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Flash Back: Otis Redding

Otis Ray Redding, Jr., was born September 9, 1941. Often called the "King of Soul", he is known for possessing the ability to convey strong emotion through his voice. According to the website of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Redding's name is "synonymous with the term soul, music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm and blues into a form of funky, secular testifying." In addition, rock critic Jon Landau said in 1967 that '"Otis Redding is rock & roll". Redding died in a plane crash at the age of 26, one month before his biggest hit, "The Dock of the Bay", was released.

His musical inspiration was Little Richard, another soul singer of note. He entered and won a number of local amateur contests in his home town of Macon, Georgia. Redding became the vocalist with Johnny Jenkins and the Pinetoppers, a group that had started to establish itself in Southern colleges and universities. An early record that Otis Redding made with the group, "Love Twist", which was released on Atlantic, created some regional action. A long time after that while Redding was still a member of the Pinetoppers; he recorded his own song "These Arms of Mine", at the end of a Pinetoppers session. It became a solid hit, and Redding was on his way'.

In 1962 Redding made his first real mark in the music 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, Phil Walden later founded Capricorn Records. Redding was also managed for a brief period by Walden's younger brother Alan Walden while Phil was overseas due to a military draft. 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", "Try a Little Tenderness", "I Can't Get No Satisfaction", 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 M.G.'s, 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," a duet with Carla Thomas.

On December 9, 1967, Redding and his backup band, The Bar-Kays, made an appearance in Cleveland, Ohio on the local "Upbeat" television show. The next afternoon, Redding, his manager, the pilot, and four members of The Bar-Kays were killed when his Beechcraft 18 airplane 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 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 band mate Phalon Jones look out 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. He was entombed on his private ranch in Round Oak, Georgia, 23 miles north of Macon. The cause of the crash was never determined.

Otis is survived by his wife, mother and father, sons Dexter and Otis III and his daughter Karla.

Flashback by GreenKnight