Singer and guitarist Otis Redding III, the son and namesake of the legendary Sixties soul singer, has died from most cancers at age 59, his household mentioned Wednesday.
Redding was simply 3 years outdated when his father, Otis Redding, perished together with a number of band members in a aircraft crash on Dec. 10, 1967. More than a decade later, the youthful Redding and his brother, Dexter, shaped the funk band The Reddings, which recorded six albums within the Eighties.
“It is with heavy hearts that the household of Otis Redding III confirms that he misplaced his battle with most cancers final night,” mentioned his sister, Karla Redding-Andrews, in an announcement posted on the Facebook web page of the Otis Redding Foundation, the household’s charity in Macon.
Though singles “Remote Control” and “Call The Law” by The Reddings made appearances on the Billboard music charts, the Redding brothers by no means matched their father’s success. Redding continued taking part in and performing after the band recorded its ultimate album in 1988.
He was as soon as employed for a European tour as guitarist for soul singer Eddie Floyd, beneath whose steering the youthful Redding grew to become snug performing “(Sittin’ On) the Dock of the Bay” and different songs of his well-known father.
“He said, You can play guitar with me, but you’re going to have to sing a few of your dad’s songs,'" Redding recalled in a 2018 interview with WCSH-TV in Portland, Maine. “I was like,Huh? I don’t sing,’ you know. And he was like, `Well, you’re going to sing “Dock of the Bay” with me tonight.’”
Redding labored along with his household’s basis to prepare summer time camps that educate youngsters to play music, and served as board president for the native chapter of Meals on Wheels.
He continued to carry out his father’s songs for audiences massive and small, in keeping with his web site, from showing onstage at Carnegie Hall for a 2018 Otis Redding tribute live performance to singing at weddings and personal events. Redding mentioned he was grateful for the enduring legacy even when it overshadowed efforts to make music of his personal.
“No matter how hard I try to do my own thing, you know, it’s like … ‘sing one of your daddy’s songs,’” he informed the Maine TV station. “So I’m going forward and do what folks need, and I stay with it. But I’m not beneath any stress and I don’t put myself mentally beneath any stress to go begging for report offers.”
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