Editing Wilson Pickett (section)

=== Rise to stardom: "In the Midnight Hour" (1965) ===
Pickett's Atlantic career began with the self-produced single, "I'm Gonna Cry". Looking to boost Pickett's chart chances, Atlantic paired him with record producer [[Bert Berns]] and established songwriters [[Barry Mann]] and [[Cynthia Weil]]. With this team, along with arranger, conductor [[Teacho Wiltshire]]<ref>''The Bert Berns Story, Mr. Success'', Vol. 2, Ace Records, London, England, 2010, liner notes</ref> Pickett recorded "Come Home Baby", a [[duet (music)|duet]] with singer [[Tami Lynn]], but this single failed to chart.<ref name="The Great Rock Discography"/>

Pickett's breakthrough came at [[Stax Records]]' studio in [[Memphis, Tennessee|Memphis]], Tennessee, where he recorded his third Atlantic single, "[[In the Midnight Hour]]" (1965).<ref name=pc51>{{Gilliland|https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc19832/m1/|Show 51 – The Soul Reformation: Phase three, soul music at the summit. [Part 7&#93; : UNT Digital Library}}</ref> This song was Pickett's first big hit, peaking at No. 1 R&B, No. 21 pop (US), and No. 12 (UK).<ref name="The Great Rock Discography"/> It sold more than one million copies, and was awarded a [[music recording sales certification|gold disc]].<ref name="The Book of Golden Discs">{{cite book|first=Joseph|last=Murrells|year=1978|title=The Book of Golden Discs|edition=2nd|publisher=Barrie nd enkins Ltd|location=London|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bookofgoldendisc00murr/page/194 194, 210, 227 & 301]|isbn=0-214-20512-6|url=https://archive.org/details/bookofgoldendisc00murr/page/194}}</ref> It garnered Pickett his first Grammy nomination for [[Grammy Award for Best R&B Song|Best Rhythm & Blues Recording]] at the [[8th Annual Grammy Awards]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.grammy.com/grammys/artists/wilson-pickett|title=Wilson Pickett|website=Recording Academy Grammy Awards}}</ref>

The genesis of "In the Midnight Hour" was a recording session on May 12, 1965, at which Wexler worked out a powerful rhythm track with [[studio musicians]] [[Steve Cropper]] and [[Al Jackson, Jr.|Al Jackson]] of the [[Stax Records]] house band, including bassist [[Donald "Duck" Dunn]]. (Stax keyboard player [[Booker T. Jones]], who usually played with Dunn, Cropper and Jackson as [[Booker T. & the M.G.'s]], did not play on the studio sessions with Pickett.) Wexler said to Cropper and Jackson, "Why don't you pick up on this thing here?" He performed a dance step. Cropper explained in an interview that Wexler told them that "this was the way the kids were dancing; they were putting the accent on two. Basically, we'd been one-beat-accenters with an afterbeat; it was like 'boom dah,' but here was a thing that went 'um-chaw,' just the reverse as far as the accent goes."<ref>Pickett, Wilson, ''The Very Best of Wilson Pickett'', Atlantic Recording Corp. and Rhino records Inc., 1993, liner notes by Kevin Phinney.</ref>