Otis Redding

Otis Ray Redding, Jr (September 9, 1941 – December 10, 1967) was an influential American deep soul singer, probably best known for his posthumous hit single, '(Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay'.

Redding was born in the small town of Dawson, Georgia. At the age of five, he moved with his family to Macon, Georgia. He sang in the choir of the Vineville Baptist Church and became somewhat of a local celebrity as a teenager after winning a local Sunday night talent show 15 weeks in a row.

In 1960, Redding began touring the South with Johnny Jenkins and the Pinetoppers, primarily as the group's driver. That same year he made his first recordings, 'She's All Right' and 'Shout Bamalama' with this group under the name Otis and the Shooters.

In 1962, Redding made his first real mark in the music business during a Johnny Jenkins session when, during studio time left over, he recorded 'These Arms of Mine', a ballad that he had written. The song became a minor hit on Volt Records, a subsidiary of the renowned Southern soul label Stax, based in Memphis, Tennessee.

His manager was a fellow Maconite, Phil Walden (who later founded Capricorn Records). Otis Redding continued to release for Stax/Volt and built his fan base by extensively touring a live show with support from fellow Stax artists Sam & Dave. Further hits between 1964 and 1966 included 'Mr Pitiful', 'I Can't Turn You Loose' (which was to become The Blues Brothers entrance theme music), 'Try a Little Tenderness' (a remake of the 1930s standard by Harry Woods, Jimmy Campbell and Reg Connelly), '(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction' (written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones) and 'Respect' (later a smash hit for Aretha Franklin).

Redding wrote many of his own songs, which was unusual for the time, often with Steve Cropper (of the Stax house band Booker T & the MGs, who usually served as Otis's backing band in the studio). Soul singer Jerry Butler co-wrote another hit, 'I've Been Loving You Too Long'. One of Redding's few songs with a significant mainstream following was 'Tramp' (1967) - a duet with Carla Thomas. In 1967 Redding played at the Monterey Pop Festival, which helped him to break into the white pop music scene.

Redding, his manager, the pilot, and four members of his backup band, the Bar-Kays, were killed when his chartered plane crashed into Lake Monona in Madison, Wisconsin, on December 10, 1967. The two remaining Bar-Kays were Ben Cauley and James Alexander. Cauley was the only person aboard Redding's plane to survive the crash. Alexander was on another plane, since there were eight members in Redding's party and the chartered plane could only hold seven, and it was Alexander's turn in the rotation to take a commercial flight. Cauley reported that he had been asleep until just seconds before impact, and recalled that upon waking he saw bandmate Phalon Jones look out of a window and say, "Oh, no!" Cauley said the last thing he remembered before the crash was unbuckling his seatbelt. He then found himself in the frigid waters of the lake, grasping a seat cushion to keep afloat.

Redding's body was recovered the next day when the lake bed was searched. The cause of the crash was never precisely determined. Redding was 26 years old at the time of his death. He was entombed on his private ranch in Round Oak, Georgia, 23 miles (37 km) north of Macon. In 1975, Macon Mayor Ronnie Thompson, a fellow musician and a friend of Redding's, commissioned Redding's portrait. The acclaimed picture went missing in 2007 during the transition between Mayors C Jack Ellis and Robert Reichert.

'(Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay' was recorded only three days before Otis Redding's death. It was released in January 1968 and became Redding's only number one single on the Billboard Hot 100. The song indicated a significant stylistic departure from the bulk of his other work.

Shortly after Redding's death, Atlantic Records, distributor of the Stax/Volt releases, was purchased by Warner Bros. Stax was required to renegotiate its distribution deal, and found that Atlantic actually owned the entire Stax/Volt back catalogue. Stax was unable to regain the rights to their recordings, and severed their relationship with Atlantic. Atlantic also retained the rights to all unreleased Otis Redding masters.

Redding had recorded a massive amount of material in late 1967 just before his death (it was from these sessions that '(Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay' emerged). Atlantic had enough material for three new Redding studio albums - The Immortal Otis Redding (1968), Love Man (1969) and Tell the Truth (1970) - which were all issued on Atlantic's Atco Records. A number of successful singles emerged from these LPs, among them 'Amen' (1968), 'Hard to Handle' (1968), 'I've Got Dreams to Remember' (1968), 'Love Man' (1969) and 'Look at That Girl' (1969).

Singles were also lifted from two live Atlantic-issued Redding albums, 'In Person at the Whisky a-Go-Go', recorded in 1966 and issued in 1968 on Atco, and 'Monterey International Pop Festival', a Reprise Records release featuring the live Monterey Pop Festival performances of the Jimi Hendrix Experience on side one and Redding on side two.

In 1993, the US Post Office issued an Otis Redding 29 cents commemorative postage stamp.

Redding was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1994, and in 1999 he posthumously received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame listed three Redding recordings ('Shake', '(Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay' and 'Try a Little Tenderness') among its list of the 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll. Rolling Stone ranked Redding number 21 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

In 2002, the city of Macon honoured its native son, unveiling a memorial statue of Redding in the city's Gateway Park. The Rhythm and Blues Foundation named Redding as the recipient of its 2006 Legacy Award.

In commemoration of the 40th anniversary of Redding's passing, the Georgia Music Hall of Fame presented the first major exhibition of music, photographs, film and artifacts documenting the singer's life and musical legacy (September 14, 2007 – September 10, 2008). The exhibition was named "Museum Exhibition of the Year" by the Georgia Association of Museums and Galleries in January 2008.