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."
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 something of a local celebrity as a teenager after winning a local Sunday night talent show 15 weeks in a row.
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 Bamalana" with this group under the name "Otis and The Shooters".
In 1962, he made his first real mark in the music business during a Johnny Jenkins session when he recorded "These Arms of Mine," a ballad that Redding himself 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 fanbase by extensively touring a legendarily electrifying live show with support from fellow Stax artists Sam and Dave. Further hits between 1964 and 1966 included "Mr. Pitiful", "I Can't Turn You Loose", "Try a Little Tenderness", " (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" ( The Rolling Stones song), 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 MG's, who usually served as Otis' backing band in the studio). Soul singer Jerry Butler co-wrote 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.
