Celebrity Underrated – The Wilson Pickett Story JJ

[Music] now this story on Wilson picket I couldn’t even give you everything because there’s so much to his story that you’re going to have to read the book you got to read his book somebody going to have to do a movie on him because this guy was wild the man was super talented when it came to the music but I’m giving him the title of one of the first R&B gangsters in the music industry I see why they gave him the nickname Wicked picket he was a wild boy y’all he was one of the first R&B soul

gangsters in my opinion he didn’t play around he wasn’t no joke you wanted the drama he going to bring it to you always had a gun on him love to fight which was mainly due to his alcohol and drug addiction but Wilson picket was one of the first so artists to perform with a live band in front of integrated crowds him Otis reading Solomon Burke and Joe T has started a R&B super group called The Soul Clan back in the 60s and if Otis readen had never died in that plane crash I think they would have changed

the music industry I really believe that I got to get right to the story though let’s get into his story cuz I don’t want to make this episode too long so here we go right now Wilson picket was born on March 18th 1941 and PR Ville Alabama he was the fourth born out of 11 kids from his mother some of the siblings had different fathers but his father Wilson picket seni used to sell moonshine and he did some jail time when he had got caught selling it but when Wilson was about 5 years old his parents ended up

splitting up after his mother got pregnant by another man and from the beginning Wilson was just a wild little baby his nickname as a child was Wiggly because as a baby he was restless and always moving now he grew up singing in church and his grandfather was the preacher and just like most of all the great singers we love church is where it all starts that’s where Wilson beginning to develop his voice now he always used to sing in the fields too while picking cotton and he wasn’t supposed to be singing no secular

music music either just gospel hyns look one time his grandfather beat him upside the head with a Bible when he caught him singing secular music but you know Wilson was the bad kid in the family his temper came from his mama his mother had a temper too one time she hit him with something like a wood stick and broke his arm wow but you know he was always fighting he would fight somebody going to school in the morning he would fight somebody on the way home from school it got to the point that the bus driver would kick him off

the school bus and make him walk home he had attitude because at an early age he had to be the man of the family and provide because they was very poor he was the one that would leave home for days with a slingshot or rifle go in the woods and hunt for food his sister said one time he brought back 45 rabbits skinned and everything no hair on or nothing after hunting for days so the family could eat but like I said he just you know Wilson had a bad temper and one time he threatened to shoot his older

brother James in the backyard with his rifle that the mother had bought him but you know they had a rough in the south at that time because see where he was from in Prattville Alabama population about 2500 people they were picking cotton and sharecropping from the Sun up to the sun down for a little money and Wilson he had Big Dreams he didn’t want want he didn’t want to do that or be told what to do by a white man plus he knew he was a gifted singer and he wanted to do something with his talent

so around the age of 14 years old he ended up dropping out of school and he left his hometown and went to Detroit Michigan to live with his father his father had moved to Detroit after him and his mother broke up so once he got to Detroit around 1955 his father made him go back to school at Northwestern High School and look guess who else was going to that school at that time a bunch of future mtown record stars like songwriter Norman Whitfield Florence ballor of The Supremes and Melvin Franklin of The

Temptations wow you know Wilson knew and seen a bunch of future stars coming up like David ruffing you knew him he met uh well he seen Sam Cook when he was with the gospel group called the soulist but you know once Wilson got settled in and saw how the Detroit music scene was booming he ended up joining a gospel group called The Violin who also would do secular music on the side going by another name called the Gils now the violin had heard Wilson singing with another gospel group called the Sons of

Zion and they were so impressed that they stole him from that group The Violin there stole him from the group the sons of the Zion now he did also become good friends with ARA Franklin and her father SE Franklin at that time because they had one of the best singing choirs at that time C Franklin had one of the best churches ARA Franklin was like about 14 years old when she met Wilson who was 15 years old at the time and he also knew legendary actress singer delar re because at that time she was in a gospel

group called The Meditation singers now after that in 1959 he got married and had his first son to his wife Bonnie but he left the gospel group The violins to join the R&B group called the Falcons he replaced Joe stubs you know Joe stubs with the younger brother of the Four Tops lead singer Levi stubs and the cousin of Jackie Wilson now how Wilson how Wilson picket got into the Falcons group one of the members actually heard him singing on the balcony and ask him do he want an audition and you know Wilson at that

time he wanted to get away from the gospel scene anyway because he just felt that the church people wasn’t living by the word because he said every Sunday he was singing to people who were still drunk from partying from Saturday night you know at that time Wilson didn’t drink or smoke he was clean living by the word so he was like he might as well try to make a career out of secular music and plus he seen Sam Cook do it and become very successful and make a lot of money you know there was some

other popular members too in that Falcons R&B group that would later on make an impact in the music industry like Eddie Floyd Robert Ward and Sir M rice and look right at first now some of the Falcon members didn’t want Wilson to join the group because they felt he was too dark skinned wow hey you know black people can be prejudiced against their own race too they actually wanted Marvin Gay who was the new singer in town at that time because see just a year before Wilson joined the Falcons

group the Falcons had a big hit there was a there was a doop group they had a song called you’re so fine that sold over a million copies so it was popping but once Wilson joined the group the Falcons you know the group put out a few more hits like the song called I Found Love with him singing lead and by him singing lead on that song the world will recognize his voice I found love that single ended up hitting number six on the R&B chart and you know they went on tour all through the chitlin circuit

even did shows with Sam Cook and James Brown at that time the crazy part is James Brown he didn’t want them on the show because Wilson had the crowd reacting more to him than James Brown you know him and James Brown were rival each other for years but they respected each other though they was good friends though Wilson was a better singer but James Brown was a better dancer in my opinion now after the success of the song I Found a Love that’s when everybody started telling Wilson he should go solo and he

did he went on he went on to pursue a solo career and he started working on his demo and he gave it out to a bunch of record companies and the demo he recorded ended up in the hands of Jerry Wexler who was the headr at Atlanta Records at the time and he loved the song called if you need me that Wilson had wrote on his demo so Atlantic Records ended up reaching out to Wilson’s manager at the time man they didn’t want to sign Wilson to the label though they just wanted that song for Solomon Burke to sing so they

bought the rights to that song if you need me for Solomon Burke to sing if y’all don’t know who Solomon Burke is y’all probably heard a song called cry to me which was on a 1987 movie called Dirty Dancing with Patrick sesy and Jennifer great that song Cry of me but anyway so Atlanta Records bought the rights but they didn’t buy the Masters to the song if you need me they just bought the rights to it just to do a cover version or whatever so that’s when another legendary singer Nam Lloyd Price

Lloyd Price had that song personality but he heard the song if you need me and uh he wanted Wilson he wanted Wilson to sign to his label his label was called Double L wus with his business partner named haral Logan who was a music industry gangster too so now Solomon B and Wilson picket they was friends but they was promoting their versions of the same song called if you need me all across the world but Solomon Burke’s version performed better though on the charts his hit number two on the R&B

charts and number 37 on the pop charts now in 1963 Wilson he released his debut album title it’s too late on dou records and he released some of other singles like it’s too late I’m down to my last heartbreak my heart belongs to you and some other singles right but also around that time as his Fame begin to rise Wilson became a hard guy to get along with and him and the record label started having some problems plus you know every show he would do he would get into a fight with the club Owners and he

started drinking a lot now he’s in the R&B world so he started drinking and became an alcoholic like I said earlier in the beginning of his career he didn’t drink do drugs smoke or do any of that kind of stuff because he was doing gospel but once he became famous in the R&B world that’s when he started changing but he already had a look he already had a temp on him since the childhood so that drinking and that ain’t going to mix well and in the secular world you had to be about your

business because everybody was trying to make money off you and Wilson didn’t trust nobody when it came to money he ain’t trust nobody and by him always having a gun on him he wasn’t afraid to use it he was not afraid to use that gun they say Wilson be out on the road touring getting into fights shooting at people always waving his gun around he actually started shooting at his brother one time his brother James when he hired him as a driver for him right because Wilson thought his girlfriend was

looking at him wow now he was very jealous too Wilson was a jealous person Wilson was so wild right that one time he was performing at the Apollo and a white woman walked up and handed him their child they had together she told him that her parents would not accept a mixed RAC child nobody even knew that Wilson had fathered a secret child with a white woman this was the early 60s y’all but you know his girlfriend doy Hall would end up raising that child and she took good care of Wilson too but

Wilson ended up leaving Lloyd Price’s label dou wers over money and Lloyd Price decided to just let him go because he knew Wilson and he knew his business partner Harry Logan was a wild Street gangster they was going to clash but here’s the thing Wilson picket didn’t care who you was didn’t care what kind of Street reputation you had because he put the gun to Logan’s head and told him to let him out of his contract wow Wilson was crazy man now after that you know Wilson hooked up with a manager named Jimmy

Evans who was connected to the Italian M and their friendship would last to the day they died but once they hooked up though they started doing business Wilson ended up signing with Jerry Wexler at Atlantic Records you know Jerry Wexler messed up the first time by not signing him so he wasn’t going to let this opportunity pass him by again so now signed to Atlantic Records right Wilson went straight to work started working on some songs with all the songwriters and producers they had on staff but Wilson wasn’t really feeling

none of them because they was giving him a bunch of Pop material to do so he told them that he wanted to do R&B soul music because after he heard the song called pain in my heart Heart by Otis reading that changed his whole music style that’s the direction he wanted to go and he wanted to work with the producers that did Otis reading’s music and it was easy for that to happen because Stacks records was being distribute by Atlantic Records and once he went to Memphis and connected with the stacks records people

like Steve crapper Booker T and the MGs Isaac Hayes was there and and Dave and them it was on and popping and in 1965 the first song released was called 6345789 soulsville USA which hit number one on a Billboard Hot Rhythm and blue singles chart and number 13 on the hot singles chart Patty Lael and the blue bells were the background singers on that song too y’all but then he released a song that would take the world by storm which was his second single title in the Midnight Hour which hit number one on the R&B charts crossed

over and hit 21 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart selling over a million copies plus he was nominated for a Grammy for Best R&B performance but he lost to Papas Got a Brand New Bag by Godfather Soul James Brown you know what’s crazy Wilson wrote that song in The Midnight Hour at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis Tennessee which is the same motel that Martin Luther King Jr was murdered and you know Wilson used to say in the Midnight Hour on all his gospel songs when he used to singing gospel that’s where that whole concept come

from in the midnight hour and then he released the second album titled in the Midnight Hour so now with a big song all over the radio actually two big songs Wilson was loving the success he was having with Stacks records producers and songwriters after they gave him all those hits but then the owner of stacks records named Jim Stewart felt some kind of way that his songwriters and producers were making hit songs for artists that wasn’t signed to his label Stacks records and he ban he baned everybody

from coming to his studio if they weren’t signed to stack records he messed up that magic that Wilson was having with them Stacks records songwriters and producers you know according to the owner of stacks records Jim Stewart he tried to say that Wilson had changed and was bossing his staff around he said Wilson came back with the attitude that he was a star and everybody worked for him and the stack staff didn’t want him in the studio anymore that’s what Jim Stewart said but the truth

is Jim Stewart didn’t want his people to produce hits for artists who wasn’t signed to him you know that’s when he decided to ban other artists to work with his songwriters and producers so once that happened that’s when Wilson had to work at Fame Studios which was in muscle shows Alabama so once he started working at Fame Studios he released the single title land of a thousand dancers which hit number one on the R&B chart and number six on the pop charts becoming the highest charting pop song in his

career and it sold over a million copies to be honest I remember the song from the 1988 movie called The Great Outdoors with Dan akroy and John Candy and I also remember the song called here comes the hot stepper by Jamaican dance hall artist named Annie camo who used some of them lrics that made his song Go number one on the charts in 1994 and 95 now in August 1966 he released his third album titled the exciting Wilson picket which ended up hitting number three on the US billboard R&B albums chart and number 21

on the popular albums chart now that album will become the highest charting album of his career now here’s something uh a lot of people might not have known that same year in 1966 singer Solomon Burke came up with an idea to start a R&B super group called The Soul Clan which included himself Wilson picket Otis reading Joe Tex and songwriter Don Cav the group was called the soul Clan right so what they did was go to Atlantic Records and they asked them for only a million dollars to put the album together and invest in the

black community they wanted to build this super group so they can make some money to buy up a lot of property in the south in the ghetto areas and remodel them and build homes they wanted to help the black community by providing jobs building schools and creating blackowned restaurant franchises plus they wanted to show the younger people how strong we should be and to help one another work with one another and support one another even James Brown J Brown was on it too because him and Solomon bertke and Otis

reading was in talks of forming an organization to provide health care benefits and pensions for older black musicians and they did put out a single as the group The Soul Clan called The Soul meeting which hit number 34 on the R&B chart and number 91 on the pop chart and they were supposed to start working on the album but Atlantic record poured a plug on it because they felt the single didn’t generate enough buzz but you know Solomon Burke believed that the powers that be at Atlantic Records just didn’t want to give their

top artists at the time control over their careers and plus the $1 million they had asked for was going to be invested in the black community they didn’t want that wow and the whole thing with the soul Clan the whole super group Soul Clan just fell apart you know later on Otis Ren ended up dying in the plane crash and Wilson picker just decided to leave the super group because he wasn’t too comfortable with Solomon Burke’s Financial plans but anyway back to Wilson picket now the following year in

1967 he released his fourth album titled the wicked picket he actually earned that nickname and got the title for that album from look he pinched a young secretary at Atlantic Records on the butt and she was bending over in the mini skirt right and she called him Wicked picket and that’s when Jerry Wexler came out said yeah that’s going to be the name of his new album wow but you know the single called Mustang Sally hit number six on the R&B charts and number 23 on the pop charts and he also did a cover version of

Solomon Burke song called everybody needs somebody to love now months later that same year he released his fifth album titled the sound of Wilson picket and the single called funky Broadway hit number one on the R&B charts and number eight on the Hot 100 charts another single called I Found a Love part one hit number six on the R&B charts you know for this album right he started working with Bobby wac Bobby wac had joined Wilson picket Band After the the whole Sam Cook’s death and him dating his wife he was

kind of blackball by the industry around that time he met Wilson picket but you know Bobby said Wilson picket was a very a very moody person one minute you can joke with him the next minute he’ll flip on you and try to kill you that’s why they call him Wicked picket Bobby WX said he was violent and he was always fighting he said uh he seen Wilson picket hit one of his band members in the head with his guitar because he missed the note he said Wilson would beat up his band members and he always

kept a gun on him and he didn’t trust nobody and he would never put his money in the bank according to Bobby wac he said one time he went to uh Wilson pick’s house and his closet was full of money all the way to the tippy top about 50 to $100,000 in there wow and you know Wilson took care of a lot of people too especially his family he bought his mother two houses with cash Straight Cash Bobby wack ended up leaving that band though he said uh according to Bobby Wack he said he left the B Because Wilson picket was too

gangster for him he was scared of him and he didn’t like the way Wilson picket treated people like his band members but he said uh Wilson picket had a lot of love for him because he was talented one time right Bobby wack had joined slash Stones Band and slly stone couldn’t pay the hotel bill one night so Bobby called Wilson picket to loan them $110,000 to pay the hotel bill and you know Wilson gave it to him even though he didn’t like slide Stone Wilson picker didn’t like slide Stone he had told Bobby to get away from

Sly Stone because Sly used to do some weird stuff wow they say Wilson picket got in a shootout with singer Billy Stewart too around that time or something wow but another thing that happened when Bobby wack hooked up with Wilson picket is he was the one that got Wilson picket hooked on cocaine Bobby wac was the one that got him hooked on drugs because Bobby was using cocaine to deal with all the mess he was going through with that Sam Cook and his wife mess and you know rest in peace to Bobby RAC that’s all in this

book he got a great book too Wilson picket was just a perfectionist you miss a note he’ll hit you or pull a gun out on you in a heartbeat and Wilson picky did admire James Brown management style too he kind of used that James Brown Management Style on how he ran his band with an iron fist but Wilson was just wild man there was plenty of shows where he would draw a gun on his band members in front of people and he had about $10,000 in his pocket plus he kept a g another reason he kept the gun on him because

promoters trying to rip artists off all the time and the thing about Wilson picket he was illiterate he was he was somewhat illiterate he didn’t know nothing about the contracts and all that but if the business just didn’t make sense to him in his mind he thought you was cheating him out of money and that’s not good that’s when the violence would happen and you know also around that time he dealt with a lot of racism at that time too you know they were shooting at him they tried to poison him

but you know Wilson pick is like he likes to take credit for being one of the first Soul artists to bring white and black people together through his music in 1968 he released his sixth album title I’m in love and the single called I’m in love hit number four on the R&B charts which was written by Bobby wac and later covered by Bobby wack and ARA Franklin when ARA remade the song back in 1974 it hit number one on Bill booy’s R&B chart for two weeks Bobby wack say he wrote the song in response to some of

the criticism he had been receiving after marrying Barbara cook who was the Widow of Sam Cook another single off that album that did good was called stagger Le which was a cover version from Lloyd Price Lloyd Price did it back in 1958 it went number one for him now months later that same year Wilson released another album titled the midnight mover which hit number 10 on the R&B charts in February 1969 he released his ninth album title Hey Jude and that album hit number 15 on the Billboard top so albums chart and

the single hay Jude that was a cover from the Beatles In 1970 he released the album title right on and he had did a cover version of the song called You Keep Me Hanging On by The Supremes which hit number 16 on the R&B charts some other singles were Sugar Sugar still away she said yes and hey Joe and you know uh [ __ ] Houston did a lot of background singing on that album then a month later he released another album titled Wilson picket in Philadelphia he had worked with the Philly legendary musicians Gamble and

huff for that album and that album hit number 12 on the soul albums char the singles engine number n hit number 14 on the bill booy Hot 100 and number three on the R&B singles chart and and the song don’t let the green grass fool you hit number 17 on the Hot 100 and number two on the R&B chart and with certified platinum selling over a million copies that’s one of my grandmother’s favorite songs too don’t let the green grass fool you you know Wilson said uh when he went to work with

gambling huff and Philly they was uh worried about all the mess cuz they heard about he’s hard to get along with he said gamma was just staring at him with his back to the wall because they had heard that Wilson was crazy he was violent and like to play with guns they was just in there just watching him just in case he might act crazy or something now in 1971 he released the album title don’t knock my love and the song called don’t knock my love hit number one on the billboard bestselling Soul singles chart

and hit number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart selling over a million copies you know Diana Ross and Marvin Gay remade it for their 1973 duet album called Diana and Marvin and he also performed at the so to Soul concert in Ghana with itina Turner Santana Roberto Flack The Staple Singers and other artists they say uh there was like over 200 50,000 people at the show Wow when he did the song in The Midnight Hour and uh land of a thousand dancers the place went crazy there’s a documentary out too about that whole

concert called so to so y’all can check out when y’all get a chance now in 1973 he ended up leaving Atlantic Records over a money dispute with Jerry Wexler and he ended up signing with RCA records RCA RCA record gave him a million dooll advance and he released some he released some good albums while he was signed to RCA records but they weren’t doing big on the charts like when he was on Atlantic Records he didn’t produce any big hits and you know RCA RCA records at that time didn’t know

what to do with R&B music because they was dealing with Elvis Presley at that time that’s all they needed Elvis was the main focus on RCA at the time plus you know around that time music was changing especially R&B music there was a new sound in R&B because you had the groups like Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes Stevie Wonder Barry White The OJ’s who was dominating and you can’t forget that the Disco era was just beginning too then in 1974 he was arrested for shooting at The

Isley Brothers wow wow now the story goes with that incident they say it was Wilson Rudolph Isley and o’ Kelly Isley and some other people they had decided to go on a hunting trip so they had went and have some drinks Wilson was all drunk up and then Wilson and Rudolph Isley they get into it they start fighting and Rudolph Isley get the best of him next thing you know Wilson gets his gun and shoot up their hotel room shut up the hotel room the police showed up rested Wilson picking and charged him

with first-degree reckless endangerment and criminal possession of a dangerous weapon but he was released on a $500 bail after that more trouble was coming cuz he assaulted a band member named Nathaniel Grant with the butt of his shotgun after he told him to get out of his house and RCA records around that time they dropped him from the label and it was kind of hard for him to find a deal because no other major label really wanted to sign him after that a lot of labels heard about how wild and crazy he was and they just didn’t want

to deal with him but he did ended up getting a Vegas residency making 177,000 a week but see around that time he was doing a lot of drugs though drinking a lot he was firing people left and right his temper was bad and he was just upset about everything now look one time right while performing in Vegas he started talking mess on the microphone about Elvis Presley performing in a bigger and better room than his right and the Memphis Mafia which was Elvis crew heard him and they kicked the door down in the room they knocked the door

off the hinges to the room that he was on stage performing in and threaten him telling him he better not ever me Elvis Presley’s name again or they was going to kill him wow another incident in Vegas he had he had got into with some other Mafia gangsters and they was about to leave him dead in the desert it’s going to put him in a hole but his manager saved him saved him that time the cocaine around that time had Wilson out of his mind because you know he already had a bad temper he was doing a lot of coke he was

doing a lot of coke when he had that Vegas residency and he was spending like three ,000 a week on drugs it got so bad that his girlfriend doy Hall would get beat up by him so bad man I mean he would just be her and be her he started performing on stage high and drunk then he wouldn’t show up sometimes plus like I said earlier RCA records had dropped him from the label which made him really depressed but he did ended up starting his own label called wicked records now also around that time he had travel back

to Africa he actually went to South Africa this time to do a show but you know when he got there now is is a new day new time newer artists who were also there on that show were more popular and the fans weren’t showing him enough love like they did when he did the soul to soul concert years earlier so Wilson told the media they didn’t pay him and told Americans to not travel to South Africa because the white people over there were treating black people bad and everything treating them like slaves he

said but by that time his drinking and drug use was so out of control he was drinking and doing drugs for breakfast man and his girlfriend of 15 years doy Hall had to leave him because he hit her with a folding chair and then while she was on the floor he hit her four more times and it was in front of his son wow crazy man and things just kept going downhill from there check out what he did right he made his 14-year-old son sniff cocaine with him his son Michael didn’t want to do it but he was scared

the death of him he would abuse his son badly and teachers his teachers wanted to get the police involved but you know his son didn’t want them to report to authorities or get Wilson in trouble at that time now by the time the ‘ 80s hit and Wilson was still doing crazy stuff look he beat up legendary DJ Frankie Crocker from WBLS radio in New York at a party that he threw at his house and blamed him for destroying the music industry you know he was still doing tours and shows and cursing eyes his

band members around that time now here’s the crazy thing he did they say Wilson held the tour manager over the hotel balcony just like big red in The Five Heartbeats movie did because he thought he was cheating them out of money and he did it in front of people at the hotel so they called the cops and he was arrested for that he was jealous of other artists too now Wilson was jealous of other artists on that same tour if they was getting more crowd reaction to him like Sam Sam Moore from the

legendary group Sam and Dave he was trying to fight him every night because he had the crowd going crazy Wilson was so jealous of Sam somehow Wilson crawled through the ceiling in the hotel until he got to Sam’s room came out of the ceiling and jumped down on Sam H Wilson picket is crazy man it got to the point right on that tour that the people that was in charge of that tour had told they had to have a policeman at the hotel just in case Wilson came acting crazy and they ordered the policeman to shoot

him wow crazy what in the world is going on they say man Wilson but see Wilson love that vodka and that cocaine that combination turned him into a monster right there the man would slap people wives in their face and everything gu was crazy another incident he had he had got into it with some bikers from Hell’s Angels or something like that and he he had got into it with some Hell’s Angels and he ended up getting stabbed in the hand with a knife but you know Barry Gordy showed love to him he signed him to Motown

around that time Barry you know Barry Gordy gave him another chance to record again and in 1987 he released an album called American soulman but the relationship with mtown records didn’t last long because of all the drinking and drugs he was threatening trying to H you know Wilson was threatening trying to fight the staff at mtown he had slapped a desk clerk at a hotel while promoting the album in Europe then he beat up a promoter over there in Europe but he will also learn a painful lesson around

that time too because he had punched now Wilson had punched his Bas player named Kevin Walker just for nothing just punched him in the face because he was all high on drugs and drunk off that vodka and mad at his girlfriend or something that day so he punch Kevin Walker in the face so you know Kevin Walker being a new guy in the band wasn’t going to let him get away with that because he felt I ain’t do nothing just punched me in the face for nothing so Kevin Walker grabbed the metal rack

that hold the bath tiles in the uh in the bathroom you know the bath towel rack in the bathroom you pull it apart now you got a metal Pole right when Wilson charged at him he popped him right in the eye right in his left eye broke all the bones in the socket wow they say Wilson was laid out blood was pouring like crazy so he had to be rushed to the hospital you know the doctors try to save his eye and everything but he never regained full vision in that eye and he had to start wearing Shades you know was Pi was

picking with the wrong people and you know after that incident that tour that Motown had put together for him was cancelled and that was the last St for mtown records They had had enough of Wilson and Barry Gordy dropped him from the label and around that time Wilson was really depressed and he just took a break from the music industry plus he was still hooked on that cocaine and that alcohol though he won’t letting that go because in 1987 that same year he had got in a he had got in some trouble at a bar he had a fight at a bar

in New Jersey they say he was at a bar he had got to a fight with somebody body and he came back with a shotgun and that’s when the cops caught him sitting in his park car outside the bar so he got in trouble for that but you know in 1991 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame but he didn’t go to the ceremony because he was too high and drunk and barricaded himself in the house now that same year in 1991 he was featured in a movie called The commitments but then also Alo that

same year he was arrested and charged with drunken driving and making a terroristic threat to kill the mayor now the story goes with that incident first off Wilson Pickin and the mayor of Englewood named Donald arson have been neighbors and lived side by side for more than 20 years so you know on that day which was a Tuesday early morning 4:00 a.m. mayor Donald Aronson called the police and told him that Wilson picker was yelling that he was going to kill mayor and he drove his truck all across

his lawn doing donuts in the grass and when police caught up with him he was driving the wrong way down the street then he almost ran over a officer who had arrived on the scene then he got out the van and told the police that he was going to kill the mayor and that the police would have to kill him to stop him then he refused to take a breath of last test so he was arrested and charged with drunken driving making a terroristic threat to kill the mayor possession of weapons because they had found a 10-inch hunting knife and a

baseball bat in his truck he was also charged with resisting arrest and criminal mischief and he later was released after posting $225,000 bail now the police stated that they didn’t know what triggered Wilson but they said he had recently complained to City officials about constru in the neighborhood or something but another rumor they say that he was mad at the mayor because he thought the mayor was looking at his girlfriend wow told y’all Wilson Wilson was of man Wilson was crazy man but you know the mayor

Englewood dropped the charges though against Wilson after a court approved a settlement that required him to perform at a fundraiser for the city of Inglewood the following year in 1992 he would face some more serious trouble after a judge ordered him to move out of his own home after his living girlfriend charged him with threatening to have her killed and he threw a vodka bottle at her but then he did something real serious y’all he killed a pedestrian while drunk driving now the story goes

with that you know Wilson was driving drunk and he hit 86y old Pepe Ruiz and he claimed that now Wilson claimed he honked the horn at him but the 86 year old man continued to walk and and hit the side of his truck you know when police arrived they found six empty miniature bottles of vodka and six empty beer cans in his car and his blood alcohol level was more than double the legal limit the 86-year-old Pepe Ruez suffered a head injury and later died from his injuries and Wilson had to go to prison for one year and had to do

rehab and in 1993 he was honored with a Pioneer award by the rhythm and blues foundation in 1996 he was arrested again for assault after his living girlfriend said he beat her during the cocaine and alcohol induced rage now in that incident his neighbors had called the police around 900 p.m. after they saw his girlfriend Elizabeth trap that’s her name she was running topless and shoeless through the streets and when police got to her she was beaten bloody with severe cuts to her face arms chest and

abdomen but she refused to press charges against Wilson because she knew he already had a 5year probation on so police arrested Wilson at his house and they found two gram of cocaine and charge him with being under the influence of cocaine and they locked him up but he was released on 65 $500 Bell in 1998 he appeared in The Blues Brothers 2000 movie and performed his song 6345789 with Eddie Floyd and Johnny Lane in 1999 his song in The Midnight Hour was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and he also released his final

album title is harder now which was on round of records and you know that album was nominated for Grammy for Best traditional R&B vocal performance but he ended up losing to Barry White now the following year in 2000 the Wilson picket version of Mustang Sally on Atlantic Records Was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2005 Wilson picket was voted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame after that he started having some serious health issues from all the drinking and drug use from all the years

you know he was dealing with bulimia diabetes kidney disease just a bunch of gastro problems too and the doctors had ordered him to stop drinking but you know Wilson he ain’t going to listen he just kept on drinking and just didn’t listen and plus you know he didn’t want the word to get out that he was sick because he felt that promoters wouldn’t book him for shows if they knew he was sickly but you know around that time though he had got so sick that one time his daughters had to call the cops to

break in his house to see if he was okay because she hadn’t heard from him in some days and you know the cops found him on the floor when they got to his house they found him on the floor in his own urine apparently he was there for 3 Days wow sad man you know according to his daughter she said his new fiance said that he was okay and she was was taking care of him but she was trying to get him to make her his power of attorney but Wilson refused to do it she was trying to take all this money out the

bank and that’s when his family got involved because you know by this time he couldn’t even walk or hold any food down in his system his family say he was just Skin and Bones wow and they had to put him in a nursing home and on January 19th 2006 Wilson picket died from a heart attack he died from a heart attack wow what a story what a story y’all his life was a wild ride I couldn’t give you everything it would have been too long all the research I did a wild ride that’s all I

can say his life but you know after his death in 2015 Wilson picket was inducted into the national rhythm in Blues Hall of Fame the R&B Hall of Fame in 2017 the song in The Midnight Hour was selected for preservation in the national recording registry by the Library of Congress as being culturally historically and artistically significant that same year in 2017 his book was released titled in the Midnight Hour by author Tony Fletcher which is a great book y’all great book I recommend y’all buy support that book in

The Midnight Hour by Tony Fletcher and you know what I’m about to say now y’all know what I’m about to say now his life needs to be on the big screen somebody got to make a movie about his life this was a wild story there was so much stuff I couldn’t I couldn’t put in this episode it’s too long now man Wilson picket was 64 years old man when he pass that heart attack rest in peace the legend Mr Wilson picket