Jackie Wilson - "(You're Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher & Higher"

I can't help but hear today's song and smile. It's the kind of music that lifts you up, and makes you want to move, to tap your feet, to chair dance right along with it. It's the kind of song you put on in the morning to start the day off right with an excellent cup of coffee and and the sun coming in through your windows. My friend Matthew was this way. In human form, he inexplicably raised everyone he met higher & higher. Now this might sound like post mortem rose colored glasses, so let me be clear, he wasn't perfect. He was flighty, went through bad spells, and never took out the garbage, but all that aside, he was an incredible human being. His loss has caused a ripple effect across my life, as I watch all those people whose lives he touched begin to rise up, to aspire to be better, because he was, and he believed them to be also. So as I watch a nation of "slayer potential" awaken and rise, I cannot help but think, thank you for raising us higher and higher Matt.  We'll continue the good work. 

If you don't know Jackie Wilson ... shame on you, but let's get educated and rise up with this knowledge together eh?

A tenor with a four octave vocal range, he was nicknamed "Mr. Excitement", and was important in the transition of rhythm and blues into soul. He was considered a master showman, and one of the most dynamic and influential singers and performers in R&B and rock 'n' roll history. Gaining fame in his early years as a member of the R&B vocal group Billy Ward and his Dominoes, he went solo in 1957 and recorded over 50 hit singles that spanned R&B, pop, soul, doo-wop and easy listening. This included 16 R&B Top 10 hits, including six R&B number ones. On the Billboard Hot 100, he scored 14 Top 20 Pop hits, six of which made it into the Pop Top 10.

On September 29, 1975, while headlining a Dick Clark Oldies Concert, he collapsed on stage from what was later determined to be a massive heart attack, and subsequently slipped into a coma, slowly awakening over a period of 8 months. He remained semi-comatose for the nine years until his death in 1984, at the age of 49. Wilson was one of the most influential artists of his generation and an inspiration to other singers including Elvis Presley, James Brown and Michael Jackson.

A two-time Grammy Hall of Fame Inductee, Wilson was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.  In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Jackie Wilson #69 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

So today, with legends all around, I choose Jackie Wilson's "(You're Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher & Higher" as my, break your own mold, believe yourself to be better, rise like steam from a frozen lake, song for a, jump - clap - dance, laugh your way to victory, smile - it makes everyone's day better, Monday.