Veteran soul singer Wilson Pickett, known for such hits as Mustang Sally and In the Midnight Hour, has died today of a heart attack in Virginia, his manager said.
He was 64.
Pickett, an Alabama native famed for his trademark screams, flaming delivery and flamboyant costumes, performed on a regular basis until about a year ago, when he began suffering from health problems, said his manager, Margo Lewis.
Dubbed 'Wicked' Wilson Pickett by Jerry Wexler, the co-founder of Atlantic Records, where he enjoyed his greatest success, Pickett was one of the leading exponents of the hard-edged Memphis sound, a grittier alternative to the pop singles being churned out by Motown Records in Detroit.
Often recording with the house band of Memphis-based Stax Records, Booker T and the MGs, he enjoyed a long string of hits during the 1960s, including the R&B chart-toppers 634-5789, Land of 1,000 Dances and Funky Broadway.
The song In the Midnight Hour was his breakthrough hit, transforming the relative unknown into a soul sensation virtually overnight in 1965.
Pickett co-wrote the tune with MGs guitarist Steve Cropper in about an hour, and it spent a week atop the R&B singles chart in August of that year.