Contact Us
Jackie Wilson
Jack Leroy “Jackie” Wilson, Jr. (June 9, 1934 – January 21, 1984) was an American singer and performer. Known as “Mr. Excitement“, Wilson was important in the transition of rhythm and blues into soul. He was considered a master showman, one of the most dynamic and influential singers and performers in R&B and rock history. Gaining fame in his early years as a member of the R&B vocal group Billy Ward and His Dominoes, he went solo in 1957 and recorded over 50 hit singles that spanned R&B, pop, soul, doo-wop and easy listening. During a 1975 benefit concert, he collapsed on-stage from a heart attack and subsequently fell into a coma that persisted for nearly nine years until his death in 1984, aged 49. By this time, he had become one of the most influential artists of his generation.
A two-time Grammy Hall of Fame Inductee, Jackie Wilson was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Famein 1987. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Jackie Wilson #69 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
Early years and career
Jack Leroy Wilson, Jr. was born on June 9, 1934 inDetroit, Michigan, the only son of Jack Sr. and Eliza
Mae Wilson, as she lost 2 previous children. Eliza Mae was born on The Billups-Whitfield Place inColumbus, Mississippi. Her parents were Tom and Virginia Ransom. Jackie often visited his family in Columbus and was greatly influenced by the choir at Billups Chapel. Growing up in the rough Detroit area of Highland Park, Wilson joined a gang called the Shakers (the name taken from the Shaker Heights section of Detroit) and often found himself in trouble. Wilson’s father was frequently absent, as he was alcoholic and usually out of work. Wilson began singing at an early age, accompanying his mother, once a choir singer, to church. In his early teens Jackie joined a quartet, the Ever Ready Gospel Singers, which became a popular feature of churches in the area. Jackie wasn’t very religious, he just loved to sing and the cash he and his group earned came in handy for the cheap wine which he drank since the age of nine. Jack Sr. and Eliza separated shortly after Jackie turned nine.
Wilson dropped out of high school at age 15, having already been sentenced to detention in the Lansing Corrections system for juveniles twice. During his second stint in detention, he learned boxing and started performing in the amateur circuit in the Detroit area at the age of 16. His record in the Golden Gloves was 2 and 8. After his mother pleaded with him to quit, Wilson got married to Freda Hood and became a father at 17. It is rumored that he fathered at least 10 other children and was forced to marry Hood by her father. He gave up boxing for music, first working at Lee’s Sensation club as a solo singer, then forming a group called the Falcons (not to be confused with The Falcons Wilson Pickett was part of), that included cousin Levi Stubbs, who later went on to lead the Four Tops(two more of Wilson’s cousins, Hubert Johnson and Levi’s brother Joe, later became members of The Contours). The other members joined Hank Ballard as part of The Midnighters.
Jackie Wilson was soon discovered by talent agent Johnny Otis, who assigned him to join a group called the Thrillers. That group would later be known as The Royals (who would later evolve into R&B group, The Midnighters, but Wilson wasn’t part of the group when they changed their name and signed with King Records). LaVern Baker, Little Willie John, Johnnie Ray and Della Reese were acts managed by Al Green, owner of two music publishing companies, Pearl Music and Merrimac Music, and Detroit’s Flame Show Bar where Wilson met Baker (not to be confused with R&B singer Al Green, nor Al Green of the now defunct National Records). After recording his first version of “Danny Boy” and a few other tracks on Dizzy Gillespie’s record label Dee Gee Records under the name Sonny Wilson (his nickname), Wilson was eventually hired by Billy Ward in 1953 to join a group Ward formed in 1950 called The Dominoes, after a successful audition to replace the immensely popular Clyde McPhatter, who had left and formed his own group, The Drifters. Wilson almost blew his chance that day, showing up calling himself “Shit” Wilson and bragging about being a better singer than McPhatter.
Ward felt a stage name would fit The Dominoes’ image, hence Jackie Wilson. Prior to leaving The Dominoes, McPhatter coached Wilson on the sound Billy Ward wanted for his group, influencing Wilson’s singing style and stage presence. “I learned a lot from Clyde, that high-pitched choke he used and other things…Clyde McPhatter was my man. Clyde and Billy Ward.” Forties blues singerRoy Brown was also an influence on him, and Wilson grew up listening to The Mills Brothers, The Ink Spots, Louis Jordan and Al Jolson.
Wilson was the group’s lead singer for three years, but the Dominoes lost some of their stride with the departure of McPhatter. They were able to make appearances riding on the strength of the group’s earlier hits, until 1956 when the Dominoes recorded Wilson with an unlikely interpretation of the pop hit, “St. Therese of the Roses”, giving The Dominoes another brief moment in the spotlight again. (Their only other post-McPhatter/Wilson successes were “Stardust”, released July 15, 1957, and “Deep Purple”, released Oct. 7, 1957). In 1957 Wilson set out to begin a solo career, leaving the Dominoes and collaborating with cousin Levi and got work at Detroit’s Flame Show Bar owned by Al Green. Green worked out a deal with Decca Records, and Wilson was signed to their subsidiary label,Brunswick.
Solo stardom
Shortly before Wilson signed a solo contract with Brunswick, Al Green suddenly died. Green’s business partner, Nat Tarnopol, took over as Wilson’s manager (and later rose to president of Brunswick). Wilson’s first single was released, “Reet Petite” from the album He’s So Fine, which became a modest R&B success (and many years later, a huge international smash). The song was written by another former boxer, Berry Gordy, Jr., who co-wrote it with partner Roquel “Billy” Davis(who also went by the pseudonym Tyran Carlo) and Gordy’s sister Gwendolyn. The trio composed and produced six further singles for Wilson, which included “To Be Loved”, “I’m Wanderin'”, “We Have Love”, “That’s Why (I Love You So)”, “I’ll Be Satisfied” and his late-1958 signature song, “Lonely Teardrops”, which peaked at No. 7 on the pop charts, No. 1 on the R&B charts, and established him as an R&B superstar known for his extraordinary, operatic multi-octave vocal range.
Due to his fervor when performing, with his dynamic dance moves, singing and impeccable dress, he was soon christened “Mr. Excitement”, a title he would keep for the remainder of his career. His stagecraft in his live shows inspired James Brown, Michael Jacksonand Elvis Presley, among a host of other artists. Presley was so impressed by Wilson that he made it a point to meet him, and the two instantly became good friends. Presley once dubbed Jackie “The Black Elvis”.
Wilson’s powerful, electrifying live performances rarely failed to bring audiences to a state of frenzy. His live performances consisted of knee-drops, splits, spins,back-flips, one-footed across-the-floor slides, a lot of basic boxing steps (advance and retreat shuffling)and one of his favorite routines, getting some of the less attractive girls in the audience to come up and kiss him. “If I kiss the ugliest girl in the audience, they’ll all think they can have me and keep coming back and buying my records.” Having women come up to kiss is one reason Wilson kept bottles of mouthwash in his dressing room. Another reason was probably his attempt to hide the alcohol on his breath. Wilson also said he was influenced by Presley too, saying “A lot of people have accused Elvis of stealing the black man’s music, when in fact, almost every black solo entertainer copied his stage mannerisms from Elvis.”
In 1958, Davis and Gordy left Wilson and Brunswick after royalty disputes escalated between them and Nat Tarnopol. Davis soon became a successful staff songwriter and producer for Chess Records, while Gordy borrowed $800 from his family and used money he earned from royalties writing for Wilson to start his own recording studio, Hitsville USA, the foundation of Motown Records in his native Detroit. Meanwhile, convinced that Wilson could venture out of R&B and rock and roll, Tarnopol had the singer record operatic ballads and easy listening material, pairing him with Decca Records’ veteran arranger Dick Jacobs.
Wilson scored hits as he entered the 1960s with the No. 15 “Doggin’ Around”, the No. 1 pop ballad “Night”, and “Baby Workout”, another Top 10 hit (No. 5), which he composed with Midnightersmember Alonzo Tucker. His songwriting alliance with Tucker also turned out other songs, including “No Pity (In The Naked City)” and “I’m So Lonely.” Top 10 hits continued with “Alone At Last” (No. 8 in 1960) and “My Empty Arms” (No. 9 in 1961).
Also in 1961, Wilson recorded a tribute album to Al Jolson, Nowstalgia…You Ain’t Heard Nothin’ Yet, which included the only album liner notes he ever wrote: “…to the greatest entertainer of this or any other era…I guess I have just about every recording he’s ever made, and I rarely missed listening to him on the radio…During the three years I’ve been making records, I’ve had the ambition to do an album of songs, which, to me, represent the great Jolson heritage…This is simply my humble tribute to the one man I admire most in this business…to keep the heritage of Jolson alive.” The album was a commercial failure.
Following the success of “Baby Workout”, Wilson experienced a lull in his career between 1964 and 1966 as Tarnopol and Brunswick Records released a succession of unsuccessful albums and singles. Despite the lack of sales success, he still made artistic gains as he recorded an album with Count Basie, as well as a series of duets with rhythm and blues legend Lavern Baker and gospel singer Linda Hopkins.
In 1966, he scored the first of two big comeback singles with established Chicago soul producer Carl Davis with “Whispers (Gettin’ Louder)” and “(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher”, a No. 6 Pop smash in 1967, which became one of his final pop hits. This was followed by “I Get the Sweetest Feeling”, which, despite its modest initial chart success in the US (Billboard Pop #34), has since become one of his biggest international chart successes, becoming a Top 10 hit in the UK twice, in 1972 and in 1987, and a Top 20 hit in the Dutch Top 40, and has spawned numerous cover versions by other artists such as Edwin Starr, Will Young, Erma Franklin (Aretha’s sister) and Liz McClarnon.
A key to his musical rebirth was that Davis insisted that Wilson no longer record with Brunswick’s musicians in New York; instead, he would record with legendary Detroit musicians normally employed by Motown Records and also Davis’ own Chicago-based session players. The Detroit musicians, known as The Funk Brothers, participated on Wilson’s recordings due to their respect for Davis and Wilson.
By 1975, Wilson and The Chi-Lites were Brunswick’s only significant artists left on the aging label’s roster. Until then, Wilson continued to record singles that found success on the R&B chart, but found no significant pop chart success. His final hit, “You Got Me Walkin’ “, written by Eugene Record of the Chi-Lites, was released in 1972 with the Chi-Lites backing him on vocals and instruments.
Personal life
Wilson’s personal life was full of tragedy. In 1960 in New Orleans, Wilson was arrested and charged with assaulting a police officer when fans tried to climb onstage with Wilson. He shoved a policeman who had shoved one of the fans. Wilson had a reputation of being rather quick-tempered. On February 15, 1961 in Manhattan, Wilson was injured in a shooting. It is said the real story behind this incident is that one of his girlfriends, Juanita Jones, shot and wounded him in a jealous rage when he returned to his Manhattan apartment with another woman, fashion model Harlean Harris, an ex-girlfriend of Sam Cooke’s.
Supposedly, his management concocted a story to protect Wilson’s reputation; that Jones was an obsessed fan who had threatened to shoot herself, and that Wilson’s intervention resulted in him being shot.[18] Wilson was shot twice in the back: One bullet would result in the loss of a kidney, the other lodged too close to his spine to be operated on. However, in early 1975, in an interview conducted by author Arnold Shaw, Wilson maintained it actually was an overzealous fan whom he didn’t know, that shot him. “We also had some trouble in 1961. That was when some crazy chick took a shot at me and nearly put me away for good…” Nonetheless, the story of the overzealous fan was accepted, and no charges were brought against Jones. A month and a half later after the shooting incident, Jackie was discharged and apart from a limp and discomfort for a while, he was quickly on the mend. He discovered that despite being at the peak of success, he was broke. Around this time the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) seized Jackie’s Detroit family home. Tarnopol and his accountant were supposed to take care of such matters. At the time Jackie had declared annual earnings of $263,000, while the average salary a man earned then was just $5,000 a year. Yet the fact was he was nearly broke. Fortunately Jackie made arrangements with the IRS to make restitution on the unpaid taxes and to re-purchase the family home at auction. In March 1967, Wilson and friend/drummer Jimmy Smith were arrested in South Carolina on “morals charges”; the two were entertaining two 24-year old white women in their motel room.
Freda Hood, Wilson’s first wife, with whom he had four children, divorced him in 1965 after 14 years of marriage, frustrated with his notorious womanizing. Although the divorce was amicable, Freda would regret her decision. Freda never stopped loving him, and Jackie treated her as though she were still his wife. His 16-year-old son, Jackie Jr. was shot and killed on a neighbor’s porch in 1970 and two of Wilson’s daughters also died at a young age. His daughter Sandra died in 1977 at the age of 24 of an apparent heart attack. Jacqueline Wilson was killed in 1988 in a drug related incident in Highland Park, Michigan. The death of Jackie Jr. devastated Wilson. He sank into a period of depression, and for the next couple of years he remained mostly a recluse, drinking and using marijuana andcocaine.
Wilson’s second marriage was to model Harlean Harris in 1967 with whom he had three children, but they separated soon after. Wilson later met and lived with Lynn Crochet. He was with Crochet until his heart attack in 1975. However, as he and Harris never officially divorced, Harris took the role of Wilson’s caregiver for the singer’s remaining nine years.
Wilson converted to Judaism as an adult. Patti LaBelle wrote in her biography that Wilson once tried to force himself on her in her teenage years, as she waited backstage, to meet him after one of his performances. [25]
Death
On September 29, 1975, Wilson was one of the featured acts in Dick Clark’s Good Ol’ Rock and Roll Revue, hosted by the Latin Casino near Cherry Hill, New Jersey. He was in the middle of singing “Lonely Teardrops” when he suffered a heart attack, during the middle of the line: “My heart is crying.” When he collapsed on stage, audience members initially thought it was part of the act. Dick Clark, when he saw it, ordered the musicians to stop the music. Cornell Gunter of The Coasters, who was backstage, noticed Wilson was not breathing. Gunter was able to resuscitate him and Wilson was then rushed to a nearby hospital.
Medical personnel worked nearly 30 minutes to stabilize his vitals, but the lack of oxygen to his braincaused him to slip into a coma. He briefly emerged in early 1976, and was even able to take a few wobbly steps but slipped back into a semi-comatose state. He was a resident of the Medford Leas Retirement Center in Mount Holly, NJ when he was admitted into Memorial Hospital of Burlington County, NJ due to having trouble taking nourishment, according to Wilson’s attorney John Mulkerin.
Jackie Wilson died on January 21, 1984, at the age of 49 from complications of pneumonia. Initially, he was buried in an unmarked grave at Westlawn Cemetery near Detroit. In 1987, a fundraiser collected enough money to purchase a headstone.
Tributes and legacy
In 1985, the soul/funk band The Commodores recorded “Nightshift” in memory of Wilson and soul singer Marvin Gaye, who had both died in 1984. Reaching No. 1 R&B and No. 3 pop in the US, and topping the Dutch singles chart, it was the group’s biggest post-Lionel Richie hit.
Van Morrison also recorded a tribute song called “Jackie Wilson Said (I’m in Heaven When You Smile)” on his 1972 album Saint Dominic’s Preview. This song was later covered by Dexys Midnight Runners. When the track was performed on the British TV show Top of the Pops, a picture of dartsplayer Jocky Wilson was used instead. This has often been speculated to be a mistake but Dexy’s frontman Kevin Rowland stated that it was a deliberate joke by the band.
Michael Jackson honored Jackie Wilson at the 1984 Grammy Awards. Jackson dedicated his Album of the Year Grammy for Thriller to Wilson, saying, “In the entertainment business, there are leaders and there are followers. And I just want to say that I think Jackie Wilson was a wonderful entertainer…I love you and thank you so much.”[28]
Until Jackson’s comments, Wilson’s recording legacy had been dormant for almost a decade. Tarnopol owned Wilson’s recordings due to Brunswick’s separation from MCA, but the label had essentially closed down, essentially deleting Wilson’s considerable recorded legacy. But when Jackson praised Wilson at the Grammys, interest in the legendary singer stirred, and Tarnopol released the first Wilson album (a two-record compilation) in almost nine years through Epic Records, Jackson’s label at the time. Through Tarnopol’s son, Wilson’s music has become more available.
In the VH-1 5-part television special,Say It Loud: A Celebration of Black Music in America, fellow Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Smokey Robinson and Bobby Womack both paid tribute to Jackie. Smokey explained that “Jackie Wilson was the most dynamic singer and performer that I think I’veever seen. Bobby added “He was the real Elvis Presley, as far as I’m concerned…and Elvis took a lot from him too.”[29]
In his autobiography To Be Loved (named for one of the hit tunes he wrote for Jackie) Motown founderBerry Gordy stated that Jackie Wilson was “The greatest singer I’ve ever heard. The epitome of natural greatness. Unfortunately for some, he set the standard I’d be looking for in singers forever”.(Reference,To Be Loved by Berry Gordy,1994, pg 88.)
Jackie Wilson is mentioned in the song “Gone But Not Forgotten” sung by artist TQ, which is a song dedicated to the memory of famous musicians who have died. The lyric goes “..and Jackie, will you teach me how to glide across the stage?”
Wilson is mentioned in the rap song “Thugz Mansion” by Tupac Shakur. The lyric is:
“Seen a show with Marvin Gaye last night,
It had me shook, sippin’ peppermint schnapps
With Jackie Wilson, and Sam Cooke.”
Wilson scored a posthumous hit when “Reet Petite” reached number one in the United Kingdom,Ireland and the Netherlands in 1986. This success was likely due in part to a new animated video made for the song, featuring a clay model of Wilson, that became hugely popular on television. The following year he hit the UK charts again with “I Get the Sweetest Feeling” (No.3), and “(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher” (No.15).
Rita Coolidge covered “Higher and Higher” in 1977; her version reached No. 2 on the US pop charts, earning a gold record.
In 1999, Wilson’s original version of “Higher and Higher” and “Lonely Teardrops” were inducted into theGrammy Hall of Fame,and both are on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
Wilson was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987; that same year, he was portrayed in the Ritchie Valens biopic La Bamba by Howard Huntsberry.
Wilson is referenced in the 1986 song “R.O.C.K. In The U.S.A.” by John Mellencamp.
Wilson and ‘Lonely Teardrops’ are referenced in the 1993 song ‘Jupiter and Teardrop’ by Grant Lee Buffalo on their debut album ‘Fuzzy.’
In 1988, his version of “To Be Loved” was featured in the movie Coming to America, when Akeem and Lisa were falling in love. Akeem (Eddie Murphy) later came back home singing the song loudly (and poorly), waking up and infuriating his neighbors.
In 1989, “Higher and Higher” was featured heavily in the comedy film Ghostbusters II, the soundtrack album of which featured a cover version of the song by Howard Huntsberry.
In 1992, Wilson was portrayed in the ABC miniseries by Grady Harrell in The Jacksons: An American Dream .
In 2007, Wilson’s music was featured in a film adaptation of Irvine Welsh’s book Ecstasy: Three Tales of Chemical Romance.
In September 2010, Wilson’s hit song, That’s Why (I Love You So), appeared on Dick Clark’s Rock Roll and Remember.
On November 18, 2011 The Black Ensemble Theater of Chicago, produced a musical about Jackie Wilson’s life that ends on March 18, 2012
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia