What I loved about this biography written in cooperation with the Redding family was the social history and much needed context in fleshing out Otis Redding as a human being. His live performance captured in 1967 at Monterey Pop is seared into our collective consciousness. "I've got to go you all but I don't want to go..." His voice power, passion and success so unmistakably legendary as to make James Brown jealous.
"I was pretty sure that I'd seen God on stage" Bob Weir.
But what of the real person? Who was Otis? How did he grow up? Rocketing through that volcanic time period of change from the 1940's through the 1960's like a meteor across everyone's bow before the Summer of Love what was his life like in those short twenty six years? He was hustling hard. He was moving fast. Working with everyone and everywhere; The Apollo, Stax Records, New York, Europe, The Whiskey, Sam and Dave, Ahmet Ertegun, Jerry Wexler, Tom Dowd, the whole Walden family, Phil, Alan and their dad all while racism screamed at the change that was gonna come. The drive, bravery, talent and vision of that man, fierce and kind the portrait that emerges is why we read.
This book surprised me. It really did. The background and time Otis was born into is very much a part of the story. The musical history and social history of the men and women of his time contemporaries, characters, hustlers, thieves, racists, the music business is a cesspool let alone the political, social upheaval all swirling. All of those tangential intersections, crossing paths and currents make for a rich, deep, fascinating read and then he bought a plane. Music fans will lap up the artists, producers and managers and session players in Otis's life. History buffs will soak up the important Redding family history and the time Otis grew through.
Special thank you to Alan Paul for his bibliography in Brothers and Sisters that lead me to this gem.
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