The third in the highly acclaimed “Black America Sings…” series moves away from major figures in the rock and pop worlds to pay tribute to one of the most important black singer-songwriters of the 20th century.
Otis Redding isn’t always thought of as a tunesmith, but he wrote or co-wrote 20 of the 31 R&B and Pop hits that charted for him between 1963 and 1969, plus a significant quantity of his non-chart singles and numerous album tracks. Otis also wrote a good number of songs that were recorded exclusively by other singers.
Otis’s songs were covered extensively both during his lifetime and posthumously. The sheer number of covers is very impressive, especially as he was only five years into his career when he was killed in a plane crash in late 1967.
Here then, are just over two dozen excellent versions of Otis’ songs, sung mostly by people whose names will be almost as familiar as his is to students of soul music.
Six of the 25 tracks are new to CD, while three of those six are receiving their first issue here. Individually they sound terrific; collectively they show just how respected Otis was by his fellow artists during his lifetime and how that respect has carried on following his untimely death.