I took a friend and her daughter to get some ice cream earlier and heard "Higher and Higher" and thought about Jackie Wilson. He was known as Mr. Excitement and truly was. While singing "Lonely Teardrops" at the Latin Casino in Cherry Hill, NJ, he had a massive heart attack and lived the rest of his life in a coma.
Dick Clark was a son of a bitch to a lot of people. He took lots of payola via "buying" rights. But this time he was a real mench. The perpetual teenager paid all of Jackie's insane hospital bills for nearly a decade when the singer finally succumbed. Clark even paid for family members to visit and for the funeral. This time Dick Clark did more than anyone could have expected him to do.
Jackie Wilson was a monster.