Tonite's joint is (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher, by Mr. Excitement himself, Jackie Wilson. He was backed by the Funk Brothers on this track, were were moonlighting from Motown at the time. Released in August, 1967, the track hit #1 R&B and #6 on the US pop charts. That same year, the track didn't chart in the UK, but a 1969 re-release hit #11, and was subsequently re-released twice more in the UK, charting both times, in 1975 (#25) and 1987 (#15). Higher and Higher is ranked #246 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
Stumbled onto this video today and loved it. Didn't realize Jackie Wilson was so influential. He recorded over 50 hit singles before collapsing onstage from a heart attack at the age of 40 while singing "Lonely Teardrops" at a rock'n'roll revival concert organized by Dick Clark (and then lapsed into a nine-year coma). Inducted into the Rock'N'Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, the second year inductees were admitted. #69 on Rolling Stone's list of the top 100 performers of all time. And apparently, ripped off big time by executives of Brunswick Records, the label he recorded for. Wilson died broke in 1984, and was initially buried in an unmarked grave! WTF?! The Commodores' 1985 hit Nightshift paid tribute to Wilson and Marvin Gaye, who also died the previous year, and reached #3 pop and #1 R&B. When Michael Jackson accepted his Grammy for Thriller in 1984, he dedicated it to Jackie.
So where's the Jackie Wilson biopic?
- Dyn-O-Mite
No comments:
Post a Comment