OTIS REDDING, JR.

Forty years after his passing, the legacy of Otis Redding remains stronger than ever. As the decades have gone by since December 10, 1967 when the world tragically lost one of its greatest soul singers, the power and impact of this Georgia-born R&B pioneer’s music and career shows no signs of diminishing. Through a recorded legacy that spans a mere six years (less than a decade?) but is filled with classic after classic, the man whose distinctive music influenced British rock stars and his American soul music peers alike continues to be accorded and afforded the global recognition and (borrowing the title of one of his most enduring compositions) respect he richly deserves. And beyond those precious recordings (mostly cut in Memphis at Stax Records between 1963 and 1967), there is The Big “O” Youth Educational Dream Foundation, created by his widow, Mrs. Zelma Redding which reflects the deeply held commitment her husband expressed to giving back to the community with a special emphasis on education.

Fittingly, the last four months of 2007 starting with the anniversary of what would been Redding’s 66th birthday, September 9th, (September 12 was named “Otis Redding Day” by the Mayor of Macon) included a number of key events: the release of a first-ever DVD “Dreams To Remember, The Legacy Of Otis Redding” from Stax/Concord; the unveiling of the “Otis Redding: I’ve Got Dreams To Remember” multi-media interactive exhibit featuring over 175 artifacts at the Georgia Music Hall Of Fame; and a special music tribute, “An Evening Of Respect…The Legacy Continues” hosted by Kenny Lattimore, Chanté Moore, and Diana DeGarmo with performances by The Macon Symphony Orchestra, The Bar-Kays, Taj Mahal and The Reddings (his sons Dexter and Otis III), a benefit for the Big “O” Youth Educational Dream Foundation.

For Zelma Redding, 2007 represents a particular benchmark after years of work on preserving and protecting her husband’s legacy: “It’s wonderful for me to see how people still love Otis’ music after forty years and how a whole new generation has discovered his work. It’s such an honor when I get letters from people telling me that they named their son after him. I am surprised; for the first few years, the appreciation was there but after so many years, it seems to get bigger and bigger.”

In the annals of rhythm and blues, few artists are as deserving of the kind of admiration and love that Otis Redding has commanded since he first came to the attention of the mainstream music-buying public in 1963. Almost as soon as his initial recordings for Stax Records became available to avid R&B fans in Europe, Otis Redding became a prime influence for groups like Britain’s Rolling Stones and indeed, the reverence for his music throughout Europe resulted in packed audiences when he headlined the now-famous Stax/Volt Revue during its spring 1967 tour of the continent. In the U.S., Otis Redding’s star was mostly decidedly in it’s ascendancy after his show-stopping performance at the Monterey International Pop Festival in June of that same year, around the same time that singer Aretha Franklin, the future ‘Queen Of Soul’ was establishing herself as a hit-maker with her rendition of Otis’ own “Respect.”