[ACCESSWIRE]
Jackie Wilson was an artist and a performer who sang his heart out, and his legacy deserves recognition on his birthday, June 9. Mr. Excitement had hits in many genres, including R&B, rock and roll, pop, and soul. Yet he is not often celebrated.
OAK PARK, CA / ACCESSWIRE / June 9, 2015 / The Daily Doo Wop, a digital and social media platform that explores music and pop culture of the 1950s and early 1960s, pays tribute to Jackie Wilson with articles on three of his song: "Lonely Teardrops," "Night," and "Baby Workout."
Jackie Wilson was an artist and a performer who sang his heart out, and his legacy deserves recognition on his birthday. Jack Leroy Wilson, Jr. was born on June 9, 1934 in Detroit, Michigan. He grew up in Highland Park and was known to friends and family as "Sonny" and professionally as "Jackie," a nickname recommended to him by Billy Ward of Billy Ward and His Dominoes when Wilson replaced Clyde McPhatter to sing with the group. As a solo artist, a career he began in 1957, Wilson had more than 50 singles in many genres, including R&B, rock and roll, pop, and soul. He was known for his operatic four-octave range and for being a charismatic showman.
Wilson's athleticism and energy on stage earned him another epithet, which was the title of "Mr. Excitement." On stage, there would be dips and flips, knee-drops, slides, splits, and some advance and retreat boxing moves. (Wilson had at one time aspirations as a boxer, and was in the amateur circuit at the age of 16. His record in the Golden Gloves was 2 and 8. His mother, Eliza Mae Wilson, to whom he was very attached, did not approve of that as a career choice and did not want his handsome good looks ruined.) Always well dressed, Wilson would take off his jacket during performances and swing it around. He often had girls from the audience come up and kiss him. "If I kiss the ugliest girl in the audience," Wilson often said, "they'll all think they can have me and keep coming back and buying my records."
Even Elvis Presley was impressed. When Elvis first saw Wilson perform in Las Vegas in 1956, Elvis said, "I was under the table when he got through singing." Elvis and Wilson did meet years later when Elvis was filming Double Trouble in Hollywood and Wilson was appearing at the club on Sunset Boulevard called Trip. According to Peter Guralnick's biography of Elvis, Carless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley, Elvis was mesmerized not only by Wilson's moves, but also by his profuse sweating. "The chicks really dig that, " Wilson said. When asked how he did that, Wilson told Elvis, "Hey, that's simple." Before a show Wilson would take some salt tables and drink large quantities of water. Elvis liked the tip.
When Wilson started his solo career, he worked with another former boxer, Berry Gordy, Jr. , on a number of hits, including "Reet Petite," "That's Why (I Love You So)," and "Lonely Teardrops." The song "Lonely Teardrops" was written by Berry Gordy, Gwendolyn Gordy (Berry's sister), and Tyran Carlo (the pseudonym of Roquel “Billy” Davis, Jackie Wilson's cousin). It was released in 1958 and went to #7 on the U.S. Pop Chart and #1 on the US R&B Chart. It became one of Wilson's signature songs. Berry Gordy and Davis invested the profits from success with the songs for Wilson and other artists to begin Tamla Records and eventually Motown Record Corporation.
Many artists, including Michael Jackson, have acknowledged the pioneering of Jackie Wilson. In 1984, at the Grammy Awards Ceremony, Jackson dedicated his album Thriller to Wilson. Jackson said, "In the entertainment business, there are leaders and there are followers. And I just want to say that I think Jackie Wilson was a wonderful entertainer...I love you and thank you so much."
Wilson has industry recognition. He was a two-time Grammy Hall of Fame Inductee. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. Rolling Stone magazine has Jackie Wilson on their list of "100 Greatest Artists of All Time".
In 1975, Wilson was performing "Lonely Teardrops" on stage at Dick Clark's Rock n Roll Review, hosted by the Latin Casino in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, when he suffered from a heart attack (some sources say a possible stroke). He fell into a coma and remained disabled for nine years. He died in 1984 at the age of 49 of complications due to pneumonia.
The Daily Doo Wop remembers and pays tribute to Jackie Wilson with articles on three of his songs: "Lonely Teardrops," "Night," and "Baby Workout." The Daily Doo Wop is a digital and social media platform that explores doo wop, rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and rockabilly music as well as pop culture during the 1950s and early 1960s.
SOURCE: Daily Doo Wop
