Sometimes, all it takes is a favor for a friend who can't drive. And then, maybe, a little bit of audacious self-promotion. That's how a then-unknown Otis Redding ended up in a Memphis recording studio, ready to change music forever.
It was 1962. Redding was just a singer in Johnny Jenkins' band, The Pinetoppers. Jenkins had a recording session booked with the legendary Booker T. and the MGs at Stax Records. Jenkins, however, didn't have a driver's license. So, Redding, being a good sport (and probably hoping for a foot in the door), drove him to Memphis and helped schlep equipment.
A Chance, A Song, A Star
The session ran late. Performers started peeling off for other gigs. Near the very end, with the clock ticking and musicians eyeing the door, Redding somehow found himself at the microphone. No one seems to have a definitive story for how this happened, but the legend suggests Redding had been charming everyone's ears off, telling anyone who'd listen that he could sing.
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Start Your News DetoxStax co-founder Jim Stewart, perhaps just to get him to stop talking (or maybe because he sensed something), gave Redding a shot. First up: "Hey Hey Baby." It was... fine. Not quite a revelation. Then, Redding asked musician Steve Cropper for "church chords" on the organ. He started to sing his own composition, "These Arms of Mine."
Cropper's memory of that moment is pure poetry: "My hair lifted around three inches. I couldn’t believe this guy’s voice." Let that sink in. A voice so powerful, it gave a seasoned musician a phantom haircut.
Redding's performance stunned everyone. He was swiftly signed to Volt Records, a Stax subsidiary, and his debut single dropped in October 1962. It wasn't an overnight explosion, but it steadily gained traction, slowly building a legend.
His career then went supersonic with hits like "Pain In My Heart" and "That’s How Strong My Love Is." He became a titan of pop and R&B, touring relentlessly. It was after one such exhausting tour, while unwinding on a houseboat in Sausalito, California, that Redding spent a week marinating in The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band on repeat. That's where the iconic opening lines of "(Sittin’ On) the Dock of the Bay" began to form.
Just days after recording that timeless track, Redding's private plane crashed into Lake Monona en route to a show in Madison, Wisconsin. He was only 26. Everyone on board perished, save for trumpet player Ben Cauley.
"(Sittin’ On) the Dock of the Bay" was released posthumously, rocketing to the top of the charts and cementing his legacy. More unreleased music followed, ensuring his voice would continue to resonate. All of it, though, started with a late-night session, a borrowed ride, and a voice that literally lifted hair.
As Cropper put it, looking back on that fateful night: "He wasn’t the Otis Redding that we know today. At that time, he was just the singer in Johnny Jenkins’ band. We auditioned him, and they asked me to hear him sing—and he started singing ‘These Arms of Mine.’ Man, that was it."
