Wilson Pickett

Dead, at 64.

He wrote "In The Midnight Hour" with Steve Cropper. The Steve Cropper. Man. Whew.

Then there's his famous exhortation for Sally to slow her Mustang down. Everyone should, at least once in their lifetime, get a chance to sing "Mustang Sally", from an apartment balcony, after five beers, three drinks of whiskey and four tequila shots at 3A.M. It's good for the soul.

As hair-raising, full-throated singers go, Wicked Pickett was one of the best.