Jack Leroy "Jackie" Wilson, Jr., best known for the classic "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher," was born in Detroit, Michigan, on June 9, 1934. The R&B great’s mother, Eliza Mae Wilson, hailed from Billups, Mississippi. and Jackie would frequently visit the town with his mother and sing in the area’s gospel church. Wilson spent much of his time as a youth with his gang on the north side of Detroit. He had been thrown out of school and had spent time in an area detention center. After a brief stint as an amateur boxer, Wilson began playing music full time. Wilson’s first major break came in 1953 when he passed the audition to replace Clyde McPhatter as the lead vocalist for Billy Ward and the the Dominoes. Ward became an early mentor to Wilson. “I learned just about everything I know from him. Breath control and how to dance during one number and then come back and sing a ballad. That’s hard,” Wilson revealed in the liner notes to Ace Records’ “Reet Petite” in 1986.