Jackie Wilson - Reet Petite (2009)
FLAC (*tracks + .cue,log) | 1:16:41 | 278 Mb
Genre: Soul, RnB
Within the pop music of the 1960s, Jackie Wilson was one of the most important agents of the transition from R&B into soul. In terms of vocal power (especially in the upper register), few could outdo him, and he was an electrifying on-stage showman. Although never a crossover superstar on par with the likes of Ray Charles, James Brown, or Sam Cooke, he was a consistent hitmaker from the mid-'50s through the early '70s. Wilson was well-known on the R&B scene before he went solo in the late '50s. In 1953, he replaced Clyde McPhatter in Billy Ward & the Dominoes, one of the top R&B vocal groups of the time. Commercially, things took a downturn for the Dominoes in the Wilson years, although they did manage a Top 20 hit with "St. Therese of the Roses" in 1956. Elvis Presley was one of those who was mightily impressed by Wilson; he can be heard praising Jackie's on-stage cover of "Don't Be Cruel" in between-song banter during the Million Dollar Quartet session in late 1956. Wilson would score his first big R&B (and small pop) hit in late 1956 with the brassy, stuttering "Reet Petite," which was co-written by an emerging Detroit songwriter named Berry Gordy, Jr. Gordy would also help write a few other hits for Wilson in the late '50s: