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1941-1967
Born in Dawson GA, but raised in Macon GA, Otis Redding’s hometown heroes included Little Richard and James Brown. “From the time he was a little kid,” recalled his younger brother, Rodgers, “he was singing in a little gospel group in church, and he was a drummer in the school band. Then he started getting into piano and trying to write—oh, around the eighth grade. There was a lady by the name of Gladys Williams who had a band at that time. She would teach him little things, and Otis just loved to get on her piano and do a Little Richard song and steal the show.” He dropped out of Ballad Hudson High School in the tenth grade to help at home due to his father’s illness, and went on to work with Little Richard's former band, the Upsetters. He sent home $25 a week to help his family.
His recognition came from local talent shows, particularly The Teenage Party at the Douglass Theater downtown run by Gladys Williams. After winning 15 times straight, Redding was no longer allowed to compete. His style was not that of flamboyant showmanship, but that of sincerity and a desire to inspire belief in each audience member. He was, according to Jerry Wexler, “a pure man,” a natural man, not only in his music but in his life, clear on what he wanted as much as anything because he never tried to lose his rural roots.
It was in a recording session that his style was born when he sang his own ballad, “These Arms Of Mine.” He was the chief inspiration behind STAX Records in Memphis with three Top 10 hits on Billboard’s R&B charts and a fourth and fifth that figured in the Top 20 in 1965. He produced other singers and the more he learned about the music business, the more confident he became in polishing his own unique sound. Redding was solidly crowned as a Rock & Roll dignitary when he returned with the legendary Stax/Volt Revue in 1967 and displaced Elvis Presley in Melody Maker’s poll as the Number-One Male Vocalist in the world.
Otis Redding insisted that he was soul and country too. He crafted his own niche in Rock & Roll with an R&B and Soul blend that appealed to both blacks and whites. His spontaneous, aching voice had a drive and rhythmic focus that was simultaneously vulnerable and raw.
As the result of a throat operation in 1967, Redding was forced into silence for several months, but he used the time to compose. Redding had started his own record company with Phil Walden and once his voice returned, he recorded over thirty new songs in over two weeks. Just three days prior to his tragic death, he recorded what was to become his successful single, "(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay."
Otis Redding was inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989.
http://www.staxmuseum.com
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