Jack Leroy "Jackie" Wilson, Jr. (June 9, 1934 – January 21, 1984) was an American singer and performer. Known as "Mr. Excitem...
A two-time Grammy Hall of Fame Inductee,Jackie Wilson was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Jackie Wilson #68 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
Shortly before Wilson signed a solo contract with Brunswick, 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. Soon the trio composed and produced nine hit singles for Wilson, including "To Be Loved", "(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 Michael Jackson, and Elvis Presley among others. Presley was so impressed by Wilson that he made it a point to meet Mr. Excitement, 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, one-footed across-the floor slides, basic boxing steps (advance and retreat shuffling) and teasing the ladies by letting one of the least attractive girls in the audience come up and kiss him. Wilson also admitted 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.” However, unlike Presley, Jackie, incredibly, could somersault backward in mid air, and land into a split on cue, just one of many dynamic dance moves he was famous for .
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 also 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 sixties 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 Midnighters member 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.
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