Nat Tarnopol

As Jackie Wilson's manager, Nat Tarnopol occupied an important and, in some respects, controversial place in the soul giant's career. He assumed control of Wilson's affairs almost by accident, in a combination of good luck (for him) and misfortune (for someone else). In the mid-'50s, Tarnopol was working for Al Green, who worked with Wilson and LaVern Baker. Just before a contract was to be signed between Wilson and Brunswick Records in 1957, Green died. Tarnopol, who had no management experience, immediately took over Green's management duties of Wilson.



The fairness of the financial arrangements Tarnopol made with Wilson, as well as the quality of the financial arrangements he set up with record companies for the singer and his overall guidance of Wilson's career, has been questioned by some fans and authorities. Tarnopol comes under repeated criticism for his work, for instance, in Tony Douglas' Jackie Wilson biography Lonely Teardrops: The Jackie Wilson Story. It's also true that Tarnopol had a lot to do just in keeping Wilson on course considering the singer's mercurial behavior, considerable personal and romantic problems, and scrapes with violence and even death (when a woman seriously shot and wounded him in the early '60s).

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