's shows were forgettable affairs.
Promoter Michael Chugg who brought Pickett out for the 2003 tour, recalled the artist as a 'perfectionist', who halted his band's performance during the Melbourne show of that tour to berate band members for not keeping up with him.
"I brought him back past his best, but some nights he was unbelievable," said Chugg today. "Pickett for so many people in Australia was their first touch of black music, he was a great artist who turned a lot of young white people onto his music in the 60s."
Wilson Pickett appeared with fellow soul legends Eddie Floyd and Johnny Lang appear in the 1998 movie Blues Brothers 2000, where they performed 634-5789.
Wilson Pickett's son Michael said of his father "He did his part. It was a great ride, a great trip, I loved him and I'm sure he was well-loved, and I just hope that he's given his props."
