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Otis Redding established his legend in a career spanning less than ten years, with only six studio albums and one live album released during his lifetime. Born on September 9, 1941 in Dawson, rural Georgia, Otis Ray Redding Jr. was raised in Macon, in the same southern U.S. state. Like many singers of the time, he got his start in local churches, performing gospel music. Although he had to work from the age of fifteen to support his family, Otis Redding began to believe in his talent by performing in local singing contests. It was in this way that he was spotted and invited to take the vacant singer's position in the Pat T. band. Cake and the Mighty Panthers, who performed throughout the southern and central United States. In 1962, he was finally signed by the Stax label (on the Volt label) and released his first hit, "These Arms of Mine". Despite the relative success of his debut album Pain in My Heart in 1964, Otis Redding's career was launched and he soon became a soul music heavyweight. The Great Otis Redding Sings Soul Ballads (1965), Otis Blue/Otis Redding Sings Soul released the same year, The Soul Album and Complete & Unbelievable: The Otis Redding Dictionary of Soul both from 1966, the sublime duet album with Carla Thomas King & Queen in 1967 and Live in Europe (1967) make up his entire non-posthumous discography. In June 1967, his participation in the Monterey Pop Festival introduced Otis Redding to the pop and rock public. From then on, he toured more intensively than ever, but fate caught up with him on December 10 when the private plane carrying him and his musicians crashed near Madison, Wisconsin. Recorded shortly before his death and released in January 1968, "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" became his first and only number one, and a timeless song. It appears on The Dock of the Bay (1968), the first in a long series of posthumous albums (including numerous live recordings) and compilations that have maintained the legend of one of soul music's immortal voices over the years.
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