Jackie Wilson, Singer/Songwriter, was born in Detroit June 9, 1934 and we lost him January 21, 1984 when he died after a serious illness and while a coma.

Jackie Wilson was once an amateur boxer and also sang with several bands around the Motor City. Jackie went solo in 1957. His astonishing vocal range and exuberance on stage earned him the nickname "Mr. Excitement," and he had dozens of hit records from the late 1950s into the early 1970s, including "Lonely Teardrops," "Baby Workout" "Night" (adapted from a Madamme Butterfly opera aria, and his final top 10 charter"Higher and Higher." Little known, at the request of a group of Franciscan Nuns, Jackie recorded "St Theresa of Avila," available on his greatest Brunswick hits CD.

On 29 Septembern 1975, Wilson was performing for Dick Clark's Good Ol' Rock 'n' Roll Revue in Cherry Hill, New Jersey when suffered a massive heart attack. He fell from the stage and his head hit the floor. He spent the remaining eight years of his life in a coma. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.

In 1958, Jackie Wilson gave Alan Freed a gold movado watch for his birthday
By this time, Jackie had a slew of top ten charted hit recprds.
That mattered not to the feds, as far as they were concerned, it was payola
and the IRS fined Jackie and his label, Brunswick Records.

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