Jackie scores a number one 29 years after first release
IN 1957, Jackie Wilson decided to strike out on a solo career. He had enjoyed moderate success with the group Billy Ward and His Dominoes, but with his four-octave range and a growing reputation as something of a showman, he decided to go it alone.
He got himself a contract with Decca Records and his first single was Reet Petite (The Finest Girl You Ever Want to Meet), a song composed by a trio of songwriters that included none other than Berry Gordy, who would later go on to found Motown Records, and his sister Gwendolyn, along with Wilson’s cousin Roquel Davis.
The song enjoyed only moderate success, peaking at 62 in the US Billboard charts, but it did make number 6 in the UK.
Still, Berry Gordy is said to have made enough from the royalties to allow him to start his hugely successful record label.
Reet Petite holds the record for taking the longest time to reach number 1 in the UK, hitting the top spot just after Christmas in 1986. Earlier that year it had featured in the BBC2 arts programme Arena with a quirky clay animation video of Wilson singing the song. It seems to be the stop-motion video really caught the imagination of the record-buying public and the song shot up the charts, going on to sell over 700,000 copies.
Unfortunately Jackie wasn’t around to witness his record become such a huge hit. While performing in the Latin Casino in New Jersey, he suffered a massive heart attack during his rendition of his signature song Lonely Teardrops. On the words “My heart is crying” he collapsed on stage and the audience members applauded as they thought it was part of the act.
A member of the backstage crew realised he wasn’t breathing and he was rushed to hospital, where medical personnel worked to stabilise him, but the lack of oxygen to his brain caused him to slip into a coma. He briefly recovered in early 1976, and was even able to take a few wobbly steps, but slipped back into a semi-comatose state. Wilson eventually died on January 21, 1984, at the age of 49, from complications of pneumonia.
In his 1994 autobiography Berry Gordy wrote that Wilson was “the greatest singer I’ve ever heard.”