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." According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (where he was inducted in 1989) website, 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 & blues into a form of funky, secular testifying."

Biography

[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.

Career
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, Redding made his first real mark in the music business 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 renowned Southern soul label Stax, based in Memphis, Tennessee. His manager was fellow Maconite Phil Walden (who later founded Capricorn Records). Otis Redding continued to release for Stax/Volt, and built his fan base 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" (which was to become The Blues Brothers entrance theme music), "Try a Little Tenderness" (a remake of the 1930s standard by Harry Woods, Jimmy Campbell, and Reg Connelly that was featured in a memorable scene in John Hughes' film Pretty in Pink), "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" (written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of 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.

Death
Redding, his manager, the pilot, and four members of his backup band, The Bar-Kays, were killed when his chartered plane 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 chartered 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 prior to crashing 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. The cause of the crash was never precisely determined.

Redding was 26 years old at the time of his death. He was entombed on his private ranch in Round Oak, Georgia, 23 miles (37 km) north of Macon.