One of the gifts I received for my ninth birthday was a 7" 45rpm Atlantic Records release of Wilson Pickett's "Funky Broadway." It remains, along with The Esquires' "Get On Up" (which I also received as a gift that day), one of my all-time favorite songs.

Pickett's releases of Mustang Sally, Hey Jude, and Sugar Sugar were soul music milestones in my life. I can't believe he is dead! May he rest in peace.