About Otis Redding

Defined by his volcanic stage show and a succession of the hardest, tightest soul singles ever cut, Otis Redding was arguably the most exciting male singer the ’60s soul scene produced. In four short years, he rocketed from up-and-comer on the chitlin’ circuit to hippie sainthood at the Monterey International Pop Music Festival.

Redding’s remarkable rise started with a lot of sweat and a little luck. He had been performing occasionally for several years at juke joints and frat houses with the roadhouse band Johnny Jenkins and the Pinetoppers when, in October, 1962, Jenkins scored a booking from Atlantic Records to cut a few sides at Memphis’ then-new Stax Records. Redding hadn’t been invited to sing, but was Jenkins’ driver. Fortunately for Redding, Jenkins finished with 40 minutes of studio time remaining. Redding—backed by Stax’s unparalleled house band, Booker T. and the MGs—cut a little something he had written called “These Arms of Mine.” The song quickly became a Top 20 R&B hit and Redding earned a recording contract with the Stax subsidiary, Volt Records.

The music that Redding went on to produce (with Booker T. and the MGs in the studio, and the Bay-Kays on stage) would secure his place in the soul music pantheon. “Pain in My Heart,” “Mr. Pitiful,” “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now),” “Respect” (which went on to become Aretha Franklin’s signature song), “Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song),” “Try A Little Tenderness”—these songs and many others became, as one of his later album titles suggests, the virtual “Dictionary of Soul.” Next to the Godfather of Soul himself, James Brown, Redding was the most popular black male entertainer of the mid-’60s.

Then, in the summer of 1967 at the Monterey International Pop Music Festival, Redding threw a national coming-out party of sorts, wowing “the love crowd” (as he dubbed the largely white audience) with an earth-shaking performance that managed to make previous Festival acts like The Jimi Hendrix Experience and The Who sound mild by comparison. As a gesture of thanks for his reception, Redding and MGs guitarist Steve Cropper wrote and recorded what would become Redding’s next single, “(Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay.”

Tragically, Redding’s meteoric rise was cut short soon after when the small chartered plane in which he was riding crashed into a Wisconsin lake, killing him and four members of the Bar-Kays. A little more than a month later, “(Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay” became Redding’s first, and only, #1 pop record.