Jackie Wilson’s jubilant debut solo 45 launched a run of hits that stretched into the 60s, when this striking promo shot was taken
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Jackie Wilson’s first solo single Reet Petite is the scourge of all quiz intro rounds. It’s just too recognisable. Sometimes (clunkily) subtitled ‘The Finest Girl You Ever Want to Meet’ (or sometimes ‘The Sweetest Girl in Town’), it’s never needed anything but that cheeky, rhyming title. From the song’s parping, laughing brass fanfare of an intro to Wilson’s elastic vocal gymnastics, it’s two minutes 40 seconds of pure, joyous swing, stuffed to the gills with hooks. Chosen as a solo vehicle for rising star Wilson, then 23, it was a sleeper hit, but was also exactly the calling card that the explosive young Detroit singer needed.