Otis Redding Remembered
I remember it like it was yesterday. We learned that Otis Redding and members of the Bar-Kays had crashed into a lake in Wisconsin and perished on December 10, 1967.
At the time, I was a high school junior in Baltimore, where, for many of us, radio was dominated by three spectacular soul stations (all AM at that time): WEBB1360, WWIN 1400, and WSID 1010. They pumped out that sweet soul music all day (and all night for WWIN — the other two were daylight-only stations).
And Otis Redding was KING. Every soul band that played our dances had to know a bunch of Otis tunes, most prominently “Try a Little Tenderness,” which always seemed to crop up about 15 minutes before the end of each dance.
So, on the 11th, Mark Morris brought a little portable record player out to the flagpole, and in chilly weather we stood outside listening to “Try a Little Tenderness” from Otis Redding in Europe.
Like it was yesterday. Otis Redding was 26 years old, and KING.