20/01/2006

Soul singer Wilson Pickett dies

Veteran US soul singer Wilson Pickett has died at the age of 64.

The star, who was famous for hits such as 'In The Midnight Hour' and 'Mustang Sally', suffered a heart attack in Virginia.

His management said that he had suffered from ill health for the past year.

Pickett was born in Alabama and began his singing career in local church choirs in his hometown of Prattville.

After moving to Detroit as a teenager, he joined a variety of soul groups, including The Falcons, for whom he wrote and sang the 1962 hit 'I Found Love'.

Pickett launched his solo career in 1964 and signed to Atlantic Records where he found his biggest success. His early recordings in the Stax Studios in Memphis, along with Booker T Jones and guitarist Steve Cropper from the MGs, gave Pickett his first major hit, 'In The Midnight Hour' in 1965. Numerous other hits, including 'Mustang Sally' and 'Funky Broadway' followed over the next five years.

Pickett continued to tour and perform over the years, before he fell ill.

Wilson Pickett was inducted into the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame in 1991.

(KMcA)

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