Wilson Pickett ( March 18, 1941 – January 19, 2006) was an African-American R&B and soul singer. Known for his raw, passionate delivery, he was a major figure in the development of Southern soul music.
Pickett was born in Prattville, Alabama, and grew up singing in Baptist church choirs.
He was the youngest of 11 children and called his mother "the baddest woman in my book", telling historian Gerri Hirshey: "I get scared of her now. She used to hit me with anything, skillets, stove wood — (one time I ran away and) cried for a week. Stayed in the woods, me and my little dog." Pickett eventually left to live with his father in Detroit in 1955.
In Detroit, he formed a gospel music group called the Violinaires. The group accompanied Sam Cooke, The Soul Stirrers, The Swan Silvertones, and The Davis Sisters on church tours across the country. Meanwhile, Pickett's family was struggling to make ends meet, and when Sam Cooke and Aretha Franklin began singing secular music (which was then and remains a more lucrative direction), Pickett was persuaded to do the same.
Pickett's first major break came when he was invited to join The Falcons in early 1959. One of the first vocal groups to bring gospel into a popular context, thus paving the way for soul music, The Falcons also featured some notable members who went on to become major solo artists; when Pickett joined the group, Eddie Floyd and Sir Mack Rice were also members of the group. Pickett's biggest success with The Falcons came in 1962, when "I Found a Love," featuring Pickett on lead vocals, peaked at #6 on the R&B charts.
Soon after recording "I Found a Love," Pickett cut his first solo recordings, including "I'm Gonna Cry," his first collaboration with Don Covay, an important figure in Southern soul music. Around this time, Pickett also recorded a demo for a song he co-wrote called "If You Need Me." A slow-burning soul ballad featuring a spoken sermon, Pickett sent the demo to Atlantic Records. Jerry Wexler, a producer at Atlantic Records, heard the demo and liked it so much, he gave it to one of the label's own recording artists, Solomon Burke. Burke's recording of "If You Need Me" became one of his biggest hits and is now considered a soul standard, but Pickett was crushed when he discovered that Atlantic had given away his song. "First time I ever cried in my life," Pickett would later recall.
