#168: Reet Petite by Jackie Wilson
City: Windsor, ON
Radio Station: CKLW
Peak Month: October 1957
Peak Position in Windsor ~ #6
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ #22
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #62
Peak Position on UK Singles chart ~ #6 (1957) & #1 (1986)
Peak Position on Irish Singles chart (1986) ~ #1
Peak Position on Dutch Singles chart (1987) ~ #1
Peak Position on Swiss Singles chart (1987) ~ #3
Peak Position on Austrian Singles chart (1987) ~ #3
Peak Position on West German Singles chart (1987) #4
Peak Position on New Zealand Singles chart (1987) ~ #4
Peak Position on Norwegian Singles chart (1987) ~ #5
YouTube: “Reet Petite”
Lyrics: “Reet Petite”
Jackie Wilson was born in suburban Detroit in 1934. Wilson began singing as a youth, accompanying his mother, an experienced church-choir singer. In his early teens, Wilson joined the Ever Ready Gospel Singers. Wilson dropped out of high school at age 15, having been sentenced twice to detention in the Lansing Corrections system for juveniles. During his second stint in detention, Wilson learned to box and began competing in the Detroit amateur circuit at age 16. His record in the Golden Gloves was 2–8. After his mother forced him to quit boxing, Wilson got his girlfriend, Freda Hood, pregnant, and her father forced him to marry her. Wilson became a father at age 17.Continue reading →
