Otis Redding grew up in Macon, Georgia. Redding was born in Dawson, Georgia, on September 9th, 1941. Redding began his musical career early, singing in the Vineville Baptist Church choir. Redding also gained some local notoriety early on by winning a talent show at the Douglass Theatre for 15 weeks in a row. With such undeniable talent early on, it was only a matter of time before the young Redding was noticed by other musicians.

Otis Redding began touring professionally in 1960, when he joined Johnny Jenkins and The Pinetoppers. While touring with other groups, Redding began doing his own recording very early on. A recording of “These Arms of Mine” became something of a hit on the Stax/Volt record label. To support the material that he was writing, Redding began touring intensively. During this period, Redding wrote his own songs prolifically, many of them becoming popular on the soul charts.

Redding gained a great deal of popularity with his performance at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival. It was shortly after this, on December 9th, 1967, that Redding and several others were killed in a plane crash. The chartered plane carrying Redding and several bandmates crashed into Lake Monona, with only one survivor. Redding recorded “Sittin on the Dock of the Bay” only three days before the fatal accident, and the song would go on to top the charts after his death. This was the only song to have ever topped the charts posthumously. The song was considered unfinished by Redding, but it became very popular in its original form.