Otis Redding

From Macon to Stax

Otis Ray Redding Jr. was born on September 9, 1941 in Dawson, Georgia, the fourth of six children, and grew up in Macon, where he sang in a church choir and heard gospel on the radio; he left school at 15 to support his family. Little Richard and Sam Cooke were his influences. In 1958 he won a local talent contest with the guitarist Johnny Jenkins and joined Jenkins's band the Pinetoppers, and he briefly played with Little Richard's Upsetters. "Shout Bamalama" appeared on Confederate in 1961. An unplanned appearance at a Stax session in 1962 led to a contract, and "These Arms of Mine" on Volt in October 1962 sold more than 800,000 copies.

Pain in My Heart (March 1964), The Great Otis Redding Sings Soul Ballads (March 1965) and Otis Blue (September 1965) followed, with a live album from the Apollo Theater for Atlantic in November 1963. In 1966 he played the Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles, the Fillmore in San Francisco and a European tour including London, and "Try a Little Tenderness" reached 25 on the Hot 100 and 4 on R&B. King and Queen with Carla Thomas (March 1967) went gold. At the Monterey International Pop Festival on June 17, 1967 he played with Booker T. and the M.G.'s, filmed by D.A. Pennebaker, introducing him to a mass white American audience; Wikipedia's Monterey page lists "Respect", "Satisfaction" and "Try a Little Tenderness", and whether he played "I've Been Loving You Too Long" there is unverified. In early December 1967 he recorded "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" with Steve Cropper at Stax.

He died on December 10, 1967, aged 26. "The Dock of the Bay" came out in January 1968, his only number one on the Hot 100 and the first posthumous US number one. Atco issued The Immortal Otis Redding (1968), Love Man (1969) and Tell the Truth (1970); Live at the Whisky a Go Go: The Complete Recordings (2016) won a Grammy for Best Album Notes. His honors include the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989, the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1994, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement award in 1999, a US stamp in 1994 and a statue in Macon in 2002; Rolling Stone ranks him 21st among the greatest artists and 8th among the greatest singers.