Thursday, July 9, 2009

Mistaken Identity




Back in the 1950's, a woman in St. Louis claimed that singer Jackie Wilson (2nd photo) got her pregnant. Wilson had been tipped off that the cops were going to arrest him, embarrass him in front of his audience. He told Sam Cooke (who shared the bill) "I'm not going to pay for some baby that's not mine."
Sam told him to calm down. He had a plan. 'The cops will probably grab you when you come off stage but they don't know Jackie Wilson from Sam Cooke-we all look alike to them.' Jackie wasn't convinced and said his pompadour would give it away.
Sam insisted, "I'm telling you, those guys don't know the difference." They switched places on the bill and Sam came out wearing Jackie's outfits and singing his songs.
When he came off stage, the cops handcuffed him. He asked, "What are you doing? A cop told him, 'You're Jackie Wilson.' Sam said, 'No, I'm Sam Cooke, Jackie's gone.' The cop said, 'But you're singing Jackie Wilson's songs.' Sam said, 'No law against that. I can sing Jackie Wilson songs if I want to.' The cop let him go and Jackie got away.
Source: "Midnight Mover" by Bobby Womack

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