Editing Wilson Pickett (section)

=== Post-Atlantic recording career ===
Pickett continued to record with success on the R&B charts for RCA in 1973 and 1974, scoring four top 30 R&B hits with "Mr. Magic Man", "Take a Closer Look at the Woman You're With", "International Playboy" (a re-recording of a song he had previously recorded for Atlantic on ''Wilson Pickett in Philadelphia''), and "Soft Soul Boogie Woogie". However, he was failing to cross over to the pop charts with regularity, as none of these songs reached higher than No. 90 on the Hot 100. In 1975, with Pickett's once-prominent chart career on the wane, RCA dropped Pickett from the label. After being dropped, he formed the short-lived Wicked label, where he released one LP, ''Chocolate Mountain''. In 1978, he made a [[disco]] album with [[Big Tree Records]] titled ''[[Funky Situation]]'', which is a coincidence as, at that point, Big Tree was distributed by his former label, Atlantic. The following year, he released an album on [[EMI]] titled ''I Want You''.

Pickett was a popular composer, writing songs that were recorded by many artists, including [[Van Halen]], the [[the Rolling Stones|Rolling Stones]], [[Aerosmith]], the [[Grateful Dead]], [[Booker T. & the MGs]], [[Genesis (band)|Genesis]], [[Creedence Clearwater Revival]], [[Hootie & the Blowfish]], [[Echo & the Bunnymen]], [[Roxy Music]], [[Bruce Springsteen]], [[Los Lobos]], the [[The Jam|Jam]] and [[Ani DiFranco]], among others.

Pickett continued to record sporadically with several labels over the following decades (including [[Motown]]), occasionally making the lower to mid-range of the R&B charts, but he had no pop hit after 1974. His career was hindered by his addictions. His alcoholism was exacerbated by heavy [[cocaine]] use, and he became increasingly violent towards his family and bandmates.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.popmatters.com/in-the-midnight-hour-the-life-soul-of-wilson-picketttony-fletcher-2495402195.html|title=Pickett Was Wicked Good and Wicked Bad: 'In the Midnight Hour'|last=De Stefano|first=George|date=February 8, 2017|website=PopMatters|language=en}}</ref>

Throughout the 1980s and '90s, despite his personal troubles, Pickett was repeatedly honored for his contributions to music. During this period, he was invited to perform at Atlantic Records' 40th Anniversary concert in 1988, and his music was prominently featured in the 1991 film ''[[The Commitments (film)|The Commitments]]'', with Pickett as an off-screen character.

In the late 1990s, Pickett returned to the studio and received a [[Grammy Award]] nomination for the 1999 album ''It's Harder Now''. The comeback resulted in his being honored as Soul/Blues Male Artist of the Year by the Blues Foundation in Memphis.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blues.org/|title=Blues.org|publisher=Blues.org|access-date=February 6, 2012}}</ref> ''It's Harder Now'' was voted 'Comeback Blues Album of the Year' and 'Soul/Blues Album of the Year.'

Pickett appeared in the 1998 film ''[[Blues Brothers 2000]]'', in which he performed "634-5789" with [[Eddie Floyd]] and [[Jonny Lang]]. He was previously mentioned in the 1980 film ''[[The Blues Brothers (film)|Blues Brothers]]'', which features several members of Pickett's backing band, as well as a performance of "[[Everybody Needs Somebody to Love]]".

He co-starred in the 2002 documentary ''Only the Strong Survive,'' directed by [[D. A. Pennebaker]], a selection of both the 2002 Cannes and Sundance Film Festivals. In 2003, Pickett was a judge for the second annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers.

Pickett spent the twilight of his career playing dozens of concert dates every year until the end of 2004, when he began suffering from health problems and took what was initially intended to be year-long break from performing.<ref name = Leeds/> While in the hospital, he returned to his spiritual roots and told his sister that he wanted to record a gospel album, but he never recovered.

On September 10, 2014, TVOne's Unsung program aired a documentary that focused on Pickett's life and career.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.legacy.com/ns/wilson-pickett-obituary/16395997|title=Wilson Pickett Obituary on Legacy.com|website=Legacy.com|date=January 19, 2006 |access-date=October 27, 2017}}</ref> In 2023, ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' ranked Pickett at number 76 on its list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time.<ref>{{Cite magazine|date=January 1, 2023|title=The 200 Greatest Singers of All Time|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-singers-all-time-1234642307/wilson-pickett-2-1234643080/|access-date=July 5, 2023|magazine=Rolling Stone|language=en-US}}</ref>