hypersongs

Jackie Wilson

A Detroit singer known as Mr. Excitement, formerly lead of Billy Ward and His Dominoes, who had hits with "Reet Petite", "Lonely Teardrops" and "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher" in 1967.

Highland Park and the Dominoes

Jack Leroy Wilson Jr. was born in Highland Park, Michigan, an enclave of Detroit, on June 9, 1934, and sang gospel as a child, with the Ever Ready Gospel Singers among others; his father, Jack Sr., was also a singer. In his teens he was an amateur boxer and sang with Johnny Otis's Thrillers and the Falcons, which included his cousin Levi Stubbs, later of the Four Tops. As Sonny Wilson he recorded "Danny Boy" for Dizzy Gillespie's Dee Gee label. In 1953 he joined Billy Ward and His Dominoes, replacing Clyde McPhatter as lead; Ward gave him the name Jackie. Recordings with them include "St. Therese of the Roses" (1956), "Stardust" (July 15, 1957) and "Deep Purple" (October 7, 1957).

In 1957 he left the Dominoes and signed to Brunswick, with the manager Nat Tarnopol later its president. "Reet Petite", written by Berry Gordy Jr. and Roquel Billy Davis, was recorded in July 1957 and released that October, reaching number 62 on the Top 100, and later topped charts in the Netherlands, Ireland and the UK in 1986. "Lonely Teardrops" (1958, Gordy and Davis) reached number seven on the Hot 100 and number one on the R&B chart and sold over a million. Gordy and Davis left over royalty disputes with Tarnopol, and Gordy founded what became Motown.

Mr. Excitement and Higher and Higher

His stage show, with spins, jumps and splits, made him Mr. Excitement; he said he borrowed his dance style from Elvis Presley, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame notes he could sing precisely while doing it, with Peter Wolf calling him one of the most elegant performers there was. He sang "You Better Know It" in Go, Johnny, Go! (1959). Hits followed in 1959 and 1960, among them "That's Why (I Love You So)", "Doggin' Around", "Night" and "Alone at Last", and "Baby Workout" (1963) reached the pop top five. In 1966 he began working with the Chicago producer Carl Davis, who insisted on using the Funk Brothers from Detroit and Chicago players over Brunswick's New York musicians, which produced "Whispers (Gettin' Louder)" and then "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher" in 1967; "I Get the Sweetest Feeling" (1968) reached number 34 in the US and number three in the UK on its 1987 reissue.

His last stage show was at the Latin Casino in Cherry Hill, New Jersey on September 29, 1975, and he died on January 21, 1984, aged 49, in Mount Holly, New Jersey. Michael Jackson dedicated his Thriller album-of-the-year Grammy to him. He was reinterred on June 9, 1987 at Westlawn Cemetery in Wayne, Michigan after a fan fundraising drive, though EBSCO says 1990. He entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999 for both "Higher and Higher" and "Lonely Teardrops", the National Rhythm and Blues Hall of Fame in 2013, and received a Hollywood Walk of Fame star in 2019; Rolling Stone ranked him 69th among the greatest artists in 2004. He influenced Elvis Presley, James Brown, Michael Jackson and Teddy Pendergrass, and Van Morrison wrote "Jackie Wilson Said (I'm in Heaven When You Smile)" in 1972. Wikipedia counts more than 50 chart singles, six number one R&B hits and 16 top-ten R&B hits. Tony Douglas wrote Jackie Wilson: Lonely Teardrops.

Albums

  • Higher and Higher 1967 · Brunswick

    His 1967 Brunswick album built around the title single, number 163 on the Billboard 200.

Songs

Sources

  1. Jackie Wilson, Wikipedia
  2. Jackie Wilson, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
  3. Jackie Wilson, EBSCO
  4. Jackie Wilson statistics, setlist.fm