Biography

Otis Redding

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Born
September 9, 1941 · Dawson, Georgia, USA
Died
December 10, 1967 · Madison, Wisconsin, USA (plane crash)
Birth name
Otis Ray Redding Jr.
Nicknames
- Rockhouse Redding
- The Big O
- The King of Soul
- The Mad Man from Macon
Height
6′ 1″ (1.85 m)

Otis Redding was born on September 9, 1941 in Dawson, Georgia, USA. He was a music artist and composer, known for Top Gun (1986), Hamburger Hill (1987) and Road House (1989). He was married to Zelma Redding. He died on December 10, 1967 in Madison, Wisconsin, USA.

First artist to have a number one hit posthumously on Billboard's "Hot 100" chart with his recording of "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" (Volt 157). The song was recorded only three days before his untimely death.
The whistling at the end of "Dock of the Bay" was improvised on the spot by Redding because he forgot the words he had composed for the fade-out of the song (the song itself was written by Steve Cropper).
Posthumously inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame (1988), the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1989), the American Songwriters Hall of Fame (1994), and the Rhythm & Blues Music Hall of Fame (2013).
Peter Gabriel has admitted that his biggest international hit, "Sledgehammer", was inspired by Redding, who was his favourite singer as a teenager and one of his biggest influences.
Following his untimely death in a plane crash, he was interred on the grounds of his family estate in Round Oak, Jones County, Georgia.

As I was growing up, I did a lot of talent shows. I won fifteen Sunday nights straight in a series of talent shows in Macon. I showed up the sixteenth night, and they wouldn't let me go on any more. Whatever success I had was through the help of the good Lord.
If you want to be a singer, you've got to concentrate on it twenty-four hours a day. You can't be a well driller, too. You've got to concentrate on the business of entertaining and writing songs. Always think different from the next person. Don't ever do a song as you heard somebody else do it.
If I were to leave the U.S., I'd live in England. But I'd never leave the U.S. I own a 400-acre farm in Macon, Georgia. I raise cattle and hogs. I own horses, too. I love horses as much as singing. I like to hunt on horseback.
I love England from head to toe. I love the weather, the people. I was there in the summer and it was nice. The people are so groovy.

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