Pickett was born March 18, 1941 in Prattville, Alabama and grew up singing in Baptist church choirs.He was the fourth 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.
Pickett's Atlantic career began with a self-produced single, "I'm Gonna Cry". Looking to boost Pickett's chart chances, Atlantic next paired him with record producer Bert Berns and established songwriters Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil.
With this team, Pickett recorded "Come Home Baby," a duet with singer Tami Lynn, but this single failed to chart.
Pickett's breakthrough came at Stax Records' recording studio in Memphis, Tennessee, where he recorded his third Atlantic single, "In the Midnight Hour" (1965), his best-remembered hit, peaking at #1 R&B, #21 pop (US), and #12 (UK).It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.
The genesis of "In the Midnight Hour" was a recording session on May 12, 1965, at which Wexler worked out a powerful rhythm track with studio musicians Steve Cropper and Al Jackson of the Stax Records house band, which also included bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn.
Stax keyboard player Booker T. Jones, who usually played with Dunn, Cropper and Jackson as Booker T. & the M.G.'s, did not play on any of the Pickett studio sessions.
Wexler said to Cropper and Jackson, "Why don't you pick up on this thing here?" He performed a dance step. Cropper later explained in an interview that Wexler told them that "this was the way the kids were dancing; they were putting the accent on two.
Basically, we'd been one-beat-accenters with an afterbeat; it was like 'boom dah,' but here this was a thing that went 'um-chaw,' just the reverse as far as the accent goes."
Pickett recorded three sessions at Stax in May and October 1965, and was joined by keyboardist Isaac Hayes for the October sessions. In addition to "In the Midnight Hour," Pickett's 1965 recordings included the singles "Don't Fight It," (#4 R&B, #53 pop) "634-5789 (Soulsville, U.S.A,)" (#1 R&B, #13 pop) and "Ninety-Nine and A Half (Won't Do)" (#13 R&B, #53 pop).
All but "634-5789" were original compositions Pickett co-wrote with Eddie Floyd and/or Steve Cropper; "634-5789" was credited to Cropper and Floyd alone.
For his next sessions, Pickett would not return to Stax; the label's owner, Jim Stewart, banned all outside productions in December, 1965.
As a result, Wexler took Pickett to Fame Studios, another recording studio with a closer association to Atlantic Records.
Located in a converted tobacco warehouse in nearby Muscle Shoals, Alabama, Pickett recorded some of his biggest hits there.
This included the highest charting version of "Land of 1,000 Dances", which became Pickett's third R&B #1, and his biggest ever pop hit, peaking at #6. it was another million selling disc.
Other big hits from this era in Pickett's career included two other covers: Mack Rice's "Mustang Sally", (#6 R&B), and Dyke & the Blazers' "Funky Broadway", (R&B #1, #8 Pop).
Both tracks were million sellers. The band heard on almost all of Pickett's Fame recordings included keyboardist Spooner Oldham and drummer Roger Hawkins..../....
Pickett died from a heart attack on January 19, 2006 in Reston, Virginia. He was aged 64.
Everybody Needs Somebody To Love (TV Show):
Disc: 1
01.In The Midnight Hour
02.Teardrops Will Fall
03.Take A Little Love
04.For Better Or Worse
05.I Found A Love
06.That's A Man's Way
07.I'm Gonna Cry
08.Don't Fight It
09.Take This Love I've Got
10.Come Home Baby
11.I'm Not Tired
12.Let's Kiss And Make Up
Disc: 2
01.Land Of 1000 Dances
02.Something You Got
03.634-5789
04.Barefootin'
05."Mercy, Mercy"
06.You're So Fine
07.In The Midnight Hour
08.Ninety-Nine And One-Half (Won't Do)
09.Danger Zone
10.I'm Drifting
11.It's All Over
12.She's So Good To Me
Disc: 3
01.Mustang Sally
02.New Orleans
03.Sunny
04.Everybody Needs Somebody To Love
05.Ooh Poo Pah Doo
06.She Ain't Gonna Do Right
07.Knock On Wood
08.Time Is On My Side
09.Up Tight Good Woman
10.You Left The Water Running
11.Three Time Loser
12.Nothing You Can Do
Disc: 4
01.Soul Dance Number Three
02.Funky Broadway
03.I Need A Lot Of Loving Every Day
04.I Found A Love
05.I Found A Love
06.You Can't Stand Alone
07.Mojo Mama
08.I Found The One
09.Something Within Me
10.I'm Sorry About That
11.Love Is A Beautiful Thing
Disc: 5
01.Jealous Love
02.Stagger Lee
03.That Kind Of Love
04.I'm In Love
05.Hello Sunshine
06.Don't Cry No More
07.We've Got To Have Love
08.Bring It On Home To Me
09.She's Lookin' Good
10.I've Come A Long Way
[ Thank you PERSEvalK for sending this post ]
CODE: 51285
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