Happy Heavenly Birthday to Michigan’s own Hank Ballard! He was born on this day in 1927. He, of course, wrote and recorded the original version of The Twist. The song will be forever associated with Chubby Checker. He also had hits with Work With Me Annie, Annie Had a Baby and more.
I have featured Hank on this blog before with the 2021 Song Draft
I’d like to feature two of my other favorite Hank songs. I played both of these when I was working at Honey Radio in Detroit.
“Let’s Go, Let’s Go, Let’s Go” (also known as “There’s a Thrill on The Hill”) is a 1960 pop and R&B single written by Hank and performed by Hank and the Midnighters.
The single was the last of the Midnighters’ three number one singles on the US Billboard R&B Chart, staying there for three non-consecutive weeks. “Let’s Go, Let’s Go, Let’s Go” is also Ballard & the Midnighters’ most successful pop single, peaking at number six on the Billboard Hot 100. The record sold in excess of one million copies. In Canada the song reached number 16.
“Finger Poppin’ Time” is a song that was written by Ballard and reached number two on the US Billboard R&B chart. It reached number seven on the pop chart in 1960. It was featured on their 1960 album Mr. Rhythm and Blues.
The song was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance in 1961. It lost to Ray Charles “Let The Good Times Roll.” It ranked #49 on Billboard’s list of Top 100 songs for 1960.
Welcome back to The Music of My Life, where I feature ten songs from each year of my life. In most cases, the ten songs I choose will be ones I like personally (unless I explain otherwise). The songs will be selected from Billboard’s Year-end Hot 100 Chart, Acclaimed Music, and will all be released in the featured year.
I turned 15 in 1985. It was sophomore year and I had moved up from the Freshman band to the Concert/Marching band. It is the year that consisted of many of my favorite songs that I recently posted about in this week’s Turntable Talk blog. It was also the year that I went on my first date and my first dance. How did the music of 1985 play into my life? Let’s find out…
My first pick is a soulful tribute to two amazing singers who passed away in 1984. It is also the only hit that the Commodores had after Lionel Richie left the group. I am talking, of course, about Nightshift.
The song is a tribute to singers Marvin Gaye and Jackie Wilson. Marvin was 44 when he passed away, while Jackie was only 49. In 1974 the Righteous Brothers had a hit with Rock and Roll Heaven, where they picture fallen stars like Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin forming a band in heaven. This was supposed to be a soul version where Marvin Gaye and Jackie Wilson are on heaven’s nightshift, playing some sweet sounds.
I love how the intro starts with that percussion lick and the smooth bass line that works its way to the vocal. It is such a funky, soulful and loving tribute to Marvin and Jackie – two legends!
Nightshift
As a sophomore, I ventured out of my comfort zone a bit and decided it was ok to go to high school dances. Mostly, the guys just hung out at a table and talked. However, after my first official date, I began actually wanting to go to dances with a female date. While I cannot remember for certain, I am pretty sure that one of my first dances ever with a girl was to Crazy For You by Madonna.
Admittedly, I am not a huge fan of hers. My brother, on the other hand, loved her! There are a few songs that I do like by her, and this is one of them. What I remember most about dancing to this song was that she was singing “crazy for you” and I wasn’t sure what kind of message that may or may not have been sending to my date. I was also thinking about making sure I was swaying the same way she was and NOT stepping on her toes. It had to be a very uncomfortable dance for her.
Fun Fact: Madonna reportedly only took one take to record this song.
This was recorded for the soundtrack to the wrestling film Vision Quest, which also featured a guest appearance by Madonna herself, who played a singer at a local restaurant. After the success of this song, the film was renamed Crazy For You in some European countries to capitalize on the song’s popularity.
Crazy For You
How does that saying go? Everything old is new again? I don’t know. What I do know is that Netflix is currently airing the 4th installment of the Beverly Hills Cop Franchise and I hear it is doing well. It was back in 1984 that Eddie Murphy first played Detroit Cop Axel Foley. The character’s name is what led to the title of my next song, Axel F.
Before the title was settled on, it went by a different name. During production of the movie, it known as the “Banana Theme,” as it was slated for a scene where Axel Foley shoves a banana in the tailpipe of police officers intending to pursue him. The composer was German musician Harold Faltermeyer and truly, this song was all him.
According to Wikipedia, he recorded the tune using five instruments: a Roland Jupite-8 provided the distinctive saw lead, a Moog modular synthesizer 15 provided the bass, a Roland JX-3P provided chord stab brasses, a Yamaha DX7 was used for the marimba sound, and a LinnDrum was used for drum programming. Faltermeyer played every single instrument.
He was also the musical director on Beverly Hills Cop and did the score for the film. The soundtrack went to #1 in the US and won a Grammy for Best Album Of Original Score Written For A Motion Picture Or A Television Special. The song topped out at #3.
We played this at a concert one year in band, and though it sounds pretty easy, it was a bit tougher than I anticipated. It may have been in a weird key. It was one of many fun numbers we played.
Axel F
There are some songs that when you hear them, you cannot help but feel happy. My next pick is one of those songs. I have rarely played this at a party or wedding where it didn’t cause people to just get up and dance.
Remember the feeling you got when you first found out that someone truly loved you? There was that feeling of joy that just overflows from you! You can feel that joy and excitement in the vocals by Katrina Leskanich in Walking on Sunshine. It just makes you feel good!
The wife of one of my second cousins threw him a birthday party I DJ’d. The song was on the “must play” list. I remember having a conversation about the song and she said that it was the kid of song that you should play the minute you wake up in the morning. She said that it would just set the mood for the day. She always seemed to be in good mood when I saw her, so maybe she did just that!
Songfacts says, The video got a lot of airplay on MTV. It shows the band hanging around London, with Katrina very colorful and bouncy, and her bandmates more subdued. She had to make her own sunshine, as there was none in London – it was a typically cloudy and cold day.
Katrina’s look was anti-glam, with tennis shoes and the kind of fashions you’d find at the mall. In interviews from this time, she often took shots at singers like Madonna and Pat Benatar for adopting more suggestive looks.
Teen boys didn’t seem to mind….
Take four major country superstars, all who are friends with each other, pitch them an old song and tell them they should record it together and you get one really neat song. That’s the basic story of how Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, and Johnny Cash became The Highwaymen.
Country legend Jimmy Webb wrote the song about a soul with incarnations in four different places in time and history: as a highwayman, a sailor, a construction worker on the Hoover Dam, and finally as a captain of a starship. Webb released his version in 1977, it was covered in 1979 by Glen Campbell, who took the song to Johnny Cash, who was recording with Nelson, Jennings and Kristofferson.
The story goes that the four were all together in Switzerland doing a television special and decided that they should do a project together. While the four were recording their first album, Johnny’s friend Marty Stuart played the song for Cash, saying it would be perfect for them. It had four verses, four souls, and four of them.
The song led to the name of their supergroup, their album, and of course, their first single. Each of the four verses was sung by a different performer: first Nelson as the highwayman, then Kristofferson as the sailor, then Jennings as the dam builder, and finally Cash as the starship captain. Webb later observed, “I don’t know how they decided who would take which verse, but having Johnny last was like having God singing your song.”
No personal story to go with this one, I just like it!
I am embarrassed to say that up until 1985, I had never seen a James Bond movie. I was familiar with the fact that Roger Moore played Bond. My mom would rent Bond films on occasion and also watch them on cable. Moore played a Bond-like version of himself in Cannonball Run in 1981, but I had never really seen him AS Bond.
So when a friend of mine asked if I wanted to go to the show with him we saw A View to a Kill. It was actually neat to see this in the theaters. I had often seen the Bond movie intro being parodied, but to see it kick off the film and to hear the song was all new to me. I was grateful to be able to see it.
Knowing Duran Duran and some of their songs, I was surprised that they did the theme song. The story of how they got it is interesting. Songfacts says: “according to the bassist John Taylor, was that he approached the longtime Bond producer, Albert R. ‘Cubby’ Broccoli, while extremely intoxicated when they were both at a party. He stated that he was a long time fan (Major Bond geek would be more accurate. An Aston Martin was said to be one of his first “rock star” purchases, and he frequently mentioned his Bond video collection in interviews) of the series, but the music for the last few movies had been mediocre. He then offered to have his band fix the problem and Broccoli took the idea under advisement.Being asked to perform the theme song for a James Bond movie is a great honor, but the requirement to include its title in the lyrics can be challenging. Just ask John Taylor. “To this day we are forever grateful that we didn’t get Quantum Of Solace,” he said.
It is the only theme from a Bond movie to hit #1 in America.
A View To A Kill
I’ve made it all the way to 1985 and have yet to feature a Prince song. Not that I don’t like him, he was a musical genius. I am still blown away by his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame performance and his Superbowl Halftime Show. He was a talent, no doubt. My only real connection to him was that we play Let’s Go Crazy in Marching Band one year.
However, I can connect this one to me because it was on my 15th birthday that Prince released Raspberry Beret. Prince originally recorded “Raspberry Beret” in 1982, but re-worked it with his newly re-formed Revolution backing band.
At the time this was released, Prince was under fire from Tipper Gore during the notorious PMRC witch hunt, which placed two of his songs on the list of the “filthy 15.” So this is one of the songs where Prince started making his lyrics more family friendly. But if you really listen closely, you know that Prince still slipped in a “filthy” reference.
Raspberry Beret
1985 was the year that one of my favorite movies was released – Back to the Future. If you’ve read this blog for any length of time, I reference the movie a lot and have read my fair share of time travel novels. It is a masterpiece and I will always watch it when it is on.
When Marty realizes he’s going to be late for school and he leave’s Doc’s place on his skateboard, Huey Lewis and The News’ The Power of Love makes the perfect song to accompany the scene. How did Huey become involved?
The film’s director Robert Zemeckis wanted Lewis to do the song – Huey Lewis & the News were rising stars with a modern sound that worked well in the movie, which takes place in both 1955 and 1985. Lewis had never done film work and hesitated at first, since he didn’t want to write a song called “Back to the Future.” When Zemeckis told him that the song didn’t have to be about the movie, Lewis accepted the challenge.
All Back to the Future fans know that Lewis has an uncredited cameo in this movie. Lewis has an uncredited cameo in this scene, where he plays a teacher who is judging the auditions. An early scene in the film has Marty McFly and his band The Pinheads auditioning for the high school dance. Huey plays a teacher who is judging the auditions. The group plays the beginning of “The Power of Love,” but before Marty can sing a note, Lewis cuts them off, telling them, “I’m afraid you’re just too darn loud.”
The music video doesn’t contain scenes from the film, but does feature an appearance by Christopher Lloyd in character as Doc Brown. We see him pull up in the DeLorean outside of a club where Huey Lewis & the News are performing.
The Power of Love
Yesterday marked the 34th anniversary of the passing of Stevie Ray Vaughn. I debated posting one of his songs for Tune Tuesday, but opted for a more uplifting post.
I was late to the SRV party. I was introduced to him after he passed away. I marveled at his playing and his vocal abilities. I really fell in love with his music.
I wrote about this song before, probably for one of the Song Drafts we were doing. It is Stevie’s cover of the old Hank Ballard song, “Look at Little Sister.”
Look At Little Sister
My final pick is another fun song. It reminds me a lot of the Kinks Come Dancing (which I just wrote about for Max’s PowerPop blog) because of the sound of the opening keyboards.
The Dire Straits were coming off the success of Money For Nothing which really established the band on MTV and on Top 40 radio in America. The fourth single from their Brothers In Arms Album was Walk of Life.
Mark Knopfler wrote this song to celebrate the street buskers of London, hence the references to “Be-Bop-a-Lula” and “What’d I Say,” which were two standards that might be part of a singer’s repertoire in the mid-’80s. Before the lyrics kick in, Knopfler does a few “who-hoo”s, which help create a whimsical vibe. When he spoke with the BBC in 1989, he expressed some “woo-hoo” remorse. “There’s too many ‘woos’ at the beginning of ‘Walk of Life,'” he said. “I heard it on the radio the other day and thought, Oh my God! What was I doing that for?”
Walk of Life (US)
Walk of Life (UK)
What song defined 1985 for you?
Next week we’ll share some songs from 1986. As I look at the music from that year, there were some great music videos! The year will feature my high school class song, my first attempt at Karaoke – before there was Karaoke, and two fantastic cover songs!
It is time once again for one of my favorite blog posts – Turntable Talk, hosted by Dave at A Sound Day. If you are unfamiliar with this feature, Dave assigns the participants with a specific musical topic each month. This is the 15th installment. This month the topic is: My Hometown
Dave’s instructions for us this time read: “I’m leaving this one rather open-ended for your interpretation, but essentially if you’re in, write about either a song about your hometown, or highlight an artist from your hometown. Likewise, I leave it to you to define what your hometown is – it can be your literal one, or one you live in now or somewhere close by that you associate with.”
As many followers know, I live in Michigan. I was raised in the city of Warren, which is about 20 miles from Detroit (less than 20 miles in some places). When the topic was presented, my first thought was to pic the song Detroit City (which was done by numerous artists). I really don’t consider that song a favorite, so I started thinking about Motown Songs. There were SO many good ones to chose from, but I decided against that, too.
I then did a search of artists from Michigan hoping that one would jump out at me. One did. I wrote briefly about him in the past, but feel he is worth writing about for this topic. I will mention some of his biggest hits, which you will be familiar with, and maybe even include some YouTube links. There is one song that wasn’t a huge hit for him, but it is my favorite vocal by him. I hope you are ready for some excitement – Mr. Excitement, Jackie Wilson!
Jackie Wilson has ties to many other artists and groups, all prior to having a successful solo career. He was considered a master showman and one of the most dynamic singers and performers in soul, R&B, and rock and roll history. His story is really an amazing one to follow, although it does have a sad ending.
The iconic, soulful and energetic stage entertainer was born in Detroit on June 9th, 1934, and raised in the rough neighborhoods of Highland Park, Michigan (13 miles outside of Detroit). He actually began singing as a young boy, accompanying his mother, an experienced church choir singer. In his early teens he joined a quartet, the Ever Ready Gospel Singers, who gained popularity in local churches. Wilson was not very religious, but he enjoyed singing in public. The money the quartet earned from performing was often spent on alcohol, and Wilson began drinking at an early age.
Life was rough for him growing up. At age 15, he dropped out of school. He joined an area gang, which led to Jackie getting in trouble. He got locked up twice in juvenile homes where he eventually learned to box. He entered the amateur circuits around the Detroit area where he met fellow boxer and future Motown chief, Berry Gordy. Jackie would become a Golden Gloves boxer, but after his mother told him ‘that’s enough boxing’, and with a record of 2-8, he turned to music.
Forming the original Falcons, he would be discovered by Johnny Otis, who placed him in a group called the Thrillers. The Thrillers later became the Royals, the same group that backed another Detroit legend, Hank Ballard, but Jackie left before they made their big hits. Joining Billy Ward & the Dominoes in 1953, replacing Clyde McPhatter. He stayed with the group for 3 years, and cut their last real hit “St. Terese of the Roses.” It was after this (in 1957) that he decided going solo would be a better option. He was absolutely right and it paid off for him in a big way.
Signing with Brunswick Records, Jackie would have his first hit “Reet Petite” in 1957, co-written by Berry Gordy, who would become good friends with Wilson over the years, and co-writing a few of his early hits.
Jackie followed this with “To Be Loved,” “That’s Why (I Love You So),” and “I’ll Be Satisfied.” But it was “Lonely Teardrops” that would launch him to a whole new level!
Charting 54 hits from 1957-1974, his stage presence earned him the nickname “Mr. Excitement”! Audiences went wild for his stage show! Go to YouTube and watch some of his live performances! He was amazing. He sang while doing knee-drops, spins, the splits, back flips, one-footed across-the-floor slides, removing his tie and jacket and throwing them off the stage, basic boxing steps like advance and retreat shuffling. Jackie would sing anything from high-powered soul classics, to opera, to ballads – there wasn’t anything Jackie couldn’t sing.
One of those amazing ballads was a song called, “Doggin’ Around” from 1960. The vocal on this song blows me away every time I hear it! You can hear the pain in his voice as he pleads to this woman to stop playing games with him. There is that lone piano plinking along in the back ground and the back ground singers are just enough to enhance the “pain” Jackie is trying to convey. The song itself only went to #15, but I have always felt it should have gone MUCH higher.
Doggin’ Around – Lyrics
You better stop, yeah, doggin’ me around If don’t you stop, yeah, I’m gonna put you down
Cause, I can’t take it Much longer My heart’s getting weak, It’s not getting any stronger You keep me so upset, My head’s in a whirl, But if you wanna be my girl
You better stop, yeah, doggin’ me around Cause if you don’t stop, I’m gonna put you down
Now you know you go out nights, To have yourself a ball Sometimes you don’t, you don’t make it home at all I don’t mind you having yourself a real good time, But now what are you tryna do, tryna make me lose my mind
You better stop, yeah, doggin’ me around If you don’t stop, I’m gonna put you down Yes, put you down I don’t want to do it, but I’ll have to put you down I love you baby, but still, I’ll put you down…
Elvis Presley’s hairstylist, Larry Geller, once visited Jackie backstage with Elvis after one of his Las Vegas performances. He said that Jackie had a habit of taking a handful of salt tablets and drinking large amounts of water before each performance, to create profuse sweating. Wilson told Elvis, “The chicks love it.” This may not have been the healthiest thing to do, and may have contributed to his tragic end.
On September 29, 1975, Jackie was one of the main acts to be featured in Dick Clark’s Good Ol’ Rock and Roll Revue at the Latin Casino in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. While singing “Lonely Teardrops,” as he sang the words “My heart is crying” he collapsed on stage; audience members applauded as they initially thought it was part of the act. He had suffered a heart attack onstage. Dick Clark sensed something was wrong, then ordered the musicians to stop the music.
Due to the lack of oxygen, he fell into a coma, of which he never recovered. He was moved to a retirement community in Mt. Holly, New Jersey, where he needed constant care. Elvis Presley paid for a lot of his medical expenses. On January 21, 1984, Jackie Wilson died at the young age of 49.
So many great singers hail from Michigan, and the Detroit area. Jackie Wilson was an amazing talent who, despite a short career, left us so many great songs! He posthumously received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on September 4, 2019. He is buried at Westlawn Cemetery in Wayne, Michigan. His tombstone reads “No more lonely teardrops.” A bench in front of his grave says, “Jackie – The Complete Entertainer.”
Thanks again to Dave for allowing me to take part in this feature! I truly look forward to writing for it and reading the other participant’s entries. I am already waiting patiently for next month’s topic.
Welcome to Round Three of the 2021 Song Draft hosted by Hanspostcard. It has been fun for me to pick and share my songs, but even cooler to check out the picks of the other participants.
As I compiled my list of songs to pick from, I had Hank Ballard and Stevie Ray Vaughn on the list with two separate songs. Then, I had some music playing on YouTube at work and changed my Stevie Ray song to this one – just so I could share the video. More on that in a minute.
There are some songs that you can search and find pages and pages of notes and stories about. However, there really wasn’t a whole lot about this song. I removed Stevie’s name from the search and just searched “Look at Little Sister. All of a sudden, there was Hank Ballard.
Hank was born in Detroit in 1927. In 1953, he joined the Doo Wop group, the Royals. Because of the group The Five Royales, the group changed their name to The Midnighters. In 1954, Hank wrote “Work With Me Annie” which was a number one R&B song for 7 weeks. In 1959, he wrote and recorded “The Twist,” which became Chubby Checker’s signature song. In 1960 he had two top 10 records with “Finger Poppin’ Time” and my original Hank song draft pick “Let’s Go, Let’s Go, Let’s Go.”
In a concert clip of Hank singing “Look At Little Sister” he says he wrote the song in 1959 after watching his little sister out in the back yard dancing around. Whether or not that was true, or whether it was just a clever way to intro the song at the show, I didn’t know. I am friends with Hank’s son, Daryle, on Facebook (He is a singer, too) so I reached out to him and asked. He confirmed to me that his dad told him that his sister was indeed the inspiration for the song. I had no idea that the song was originally done (and written) by Hank. I had to find it. After listening to it, I was blown away. It sounds fantastic! It has that early Rock and Roll/R&B/Rockabilly feel to it.
Hank was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.
Look At Little Sister –
Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey mama look at little sis Out in the backyard….shakin’ like this Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey….look at little sister Hey hey hey hey….look at little sister
What about the neighbors….what they gonna say Stop little sister….gettin’ carried away Hey hey hey….look at little sister Hey hey hey hey….look at little sister
Shakin’ like a tree….rollin’ like a log Shakin’ and a rollin’ now….that ain’t all Hey hey hey….look at little sister Hey hey hey hey….look at little sister
(Guitar solo)
Shakin’ like a tree….rollin’ like a log Shakin’ and a rollin’ now….that ain’t all Hey hey hey….look at little sister Hey hey hey hey….look at little sister
What about the neighbors….what they gonna say Stop little sister….gettin’ carried away Hey hey hey….look at little sister Hey hey hey hey….look at little sister
What about Stevie’s version??
Stevie Ray Vaughn released Look at Little Sister on his third album Soul to Soul in 1985. I gained a better appreciation for Stevie Ray’s music long after he had passed away. All I really had heard was “Pride and Joy” and “The Sky Is Crying” prior to that. The more I listened to it, the more I appreciated his vocals, and of course, his guitar playing. Which brings me to the video I wanted to share.
It was a toss up between a few of Stevie’s songs for this song draft, but then I saw a video of him doing Look at Little Sister live. What is so special about it? In my opinion, the video of this particular performance shows what an amazing talent he was. During the second half of his guitar solo, at around the 2:35 mark, he breaks a guitar string. Now if you just listen to it without watching it, you have no idea it broke. The solo is flawless. Watching it, you realize that he just improvises the rest of the solo around the strings he has left. I can watch this video over and over again and am amazed at how he never flinches.
What makes the video even cooler, is that his crew knows his string is broke. He looks at them mid-solo, after the solo, the crew brings him another guitar, Stevie keeps singing while the new guitar is handed to him, and without missing a beat, he is back to playing when he’s supposed to. It truly is an fascinating thing to watch.
Check it out:
Stevie Ray Vaughn was killed in a helicopter crash in 1990, the same year Hank Ballard was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Stevie Ray would be posthumously inducted in 2015.
Don’t ask me to pick one or the other as my favorite – I can’t. To me, that is what makes a great song. Here is the same song, recorded two and a half decades apart. Each version having a similar, yet different feel to it. Yet, they both stand alone as fantastic tracks.
So, did I cheat and actually make this about TWO songs instead of one? No. I draft one great song – but feature two different versions! I hope you enjoy this one as much as I do!
From my Facebook friend, Ric Allen and the Michigan Music History page:
It was a day that powerful voice of Detroit’s “Mr. Excitement” was silenced forever .. as Michigan Music History remembers Jackie Wilson .. who sadly passed away 36 years ago today.
The iconic, soulful and energetic stage entertainer was born in Detroit on June 9th, 1934, and raised in the rough neighborhoods of Highland Park. Joining an area gang, Jackie was often in trouble… got locked up twice in juvenile homes .. where he eventually learned to box. Entering the amateur circuits around Detroit, where he met fellow boxer and future Motown chief, Berry Gordy, Jackie would become a Golden Gloves boxer, but after his mother told him ‘that’s enough boxing’, and with a record of 2-8, he turned to music.
Forming the original Falcons, he would be discovered by Johnny Otis, who assigned him to a group called the Thrillers, who later became the Royals, the same group that backed another Detroit legend, Hank Ballard, but Jackie left before they made their big hits. Joining Billy Ward & the Dominoes in 1953, replacing Clyde McPhatter, Jackie would stay with the group for 3 years, cutting “St. Terese of the Roses”, until he decided going solo would be a better option … and it paid off big time.
Signing with Brunswick Records, Jackie would have his first hit “Reet Petite” in 1957, co-written by Berry Gordy, who would become good friends with Wilson over the years, and co-writing a few of his early hits. “Lonely Teardrops” would launch Mr. Excitement to a whole new level. Charting 54 hits from 1957-1974, his stage presence earned him the nickname “Mr. Excitement”! Jackie would sing anything from high-powered soul classics, to opera, to ballads – there wasn’t anything Jackie couldn’t sing.
While singing “Lonely Teardrops” at the Latin Casino in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, Jackie suffered a heart attack onstage and fell into a coma, of which he never recovered. Moved to a retirement community in Mt. Holly, New Jersey, where he needed constant care, the voice, the dancer and the consummate entertainer died on January 21st, 1984, at the age of only 49. Finally getting his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame last September – we remember the iconic Jackie Wilson.
What a voice! What a talent! His music was some of the best! Here are some of my favorites:
Baby Workout
Lonely Teardrops
Doggin’ Around
Higher and Higher
Talk That Talk
Stormy Weather
That’s Why I Love You So
Reet Petite
What an amazing voice! What an amazing talent! GREAT songs! He is missed!
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 