Otis Ray Redding, Jr. (September 9, 1941 – December 10, 1967) was an American soul singer. He is renowned for an ability to convey strong emotion through his voice.
According to the website of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (where he was inducted in 1989), 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." Redding was born in the small town of Dawson, Georgia. When he was 5, his family moved to Macon, Georgia. Redding sang in the choir at church, and as a teenager won the talent show at the Douglass Theatre for 15 weeks in a row. His early influences were Little Richard and Sam Cooke. Richard Pennyman (Little Richard) was also a Macon resident. Redding said, "If it hadn't been for Little Richard, I would not be here. I entered the music business because of Richard he is my inspiration. I used to sing like Little Richard, his Rock 'n' Roll stuff, you know. Richard has soul, too. My present music has a lot of him in it."
Death
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 bandmate 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 (37 km) north of Macon. The cause of the crash was never precisely determined although it most likely that he drowned.
Discography
Albums
* 1964 - Pain in My Heart (Atco)
* 1965 - The Great Otis Redding Sings Soul Ballads (Volt)
* 1965 - Otis Blue (Volt)
* 1966 - The Soul Album (Volt)
* 1966 - Complete & Unbelievable: The Otis Redding Dictionary of Soul (Volt)
* 1967 - King & Queen with Carla Thomas (Stax)
* 1967 - Live in Europe (Volt)
* 1967 - The History of Otis Redding (greatest hits album) (Volt)
Other albums
* 1968 - Soul As Sung by Otis Redding and Little Joe (Alshire Presents)
* 1970 - Monterey International Pop Festival - Otis Redding/The Jimi Hendrix Experience (Reprise) US: #16
* 1972 - The Best of Otis Redding (Atco) US: #76
* 1982 - Recorded Live: Previously Unreleased Performances (Atlantic)
* 1986 - The Ultimate Otis Redding (Warner Bros.)
* 1987 - The Otis Redding Story (Atlantic)
* 1992 - Remember Me (Stax)
* 1992 - The Very Best of Otis Redding, Vol. 1 (Rhino)
* 1993 - Otis! The Definitive Otis Redding (Rhino 4D Boxed Set)
* 1995 - The Very Best of Otis Redding, Vol. 2 (Rhino)
* 1998 - Dreams To Remember: The Otis Redding Anthology (Rhino 2D)
* 1998 - Love Songs (Rhino)
* 1999 - In Concert (Stax)
* 2002 - Very Best of Otis Redding (Atco) UK: #26
* 2006 - Stax Profiles (Stax)
* 2006 - The Definitive Soul Collection (Rhino 2D)
* 2008 - Live in London and Paris (Stax)
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