Wilson Pickett was an American singer and composer who lived from March 18, 1941, until January 19, 2006.
Pickett was a key player in the evolution of soul music. He released more than 50 songs that reached the US R&B charts, several of which were later added to the Billboard Hot 100. His co-written songs “In the Midnight Hour,” “Land of 1,000 Dances,” “634-5789 (Soulsville, U.S.A.”), “Mustang Sally,” “Funky Broadway,” “Engine No. 9,” and “Don’t Knock My Love” are among his best-known successes.
Wilson Pickett parents: Meet Lena Pickett, Wilson Pickett Sr.
Pickett, who sang in Baptist church choirs, was born on March 18, 1941, in Prattville, Alabama to Lena Pickett, and Wilson Pickett Sr.
He termed his mother, the fourth of his family’s 11 children “stating to historian Gerri Hirshey: “I become terrified of her now. She’s the deadliest lady in my book.
She used to beat me with anything, even skillets and furnace wood; once, I fled and sobbed for a week. Me and my small dog stayed in the woods.” In 1955, Pickett ultimately moved out to Detroit to live with his father.
