| OTIS
REDDING (ARTIST BIOGRAPHY)
Otis Ray Redding, Jr. (September 9, 1941 – December
10, 1967) was an influential American deep soul singer, best known
for his passionate delivery and posthumous hit single, "(Sittin' on)
the Dock of the Bay."
Redding was born in the
small town of Dawson, Georgia. At the age of 5 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. 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, he made his
first real mark in the music business during a Johnny Jenkins
session when he recorded "These Arms of Mine", a ballad that Redding
had written. The song became a minor hit on Volt Records. His
manager was fellow Maconite Phil Walden (who later founded Capricorn
Records). Otis Redding continued to release for Stax/Volt, and built
his fanbase by extensively touring a legendarily electrifying 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" (to become The Blues Brothers entrance theme music), "Try a
Little Tenderness" (a remake of the 1930's standard by Harry Woods/Jimmy
Campbell/Reg Connelly that was featured in a memorable scene in John
Hughes's film "Pretty In Pink"), "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" (written
by 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 Stax house band Booker T. & the M.G.'s, who usually
served as Otis's backing band in the studio). Soul singer Jerry
Butler cowrote another hit "I've Been Loving You Too Long". One of
his few songs with a significant mainstream following was "Tramp"
(1967) with Carla Thomas. Later that year, Redding played at the
massively influential Monterey Pop Festival, which helped him to
break into the white pop music scene.
Redding and six others,
including four of the six members of Redding's backup band, The
Bar-Kays, were killed when the plane on which they were travelling
crashed into Lake Monona in Madison, Wisconsin on December 10, 1967.
The two remaining members of The 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.
Cauley reported that he
had been asleep until just seconds before impact, and recalled that
upon waking he saw bandmate Phalon Jones look out a window and say,
"Oh, no!" Cauley said that he then unbuckled his seat belt, and that
was his final recollection before finding himself in the frigid
waters of the lake, grasping a seat cushion to keep himself afloat.
Redding's body was
recovered the next day when the lake bed was dragged with a
grappling hook, and footage exists of his body being brought out of
the water. The cause of the crash was never precisely determined.
(edit from Wikipedia) |
