Music
Jackie Wilson
1934–1984 · singer
“Mr. Excitement” grew up in Highland Park, boxed and sang in Detroit clubs, and his early hits, written by Berry Gordy, helped bankroll the founding of Motown.
- Born
Highland Park, Michigan- Died
Mount Holly, New Jersey
aged 49- Birth name
- Jack Leroy Wilson Jr.
- Also known as
- Mr. Excitement
- Detroit years
- 1934–1950s, 1960s
- Field
- Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Jackie Wilson grew up in Highland Park, the city surrounded by Detroit, where he ran with a street gang, spent time in juvenile detention and learned to box, fighting on the Detroit amateur circuit as a teenager. He sang gospel, then worked as a solo singer at Lee's Sensation Club and formed an early group with his cousin Levi Stubbs, later of the Four Tops. Detroit impresario Al Green, owner of the Flame Show Bar, took him on, and in 1953 he replaced Clyde McPhatter in Billy Ward and His Dominoes. Going solo in 1957, he played the Flame, where Berry Gordy and Roquel Davis wrote “Reet Petite” and “Lonely Teardrops” for him; Gordy used those royalties to help start Motown. In 1967 he recorded “(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher” with Motown's Funk Brothers. After collapsing on stage in 1975 he never recovered, and he now rests in a mausoleum at Westlawn Cemetery in Wayne.
Highlights
- Hits include “Lonely Teardrops”, “Baby Workout” and “Higher and Higher”
- More than 50 chart singles as a solo artist
- Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1987)
- Berry Gordy called him the greatest singer he ever heard
- His stagecraft influenced Elvis Presley, James Brown and Michael Jackson
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 3
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Performed here · 1950s
Flame Show Bar
Demolished · 1949–1963
Paradise Valley's biggest nightclub, owned by his manager Al Green; he played here after going solo in 1957. A Detroit Medical Center parking garage stands on the site.
Performed here · early 1950s
Lee's Sensation Club
Closed
Detroit club where he worked as a solo singer early in his career.
Buried here · 1987
Westlawn Cemetery
First buried in an unmarked grave, he was interred in the mausoleum on June 9, 1987; a bench reads “Jackie – The Complete Entertainer”.