Wilson Pickett grew up singing gospel in small-town churches. He came to Detroit as a youngster and began merging gospel-style with rhythm and blues, resulting in “the deepest, funkiest soul music.”
Pickett was born in Prattville, Alabama on March 18, 1941. He was the fourth of eleven children, and he referred to his mother as “the deadliest woman in my book.” His mother struck him with anything, including skillets and stove wood. Okay—(once) I ran away and cried for a week. “Me and my little dog stayed in the woods.” Pickett eventually moved to Detroit to live with his father in 1955.
Pickett joined the Violinaires, a gospel quartet, in 1955. The group traveled throughout the country with the Soul Stirrers, Swan Silverones, and Davis Sisters on church tours. Pickett joined the Falcons in 1959 after performing for four years in the famed gospel-harmony group. He was enticed by the success of gospel singers who had gone to the lucrative secular music business.
Pickett sang backup vocals on the song “Let Me Be Your Boy” with the Primettes. The song was released as the B-side to his 1963 single, “My Heart Belongs to You.”
Pickett’s Atlantic debut was a self-produced single called “I’m Gonna Cry.” Atlantic paired Pickett with record producer Bert Berns and established songwriters Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil in an attempt to increase his chart chances.
Pickett’s personal life was a mess. He was jailed in 1991 for reportedly making murder threats while driving a car across the front lawn of Englewood, New Jersey Mayor Donald Aronson. Pickett agreed to hold a benefit concert in exchange for the charges being dismissed. He was charged with assaulting his girlfriend the next year. Pickett received numerous awards for his contributions to music.
Throughout his career, he made over 200 recordings, 50 of which charted on the rhythm and blues and pop charts. Because of his uninhibited style, raw energy, and distinct sound, he was dubbed “The Wicked Pickett.”
In 1991, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Pickett died of a heart attack in Reston, Virginia, on January 19, 2006. He was 64.