The Wicked Pickett

---

Wilson Pickett playlist
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRTSFgot_wgpbkAkA5OVZ3rMNsrqNdRKB

---

Why was Wilson Pickett known as "wicked"? First of all, to be "bad" in the sixties and seventies (and longer) was to be ultra-manly. So that's one input.

The other input came from some African-American churchgoers who disapproved his secularization of two or three gospel numbers, such as "99 and a half," which originally referred to Jesus telling of the shepherd who goes looking for a single lost sheep from his herd of 100. Pickett's version refers to 100 percent of "your love." A question: Though Pickett's version is secular, is it really all that irreligious? Another thought: Bluegrass has long been a heady mix of gospel and secular. Does anyone really care to object?

We might bear in mind that Pickett spent much of his boyhood in Alabama, living with his abusive mother. When he went to live with his father in Detroit, he had the run of the streets.

He also realized that another soul singer, Sam Cooke, had used his gospel-singing background to make big headway in the R&B and general pop markets. That sounded fine to young Wilson!

Over the years however Pickett's success was tainted by alcoholism. It's not true that all abused children become alcoholics, but it is true that many do.

Toward the end of his life, Pickett expressed a desire to return to his gospel roots, according to Wikipedia, which may have obtained that information from a relative or friend. He wished to do a gospel album, but recovery from his last illness eluded him before that album could be made.

Even so, we may hope that The Wicked Pickett is now singing God's glories somewhere or other in Paradise.