WILSON PICKETT - In The Midnight Hour

In 1955, fourteen year old Wilson Pickett left his mother in Alabama to live with his father in Detroit, Michigan. His music career started the moment he arrived in Detroit. For several years he performed with various successful gospel groups, and in 1963 he recorded for the first time as a solo artist. In 1965 Pickett had his first big hit with In The Midnight Hour. He wrote the song with Steve Cropper, guitarist for Booker T. & The M.G.'s. - the Stax session band that backed Pickett on the song. After the success of In The Midnight Hour, Pickett was given the nickname "The Wicked Pickett". The song was written by Pickett and Cropper near the Stax studio at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. The motel became famous a few years later when MLK was shot on the balcony there.