Talk:Jackie Wilson/Archive 1

Tribute
The Great Jackie Wilson's Birthday is today, June 9th, 2005. Born back in 1934, who would've known that this little newborn baby was going to become one of the most exciting and talented entertainers in American History to date. He has influenced so many other artists for over five decades, as one can see from the likes of Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, and to today's Pop giant, Usher. And all three of those artists have openly/numerously paid their homage to this Rock N'Roll, R&B, Soul, Operatic, Pop legend. So, in writing this today, I'm attempting to do the same--Pay tribute and much adieu to a true artist that we'll always remember, love, and miss. Here's to you, Mr. Wilson! Happy Birthday Jackie!!!! Keep taking us higher and higher...

Death
I read in the section here an allegation that Jackie Wilson was tortured and experimented on while in a coma. Now, aside from the fact that this being an unlikely fantastic claim, it has already been marked "citation needed." I did about a five minute search of books I could find and the internet and I couldn't even come up with another uncorroborated instance of this story. So I am deleting it and I think that the burden of proof lies in the accusers. If whosoever wrote that has a citation then I don't have a problem with it. (talk) 22:58, 13 December 2007 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Giovanni539 (talk • contribs) 21:58, 13 December 2007 (UTC)
 * I very much doubt Presley payed for Jackie Wilson's medical expenses. Presley said himself "The only thing a black man can do for me is shine my shoes," he was a straight out racist and probably didn't have the symphathy in his hateful body to pay for an African American's mans bus fare. I apoligize, but until someone can prove he really did pay for Wilson's exptenses I'm deleting this claim.Eatspie (talk) 18:31, 12 May 2008 (UTC)

First of all, that quote about black people only being able to shine his shoes is COMPLETELY false. Look it up for yourself anywhere. And if you still don't believe it, please look up any quotes from Jackie Wilson about Elvis Presley. They were GREAT friends and had tremendous respect for each other. Not only was Jackie Wilson friends with Elvis, but many other African-Americans such as James Brown (especially him...he and Elvis loved each other), B.B. King, Sammy Davis Jr, Redd Foxx (who was invited to Elvis' wedding) and Muhammad Ali.

And Elvis' backup singers were African-American. The Houston Astrodome in the 1970s asked him to not bring them to the show with him, but he told them if they didn't allow them to be there, he would cancel the show completely.

He was an extremely generous and kind man who unfortunately has fallen victim to falsehoods and accusations.

Also, Jet Magazine in 1957 came to the conclusion that Elvis was not racist. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.115.225.27 (talk) 07:33, 29 June 2008 (UTC)
 * Yes, because Jet Magazine is the bible equivalent for black people, and of course their opinions represent that of the black community as a whole. I'm not doubting Presley and Wilson were friends, he needed somebody to defend him, otherwise he would loss his appeal to black audiences. His back up singers where his employees! That doesn't make the man generous, it just means he was affiliated with black people, even Klan members have admitted to being somehow tied to African Americans, it doesn't make them any less racist. Try and see it from the point of view of people who weren't kissing Elvis' backside, say what you will but to a majority of black people he was essentially a singing dancing John Wayne with a much larger fanbase. UniversalBread (talk) 22:32, 8 August 2008 (UTC)

I guess I'm probably not going to convince you, but he really was an extremely generous man and not racist in any way -- the quote was proved completely false and heck, he bought his African-American cook a house even. Anyways, nice talking to you and I'll leave it at that :)

I do know (although not until recently) that John Wayne really did say bad things about African-Americans and that sucks. I hadn't taken the time really to look up anything about him before really. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.115.226.113 (talk) 04:56, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

Coma
Is there verification that Wilson's coma was induced by the blow to the head when he fell? Or, was it a result of being resusitated after more than five minutes without a heart beat, which would likely cause brain damage? --NameThatWorks (talk) 21:35, 3 June 2009 (UTC)

Citations & References
See Footnotes for an explanation of how to generate footnotes using the  tags Nhl4hamilton (talk) 04:52, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

Musical
I think it's very important to mention in this article that Jackie Wilson is famous enough to have a musical created about his life. So that you know it exists, here is a NYT review on the musical. Ol Yeller Talktome 17:48, 10 March 2009 (UTC)