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Singer Wilson Pickett Died At Age 64

"We've lost a giant, we've lost a legend," Solomon Burke said.

Soul legend Wilson Pickett, who was a major figure in the development of Southern soul music and became famous with songs like `In the Midnight Hour,'' and ``Mustang Sally,'' died Thursday of a heart attack, at age 64.

According to Billboard magazine, Pickett died today at a hospital near his home in Virginia, after being ill in the last couple of years.

"We've lost a giant, we've lost a legend, we've lost a man who created his own charisma and made it work around the world," said his soul-singer friend Solomon Burke.

Pickett was born in Prattville, Alabama, and grew up singing in Baptist church choirs. He was the youngest of 11 children and called his mother "the baddest woman in my book," telling historian Gerri Hirshey that even now he is scared of her. Pickett eventually left to live with his father in Detroit in 1955.

Pickett's first major success as a solo artist came with "It's Too Late," an original composition he wrote (not to be confused with the Chuck Willis standard of the same name). Entering the charts on July 27, 1963, it eventually peaked at #7 on the R&B charts. Its success convinced Wexler and Atlantic to buy his contract from Double L Records in 1964.

Atlantic paired him with famed producer Bert Berns, with whom Pickett recorded "Come Home Baby," a pop duet with New Orleans singer Tammi Lynn, but the single failed to chart.

Pickett's breakthrough would come at Stax Records's recording studio in Memphis, where he recorded "In the Midnight Hour" (1965), perhaps his best-remembered hit.

The genesis of "In the Midnight Hour" was a recording session on May 12, 1965 in which producer Jerry Wexler approached studio musicians Steve Cropper and Al Jackson (from Stax Records house band Booker T. and the M.G.'s) and said, "Why don't you pick up on this thing here?"

The song that resulted from this encounter established Pickett as a star and also gave Atlantic Records, a bona fide hit.

Pickett recorded three sessions at Stax during that single trip to Memphis; in addition to "In the Midnight Hour," he also recorded "Don't Fight It," "634-5789" and "Ninety-Nine and One-Half (Won't Do)," three original compositions he co-wrote with Eddie Floyd and Steve Cropper, all of which are considered soul classics.

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 an even closer association to Atlantic Records.

Located in a converted tobacco warehouse in nearby Muscle Shoals, Alabama, Fame was very influential in shaping soul music, and Pickett recorded some of his biggest hits there, including "Mustang Sally," "Funky Broadway," and what is perhaps the definitive version of "Land of 1000 Dances".

Pickett was also a popular songwriter, with songs he wrote recorded by such artists as Led Zeppelin, Van Halen, The Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, the Grateful Dead, Booker T. and the MGs, Genesis, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Hootie & the Blowfish, Echo & The Bunnymen, Roxy Music, Bruce Springsteen, Los Lobos, The Jam, Ani DiFranco, among others.

By the early 1970s, Pickett had released several more hits, including a cover of The Beatles' "Hey Jude" and a cover of "Sugar, Sugar" by The Archies. His last hit song was "Fire and Water" in 1972.

Pickett continued to record sporadically with several different labels, but outside of music, his life remain troubled. In 1987, he was given two years' probation and fined $1,000 for carrying a loaded shotgun in his car.

In 1991, he was arrested for allegedly yelling death threats while driving a car over the mayor's front lawn in Englewood, New Jersey, and less than a year later was charged with assaulting his girlfriend.

Conversely, Pickett was continuously honored for his past musical contributions. Pickett was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991, and two years later, he was also given the Pioneer award by the Rhythm and Blues Foundation.

In 1993, he was convicted of drunk driving and sentenced to one year in jail after hitting an 86 year-old man with his car. Pickett had been previously convicted of various drug offenses.

Several years after his release, he returned to the studio and received a Grammy nomination for the 1999 album It's Harder Now.