There's a book called The Black Elvis: Jackie Wilson which is based on anecdotes on his life
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here is one review of the book that caught my attention
First, I have to say, calling Jackie, The Black Elvis, isn't cool. No one ever
calls Elvis, the White Jackie Wilson, if people did, it would be false. Jackie
was on a higher level then Elvis. The only thing Elvis had that Jackie didn't,
was a white skin color, that made it easier for him to make it. No one ever
calls a white person, "the white..." so I don't know why people do such a thing
to blacks.
This book was lacking a lot of info. It seemed like a book
written by a fan, just wanting to write about their favorite performer, but not
having a lot of resources and people to interview. The book Jackie Wilson,
Lonely Teardrops was much more informative and had more people involved in the
book. But I applaud anyone who makes an attempt to write about Jackie, since he
isn't talked about a great deal now and days.
I've been a Jackie Wilson
fan since I was a little girl. I was introduced to him through my father who
grew up in Detroit with Jackie and knew him. My interest in Jackie increased
when I heard Michael Jackson speak of him. MJ always included Jackie in his list
of influences. Every era has an entertainer that just stand above all the rest,
Jackie was in his era in a class of his own. He created a style of
entertainment, many copied, from James Brown, The Temptations, and just about
every black entertainer you can think of, but Jackie had people who influenced
him, that's not talk about much, Al Jolson, Sammy Davis Jr., The Nicholas
Brothers, Cab Calloway, etc. If you want to be great, you gotta learn from the
greats and that's what Jackie did.
Mainstream media doesn't talk very
much about Jackie Wilson anymore. We only hear people talk about James Brown,
Elvis, MJ, Marvin Gaye, but never Jackie. You hardly hear anyone speak of him
anymore, and that's ashame, because he was one of the greatest. He influenced
just about every black performer that came after him. He definitely influenced
all of the Motowners, and even Berry Gordy, Smokey Robinson, Diana Ross, don't
even speak of him, they don't even pay tribute to him. If it wasn't for the
success Jackie made of Berry's songs, Berry probably wouldn't have been able to
build Motown.
This book help me to understand the man behind the talent.
This book held nothing back. It included the good, bad, and ugly of Jackie
Wilson, showing he's human like the rest of us, who had many flaws. It seems the
people who are the greatest and who are genius, have the most self-destructive
and tragic lives. I wonder is it because there's a price you have to pay for
having such great talent.
Jackie's love affairs make Tiger Woods affairs
seem less scandalous. It was discomforting to hear of Jackie's treatment of
women. Women loved him so, but he disrespected them so much, you would think he
would have treated them better. Jackie had the whole package, good looks, charm
(which made the women fall harder) talent, fame, and money, so of course he
would get a lot of women, but he lacked so much within. He had it all the
outside but not the inside. Most of the romantic singers aren't as lovely in
real life as they are on stage. I'm pretty sure there were women who wanted to
be with Jackie, because he was a star who had money, and they wanted to get
something out of him, like he wanted something out of them, and since Jackie was
overly generous, I'm sure they got what they wanted, as I'm sure he got what he
wanted. If AIDS/HIV was around back in those days, Jackie would have been a
candidate for it, but I wonder did he ever contract other STDs. Being a bit
feminist, I found myself mad at Jackie's women for putting up with his abuse,
cheating, and just total disrespect, like flirting with other women in their
presence or having one woman wait in the car, while he goes sees another one. No
man is that great to put up with such disrespect. It seems most of his women
were in love with the facade and stage presence of Jackie and fell in love with
that and didn't take the time to get to know the true man, if they had, it would
have saved them heartache. Most of the women in Jackie's life, seem to be more
in love with him, then he was in love with them. It seems most of the women in
Jackie's life were either groupie, wild, crazy, promisicous, gold-diggers,
naive, gullible, crazy, or a little off, some of these attributes Jackie
possessed. I guess you are, what you attract sometime. The first wife Freda,
seem like a strong woman, who didn't take stuff off of anyone, but put up with
Jackie's stuff. She would let him cheat. I feel like if a man is gonna cheat, at
least have enough respect not to do it in the presence of your wife and a wife
should have enough self-respect not to allow it in her presence. The second wife
Harlean was a model who was on the cover of Jet and Ebony, she had quite a
reputation, she seemed like a gold-digger/groupie, who sought after successful
men to take care of her. She first dated Clyde McPhatter, Sam Cooke, then
Jackie, all three of these guys were pioneers, it seems she couldn't hook Clyde
and Sam or they dropped her after they got what she wanted, or dropped her after
seeing how she was, or she dropped them for Jackie. Jackie was the only one that
stayed connected with her. Maybe later he regretted it when he supposedly found
out about her affair with his friend/manager Nat Tarnopol. The third wife, Lynn,
seemed uncouth. All Jackie's women seemed a little "street" or "groupie" in some
way or another. A whole book could be done on Jackie's women. The infamous
Juanita Jones who shot Jackie, I'm surprised wasn't found and interviewed. I
would love to hear her side of what happened. The media and fans was told she
was a fanatic fan that shot him, because Jackie ignored her advances, but we
find out she was one of his women who was fed up with his cheating and shot him.
Jackie could have ended up like Sam Cooke ended up. Jackie was hard-headed, it
seems he didn't learn his lesson. He continued philandering, but I can't help
but think he was more watchful of his women after the shooting. Jackie
supposedly had children with Juanita too. It seems all of Jackie's women had
something wrong with them or maybe they were just so enthuastically in love with
Jackie that they would put up with anything. They all were willing to compete
for him and win him for themselves, some was willing to share him, but he just
enjoyed them all. They didn't even have enough self-respect to leave him after
abuse and philandering. Maybe his women didn't care, they were so in love with
being in love with a star, they didn't mind sharing him. I know if Jackie was an
average man, these same women probably wouldn't tolerate Jackie's treatment. I
don't care if he's nice Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs, Fri, Sat, and abusive on Sun, no
woman should put up with any slapping or abuse, I don't care if it's once in
awhile. Jackie felt he owned his women, they couldn't do as they pleased, but he
could and you better not say anything about it or else. I guess being with a
famous person who brought them diamonds and furs made up for the abuse and
cheating, which says a lot about the women, they could be brought. Jackie was
said to have a power over women, I'd say that power was fame, money, and
success, if not, some of his women must have been very gullible and naive.
Jackie seemed like the type of man that would try to make up for his wrongs, by
doing something extra nice, and maybe that made his women forgive and continue
to put up with him, but that's how abusers are. With some women, the less a guy
loves them or mistreats them, the more a woman will love the guy to try to win
him. I still say some of Jackie's women didn't have their heads screwed on
right. I don't think a classy, self-respecting woman, with morals and values,
and self-esteem would put up with Jackie's stuff for long or wouldn't date him
at all, seeing how he was, because they would have felt, they could find a man
to treat them better. The women seemed to love Jackie, more then he loved them,
and most men take advantage and walk all over women that they know love them so
much, because the guy feels they can do anything, because the women aren't going
anywhere, and it's true in most cases. Most of Jackie's women didn't even know
about each other, but they should have known he was a cheater. It's so obvious.
It seem the women in Jackie's life made Jackie a priority, when they were just
an option to him. He could either take them or leave them. He always had others.
He never stayed with one long, or they didn't stay with him long, or if you
didn't mind being on his list of women, he would visit them when he was in their
city for a "booty call." He treated women like a commodity, and they let him.
The women discarded their self-respect so they could be with a star, was it
worth it? Was he that great? I'm just interested in why these women put up with
Jackie's disrespect and cheating? The women never said Jackie loved them or ever
said it to them, but they brought up the fact that he loved his mother. It seems
the only woman Jackie could love and be loyal to was his mother, the other women
were just that...women. Sometimes a man can love his mother to much, to the
point, where he can't love another woman, because he feels it would be cheating
his mother's love. I would have liked to have heard more stories from some of
Jackie's women. I'm sure he had many. Only a few were talked about. Why wasn't
Madeleine Allen interviewed? I read throughout the years that Jackie had a fling
with Mary Wells, LaVern Baker, Ruth Brown, and I hear possibly Tammi Terrell,
who singed duets with Marvin Gaye. If that's true, I would have loved to hear
about the relationship between Jackie and Tammi. She was linked to James Brown
and David Ruffin. Jackie seemed like the type of guy you have a one night stand
with or a short, hot love affair with, but don't go falling in love or wanting
to be with him long-term, because he'll break your heart. I couldn't feel sorry
for some of Jackie's women, because they should have known Jackie was a playboy,
I mean it's obvious, or it should have been after the first time he cheated or
abused them. I wouldn't have trusted him or fell for him so hard, but I would
have had a lot of fun with him, I'm sure. I would hope there was one woman who
was a match for Jackie and didn't put up with his stuff. As much as I despise
Harlean, it seems she would do to Jackie what Jackie did to her. If he hurt her,
she would hurt him. I can't entirely blame her for cheating on Jackie. He needed
a taste of his own medicine, but I can see how it hurt him to find out his wife
and manager/friend was having an affair. Maybe for the first time he saw how it
felt to be cheated on. Lee Angel, a stripper/groupie/Little Richard's girl, who
Jackie dated, said Jackie felt it was okay for him to have other women, but felt
his women couldn't have other men. I think the black groupies of the 50's, 60's,
and 70's like Lee Angel, and some of the black groupies Etta James talked about
in her book, (like Apollo Faye, one of Jimi Hendrix's women. She proudly slept
with a lot of singers in her day, I'm sure even Jackie. She should have been
interviewed.) should get together and write a book about who they were with, I
think they would have interesting stories. Many white groupies from that era
wrote about their relationships and experiences with rock and roll stars and
their not ashamed. Many of the black groupies are Christian women now, and their
ashame of their past, I feel you shouldn't be ashame of how you lived your life,
if you chose to live it that way. You don't still have to be that way, but don't
disregard who you were and what you use to do. Everyone has a story to tell. One
of David Ruffin's women wrote a book on her troubled relationship with David
Ruffin, that was an interesting read. One of the few books from a woman of
legendary black singing stars.
Jackie's mother seemed to have spoiled
Jackie and in turn possibly he felt women he could have his way with women and
women would put up with it, and sadly most did. I would liked to have heard from
more of Jackie's women. Could the author not locate these women or would the
women not give an interview? They all I'm sure has their own account of life
with Jackie. We shouldn't just go by what one or two say, or what Jackie's
friends say. We shouldn't just go by what the groupies say either. I would have
liked to hear from the women he actually had a relationship with, not just a
sexual, see you in a few months relationship, like with most of his
women.
Jack was divorced in 1964, and it is said the only reason why he
married Harlean was because he was made to by his manager, to clean up his
image, after bad publicity for being caught in the bed with white women. It
seems true, otherwise Jackie would have married her after his divorce. He liked
being a free man so that's why he didn't marry Harlean earlier. I'm sure Harlean
jumped at the chance to be married, because then she could really get more as a
wife. They were soon separated. Jackie probably would have wished he divorced
her so she wouldn't had done what she did to him while he was sick. Even though
he had a new wife and family, she came in the picture when Jackie got sick and
took over as if they were still married, and because she still legally was his
wife, she won the battle of the wives. She either came back into the picture out
of guilt for what she done and for keeping their child from him or for revenge
and money...who knows.
Jackie's mother spoiled her son and love him too
much, to the point, that it made him irresponsible and dependent. He could never
do wrong in her eyes. Then when he got in show business, he had people doing
everything for him and spoiling him, and in the end it ended up ruining
him.
Jackie had a lot of demons. Jackie fathered a lot of children around
the world, most he probably don't know about. Jackie didn't believe in abortion,
but he didn't mind having kids he didn't take care of. Some of Jackie's other
demonic, sadistic incidents was his supposed rape of a few women. Patti Labelle
came out in her book about how Jackie tried to rape her backstage at a show.
Another woman by the name of Alexxys Tylor who's making a name for herself on
YouTube, claims her father is Jackie Wilson, and that he raped her mother as a
teenager, and that she's the product of the incident. It's hard to deny that
Jackie is her father, because the women resembles Jackie a lot, and Jackie was
down in Georgia alot in the late 60's. You would think why would he have to rape
anyone when so many other women were willing? Was Jackie so arrogant, that if a
woman refused his advances, he couldn't take it, so he forced himself on them,
because he felt so entitled because he's JACKIE WILSON, and you don't turn down
Jackie Wilson? I hate these women came forward after he died. I wish they would
have came forward when he was alive and well. It may have ruined his career but
if it's true, you gotta pay for your crimes. Most rape victims don't speak out,
but they should, because they could save another woman. I was also disturbed at
reading he was with teenage girls. It's not shocking, but still it's criminal,
I'm surprised this stuff was kept under wraps back then, but there was no
paparazzi, stars were able to keep some dirt private, unlike stars today. I know
in show biz, there's no morals and values. It's sex and drugs all the time. The
men feel entitled for all their hard work and achievements. There were actually
mothers selling their daughters to the singers, so the mothers were pimping
their daughters out. It's ironic that Jackie who had his way with women, ended
up having more daughters then sons. I wonder how he would have felt if men
mistreated his daughters. I know he would want to kill them.
My heart
always goes out to the children Jackie had with Freda, Jackie Jr. died
tragically, Sandra died young, and then Jacqueline died tragically. Jackie
Wilson is probably the most tragic figure in music history and his kids seem to
inherit his bad luck. Who would have ever thought the great Jackie Wilson would
end up a vegetable for 9 years? He was supposedly abused in the nursing homes.
Why his family didn't do anything about it, I'll never understand. Harlean came
back into the picture when Jackie got sick and was unable to communicate. I
guess she knew she could take over because Jackie couldn't do nothing. I feel
his third wife should have been named legal guardian, that's the last woman he
was with. I doubt Jackie would have wanted Harlean as his guardian and running
everything, since he probably didn't forgive her having an affair with Nat.
Harlean did some other nasty things. I read she was invited to tributes for
Jackie in the past but she denied Jackie's children from attending. Harlean
wanted to bask in all Jackie's glory, but leave his children out. I would think
Jackie would want his children there, not her. In the 1970's and 1980's, Harlean
was running her mouth, giving interviews to everyone, now she refuses
interviews. She refused to give her account on life with Jackie. Is it because
of guilt? Or maybe she doesn't want to answer to some of the claims others made
about her. No one says anything good about her, but, Jackie did a lot of dirt
too, so in a way what goes around, comes around. Sometimes birds of a feather
flock together, so Harlean shouldn't be blamed for everything.
Jackie's
daughter Jacqueline Denise, made a claim in Jet magazine, when her father was
sick, that blacks don't seem to want to help one another. She said if Jackie was
white, all his white friends would have came and put together a benefit to raise
money. She said most of Jackie's friends and people he helped deserted him when
he needed help. Jackie helped many people in the business and was overly
generous to people, but it wasn't given back to him. The old blues song "Nobody
Knows You When You're Down and Out" rings true in Jackie's case. All those women
who were crazy about him didn't come visit him or give money. They probably were
swooning over some other singer. All the black singers who said Jackie
influenced them, wasn't saying anything when Jackie got sick. I wonder why
Motown didn't donate money to help pay Jackie's bills. Why didn't Harlean pay
his hospital/nursing home bills or pay to have him buried properly? I suppose
she just wanted to be the head of everything and get any money she could but not
actually put out money for Jackie. I believe in what goes around, comes around.
Jackie, I'm sure paid for his wrongs, but I hope Harlean does too.
With
all the drama and tragedies in Jackie's life. I wonder why there hasn't been a
movie done on his life, or at least a documentary. All the legendary artists at
least had a documentary done on them, but not Jackie. I guess it's too late to
do a documentary on Jackie, since so many have passed on that knew him. If there
was a movie on Jackie, I think Usher should play Jackie. Usher kinds of
resembles Jackie and plus Usher can dance. He can't sing like Jackie but he can
lip-sync to Jackie's actualy recordings.
There's still some things about
Jackie's life I would like to know, why did the book focus so much on the
groupies and sex flings of Jackie's? Others complained about this too. I would
have liked to know more about his actual relationships and marriages. Freda,
Jackie's first wife, seem to only talk about the abuse and cheating, didn't
Jackie ever treat her right? She didn't share beautiful, memorable memories of
life with him, did they have any? Or was their whole marriage just filled with
drama? Or did the author not ask about the good times and just wanted to focus
on the bad times, thinking it would sell books? If there weren't any good times,
why in the hell did Freda stay with him so long and continue to sleep with him
after their divorce? Jackie's second wife, Harlean, declined to be interviewed.
She was with him during the most important years, without her account of life
with him, there's a lot of things missing, and the author is left to speculate
or go by other people's words on what happened between them. The supposed third
wife, Lynn, like Freda, she didn't relate too many positive stories of life with
Jackie or did the author forget to ask? The book focuses too much on drama and
not on the good times with Jackie, and it makes me wonder if the times were bad
with Jackie, why in the world did the women stay with him? money? fame? It seems
the people who really knew Jackie weren't included in this book, which makes me
wonder did they distrust the author or do they have something to hide? We must
tell Jackie's story to keep his legacy and memories alive. Even Jackie's
supposed close friends didn't tell about many good times with Jackie. Were they
true friends or was life with Jackie always chaotic? Even Jackie's half-siter
didn't relate any stories about Jackie. She even refused to be interviewed.
Jackie's only surviving son with Freda, Tony wasn't interviewed for book, why?
Doesn't he have stories to tell about his father.
I wish the author would
have interviewed Etta James, Lavern Baker, Ruth Brown, they knew Jackie and
spoke some on him. I would liked to have read about their relationship with
Jackie. Why didn't the author interview Berry Gordy Jr.? There's other things me
and other fans would have liked to known, what was Jackie's hobbies, besides sex
and women? What were his favorite movies? Favorite singers? What were Jackie's
views on race and being a black man? The book focused too much on the drama and
scandal of Jackie's life, we love to read about that stuff, but we also want to
know the humane, good side, which was discussed a lot. Jackie had people who
influenced him, but it wasn't discussed in the book. I read elsewhere that
Jackie was influenced by Al Jolson, Sammy Davis Jr., The Nicholas Brothers, Cab
Calloway, and others. Jackie was taught a lot about singing from Billy Ward of
The Dominoes, but no one discusses that, Jackie said in an interview that Billy
Ward worked with him a lot, especially when it came to operatic singing. Other
questions I wonder are how did Jackie feel in the last years, playing the oldies
circuit when he wasn't yet an old man? How did he feel not being able to grow as
an artist? When his counterparts, Ray Charles, James Brown, Marvin Gaye, and
Elvis were still doing well. Was something put in his food or drugs to make him
collapse on stage? Did he relapse and do drugs again? Tests were never ran on
him to see if there were any drugs in his system. Something just doesn't seem
right about how he had a heart attack or stroke. He was suppose to testify
against Brunswick Records, don't know if he would have or not, but maybe the mob
wanted to make sure he wouldn't testify. I wonder did Jackie know he was owned
by the mob? If he did, was he so anxious to make it that he didn't think about
the consequences of being owned by the mob? I also wonder did Jackie have
behavioral problems? Some would just say he was just wild and impulsive, but a
lot of times it's not that, it could be emotional/mental problems. Jackie's life
was true to the old saying "live fast, die young." He abused his body for so
many years with alcohol and drugs, and by living a wild, rough life, and he had
to pay for it in some way. I don't know if Jackie thought he was invincible and
nothing would happen to him, or if he chose to live the life he lived and come
what may, but either way, he deprived the world of so much, because I know he
had some more knock-out performances to give. There's not a lot of footage of
Jackie in his prime. I'm surprised his live stage shows weren't recorded and
there's not a lot of interviews with Jackie. If I was around back then, I would
have been interviewing him all the time. Jet and Ebony never did a feature
article on Jackie and amazingly he was never on the cover of Jet and Ebony
magazine. In those day rock and roll and rhythm and blues artists were looked
down upon, so maybe that explains the lack of coverage on him. There are
interview recordings of Jackie that were done in the 70's. He's not very
detailed, but it gives you a chance to hear him talk, and he's very articulate,
very well spoken. I wonder had Jackie not gotten sick and lived longer, would he
had told his life story, the true story. That's the thing missing from these
books on Jackie, how Jackie felt about certain things. People only speculate how
they think he felt. It seems he didn't reveal his feelings about a lot of
things. He seemed to put up this facade of a macho, confident guy, and nothing
bothered him. Since he never really talked about his life and never told his
side of the story on a lot of things, we'll know how he felt. Jackie got sick
around the time people were starting to have an interest in 50's Rock and Roll
singers and tell their stories, so he never got to be included in all the books
and documentaries, and he became forgotten. There's been documentaries done on
black entertainment history, and Jackie wasn't included in any of these
documentaries. How can you feel leave out one of the greatest black entertainers
of all time in a documentary showcasing great black entertainers? Anyways, since
Jackie didn't live long enough to tell an account on his own life and career,
everyone is left to speculate and go by "he say, she say." It seems Jackie kept
his feelings to himself and didn't talk much about what tormented him or hurt
him, maybe he felt he had to put up a facade and be Mr. Excitement all the time,
because who wants to see a sad, troubled star. The book talks about how Jackie
would go into fits of rage and tear up hotel rooms. Would he let all his anger
and sadness build up and then it would come out violently?
Jackie Wilson
lived such a troubled life, and not only that, he lost a lot of people close to
him, which seem to affect him. The author didn't talk about or maybe didn't ask
how it must have affected Jackie to lose friends Jesse Belvin, Sam Cooke, Little
Willie John, Rudy Lewis (of The Drifters), and many close to him. He was close
to these singers and they all died violently, Jackie witness the death of singer
Jesse Belvin. Rudy Lewis partied with Jackie and then died the following
morning. All this must have had an affect on Jackie and then he had close calls
to death as well, did all this have to do with his enormus drug and alcohol
intake too?
The few books written on Jackie has made me less of a fan of
him personally. I will always love his talent, but I learned from reading the
books on him that most people who have it all on the outside, usually don't have
it all on the inside. I'm not against his playing around with women, but he
could still have respected them in the process. I can't blame Jackie for
cheating when the women let him do it them. I know in show biz, women to famous
men are like a dime a dozen, almost like toys that they play with when new and
then when bored, get a new toy. Maybe Jackie's women were naive or maybe not,
maybe some were content with being a booty call or sex buddy, hoping if their
good enough, they can be the next one, the wife, or the main one, knowing all
the time they had to be good in bed and give it up easy, because there was
always a girl waiting in the wings to have her place or take her place, but I'm
sure Jackie enjoyed all of them, while the girls fought with one another,
instead of fighting or leaving Jackie, the man making a chain of fools out of
them. I'm sure Jackie had some hard times from women, he got stabbed once and
shoot, could have died, so some women got their revenge. I'm sure he had to deal
with gold-diggers after his dough, but that's the biz. Jackie Wilson, had some
goods and bads about him. He would have been great as a friend, but not a loving
partner. When he was good, he was really good, when he was bad, he was really
bad. Jackie redeems himself to me when I hear about how he treated his fans. I'm
touched by how he treated his fans. You don't see stars today treating their
fans with the type of love that Jackie treated his fans with. He would kiss
every girl. You could go up to him on the street and ask for his autograph, he
wouldn't turn you away, like many stars today do. You can't even get close to
stars now and days, without their bodyguards pushing you away. Jackie didn't
mind being touched and loved. It seems he would give you the shirt off his back.
He would give to anyone. He even would give expensive jewelry away to fans. He
was a star, but some way, stayed down to earth. He never turned his back on his
black audience, that was there from the beginning, Jackie prided himself on
that. Jackie would make a point of reaching out to women who weren't very
attractive by singing to them and kissing them. Maybe he was empathetic to "ugly
women" because his mother and half-sister weren't the most attractive
women.
I have another pet peeve, why didn't the author use better photos?
Getty images have a great selection of photos of Jackie that I would have liked
to see in the book. Also, why did this author put out different books on Jackie?
Did he have more info to add or what? Also, I would like to know if the author
went through Jet, Ebony, Chicago Defender, New York Amsterdam News, Pittsburgh
Courier, Afro American Baltimore, there are plenty of articles and photos on
Jackie. Jackie gave a few radio interviews in the 70's, where he speaks a little
about his life, but knowing what we know now, he could have been lying about
some things, but it's nice to hear his voice and how he talks. He talks very
articulate and talks humorously about his life. These interviews are hard to
find, they should be released in some form.
Jackie wanted to sing opera
but he had to do what made money. With his unique, gifted voice, he introduced a
new style of black music to the world. He brought soul and opera together and
wowed everyone with his once in a life time talent.
Jackie Wilson helped
open the doors for so many black artists after him. Many black artists
incorporated Jackie's steps and persona into their style of performing. Michael
Jackson wouldn't have enjoyed the success he had, if it wasn't for Jackie
kicking them doors open. There's no doubt if Jackie had been white, he would
have been a superstar. To the black community, Jackie was a superstar, but to
whites he was a moderate star. I don't even begin to compare Jackie and Elvis.
Jackie is on such a higher level, but Elvis became a superstar. Elvis was
heavily influenced by black singers and performers, like many white
entertainers, but those same blacks who influenced Elvis, never made it as big
as Elvis, because of how racist the world was then. I still feel had Jackie been
with Motown, he would have became a superstar. Most of all the Motown stars
became icons and legends. Had Jackie made it in the 60's and 70's when the world
was more accepting of black entertainers, Jackie would have became that
superstar, but whether he was a superstar or not, he still was one of the
greatest entertainers. Today's era of entertainers can't touch
Jackie.
Jackie didn't live long enough to get older and enjoy the
benefits of his talent. He never won a Grammy or any awards. He didn't long
enough to enjoy recognition and to receive his due for his talent and
achievements like other singers. He never got to enjoy viewing himself on video
when he was young and in his prime. He should have at least enjoyed them. Every
performer should!
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The cover looks low budget. Seems like it would be a tabloid/gossip type thing, which I wouldn't be interested in. There is an older book about Jackie, but I don't remember the name of it. As far as the "Black Elvis" title goes, the mainstream press sometimes tend to link non-white celebs with a caucasian.
Sad to see...
A far cry from the sugar-would't-melt-in-his-mouth country boy my Gramma loved...
I saw that live performance of Jackie on youtube be great to see a full concert. Wonder If that was a TV special? Man I wish Sam Cooke had a whole concert on film I would be overelated.