Wilson Pickett

Its already a sad year for soul. Today Wilson Pickett passed away, nearly two weeks after another soul singer, Lou Rawls. While Rawls was known as being a skilled, silk-voiced singer, Pickett was a tough, from-the-stomach soul shouter. Both singers were in the proximity of Sam Cooke as teenagers; Rawls went to high school with him, and Pickett played shows with him in Pickett's first band, the bizarrely named Violinaires. Pickett went on to record many of his hits on Atlantic records, recording with Stax studio legends Steve Cropper and Al Jackson, and it was from those sessions that he recorded one of the great songs of the whole soul canon, "Wait till the Midnight Hour".

I first heard of Wilson Pickett watching the Commitments as a kid. Some scenes in that movie, which is based on the fantastic book by Roddy McDowell, are great tributes to him, and he even almost appears at the end, invisible as he rolls down the window for Joey "The Lips" Fagan (played by Johnny Murphy, who is great as always). Its a wonderful moment in the movie; the viewer seperated, as is everyone else, from the great gift bestowed the the Lips, whose prophetic musicality seems to have put him in the position of recieiving the divine Word. Just as prophets tend to be alone when receiving direct orders from God, the viewer is unable to see Pickett as he rolls down the window in the movie, only the dark impersonal limo that glides through the Dublin alleyways at night. It was a wonderful touch that made an impression on me, not knowing who Wilson Pickett was anyway, and he remained simply a mysterious faceless bluesman until I discovered his music years later.

There are some good articles on Pickett on the web. You can learn more about his life below, although if I were you, I'd just download a couple songs from itunes and hear why he was such a great figure in rock history.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/pop/256424_pickett20.html