Papa was a rolling stone. Where ever he laid his hat was his home. And when he died, all he left us was alone.

Norman Whitfield, songwriter and producer who co-wrote a string of Motown classics has died. He died on September 16, 2008 at 3:30 PM. He was 67.

He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2004. He won the Grammy in 1972 for best R&B song for the Temptations' "Papa Was a Rolling Stone."

Many of Whitfield's songs from late '60s and early '70s have a strong political tone, including the Temptations' 1970 "Ball of Confusion (That's What the World Is Today)," and Edwin Starr's 1970 "War."

In his only No. 1 hit, Starr sings in an anguished voice that war is "a heartbreaker, friend only to the undertaker. ... What is it good for? Absolutely nothing!" Whitfield produced as well as co-wrote the song.

Among Whitfield's other songs were "Cloud Nine," "Beauty Is Only Skin Deep" and "Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)," all hits for the Temptations; and "Too Busy Thinking About My Baby," a 1969 hit for Marvin Gaye.

The group Undisputed Truth had a top five hit in 1971 with Whitfield and Strong's "Smiling Faces Sometimes."

Whitfield won another Grammy in 1976 for best original TV or motion picture score for "Car Wash." The movie's theme song was a No. 1 hit for Rose Royce and a Golden Globe nominee for best original song.

In a statement, Motown great Smokey Robinson hailed Whitfield as "one of the most prolific songwriters and record producers of our time. He will live forever through his great music."

Marvin Gaye's version of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," from 1968, was ranked at No. 65 in Billboard magazine's compilation of the top singles of the past 50 years. It was also a hit for Gladys Knight and the Pips, in 1967.

He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2004. He won the Grammy in 1972 for best R&B song for the Temptations' "Papa Was a Rolling Stone."
Many of Whitfield's songs from late '60s and early '70s have a strong political tone, including the Temptations' 1970 "Ball of Confusion (That's What the World Is Today)," and Edwin Starr's 1970 "War."
In his only No. 1 hit, Starr sings in an anguished voice that war is "a heartbreaker, friend only to the undertaker. ... What is it good for? Absolutely nothing!" Whitfield produced as well as co-wrote the song.
Among Whitfield's other songs were "Cloud Nine," "Beauty Is Only Skin Deep" and "Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)," all hits for the Temptations; and "Too Busy Thinking About My Baby," a 1969 hit for Marvin Gaye.
The group Undisputed Truth had a top five hit in 1971 with Whitfield and Strong's "Smiling Faces Sometimes."
Whitfield won another Grammy in 1976 for best original TV or motion picture score for "Car Wash." The movie's theme song was a No. 1 hit for Rose Royce and a Golden Globe nominee for best original song.
In a statement, Motown great Smokey Robinson hailed Whitfield as "one of the most prolific songwriters and record producers of our time. He will live forever through his great music."

A native of Harlem, New York, Whitfield spent most of his teen years in local pool halls. In his late teens, he and his family moved to Detroit, Michigan so that his father could join his sister and work in her husband's chain of drug stores, Barthwell Drugs.

At 19, Whitfield began hanging around at Motown's Hitsville U.S.A. offices, trying to get a chance at working for the growing label. Gordy recognized Whitfield's persistence and hired him in the quality control department that determined which songs would or would not be released by the label. Whitfield eventually joined Motown's in-house songwriting staff.

Whitfield had a few successes including co-composing Marvin Gaye's early hits including "Pride & Joy", The Marvelettes' "Too Many Fish in the Sea" and The Velvelettes' "Needle in a Haystack", but he found his place at Motown when he began producing the recordings of his songs. His big break came when he took over Smokey Robinson's role as the main producer for The Temptations in 1966, after his "Ain't Too Proud to Beg" performed better than Robinson's "Get Ready" on the pop charts.

From 1966 until 1974, Whitfield produced virtually all of the material for The Temptations, experimenting with sound effects and other production techniques on the earliest of his records for them. He found a songwriting collaborator in lyricist Barrett Strong, the performer on Motown's first hit record, "Money (That's What I Want)", and wrote material for the Tempts and for other Motown artists such as Marvin Gaye and Gladys Knight & the Pips, both of whom recorded Whitfield-produced hit versions of the Whitfield/Strong composition "I Heard It Through the Grapevine." The Gladys Knight & the Pips version was the best-selling Motown single ever to that point, but it was replaced a year later by Marvin Gaye's version.

After Temptations lead singer David Ruffin was replaced with Dennis Edwards in 1968, Whitfield moved the group into a harder, darker sound that featured a blend of psychedelic rock and funk heavily inspired by the work of Sly & the Family Stone and Funkadelic, and also began changing the subject matter of the songs, moving away from the trademark poetic romance to the social issues of the time, such as war, poverty, politics, etc. The first Temptations single to feature this new "psychedelic soul" style was "Cloud Nine" in late 1968, which earned Motown its first Grammy award (for Best Rhythm & Blues Performance by a Duo or Group). A second Best R&B Group Performance Grammy for Whitfield and the Tempts came in 1973 with "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone." The instrumental B-side to "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" earned Whitfield a Grammy with arranger Paul Riser for Best R&B Instrumental Performance, and Whitfield and Barrett Strong shared the songwriters' award for Best R&B Song.

The psychedelic soul records Whitfield produced for the Temptations and other artists such as Edwin Starr and The Undisputed Truth experimented with and updated the Motown sound for the late-1960s. Longer song durations, distorted guitars, multitracked drums, and unusual vocal arrangements became trademarks of Whitfield's productions, and later of records produced by Motown staffers he coached, including Frank Wilson. But friction and antagonism continued to grow between Whitfield and the Temptations during this time because the group disliked how Whitfield put more emphasis on instrumentation instead of their vocals and the group disliked that he would not write romantic ballads for them. By this time Whitfield was producing hit records for Edwin Starr, the Undisputed Truth and Rare Earth (band).

In 1973, Whitfield left Motown to form his own record label, Whitfield Records. His first act was The Undisputed Truth, who he had convinced to leave Motown, followed by Rose Royce, Willie Hutch, Nytro, Mammatapee, and Junior Walker. Whitfield had a smash hit in 1976 with Rose Royce's "Car Wash", issued on MCA Records. Rose Royce (whose members were originally Starr's backing band while at Motown) went on to produce three more popular albums, but never could top the success of "Car Wash," which served as the theme song to the 1976 motion picture Car Wash. The Car Wash soundtrack won Whitfield a 1977 Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack Album.

In the early 1980s, Whitfield began working producing for Motown again, helming The Temptations' 1983 hit single "Sail Away" and the soundtrack to The Last Dragon.
On January 18, 2005, Whitfield pleaded guilty for failing to report royalty income he earned from 1995 to 1999 to the Internal Revenue Service. Facing charges of tax evasion on over $2 million worth of income, he was sentenced to six months of house arrest and a $25,000 fine. The producer was not imprisoned because of health problems such as diabetes.

During his last months alive, Whitfield stayed bedded at Los Angeles' Cedars-Sinai Medical Center where he underwent treatment for his bout with diabetes and other ailments. Within a few weeks before his death, Whitfield fell into a coma, which he eventually recovered from. According to The Undisputed Truth leader Joe Harris, Whitfield died on September 16, 2008 at approximately 3:30 pm.


Norman Jesse Whitfield


BALL OF CONFUSION
People moving out, people moving in; why, because of the color of their skin; Run, run, but you sure can't hide.
An eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth. Vote for me and I'll set you free.
Rap on, brother, rap on.
The only person talking about love thy brother is the preacher.
And it seems nobody is interested in learning but the teacher.
Segregation, determination, demonstration, intergration, aggrevation deminish obligation to our Nation.
BALL OF CONFUSION! That's what the world is today.
The sale of pills is at an all time high; young people walking around with their heads in the sky.
Cities ablaze in the summer time, and the band played on.
Air pollution, revolution, gun control, the sound of soul; shooting rockets to the moon; kids growing up too soon; politicians say more taxes will solve everything; and, the band played on.
Round and around we go; where the world is headed nobody knows.
Round and around we go; where the world is headed no one knows.
Fear in the air, tension everywhere; unemployment is rising fast. The Beatles' new record is a gas.
Eve of destruction, tax deduction;
see inspectors, bill collectors,
cyclone in demand, population out of hand.
Suicide, too many bills, hippies moving to the hills.
People all over the world are shouting End The War.
Fear in the air; tension everywhere; and the only safe place to live is on an indian reservation.
And the band played on.
Round and around we go. Where the world's headed, nobody knows.
Great gugga-mooga, can't you hear me talking to you.
It's just a Ball of Confusion.

WAR
War, what is it good for? Nothing.
War, what is it good for? Absolutely, nothing.
War I despise, cause it mean destruction of innocent lives.
War means tears in thousands of mothers eyes
When their sons go off to fight and loose their lives.
I said War, what is it good for? Nothing.
War, what is it good for? Absolutely, nothing.
Wars have shattered many young men's dreams,
Made them disabled, bitter and mean.
Peace, love, and understanding, tell me,
is there no place for them today.
They say we must fight to keep our freedom,
but Lord knows there must be a better way.
War is an enemy to all mankind.
The thought of war blows my mind.
War has caused unrest within the younger generation,
Induction, then destruction. Who wants to die?
Life is much too short and precious to spend fighting wars each day
War can't give life. It can only take it away.
Its nothing but a heartbreaker,
Friend only to the undertaker.
War, what is it good for? Nothing.
War, what is it good for? Absolutely, nothing.

Man Who Marketed Black Music to the Masses Is Dead at 91.
Jerry Wexler was the ultimate music man.

"He loved Black music, R&B music and rhythm and blues was his foundation. He had a feeling for it, he had the knack to keep it going in his heart and recognize the talent that he felt was real," Solomon Burke said after learning of his death. "Jerry Wexler didn't change the sound of America, he put the sound to the public. He open the doors and windows to the radio stations ... and made everybody listen."
Wexler earned his reputation as a music industry giant while a partner at Atlantic Records with another legendary music figure, the late Ahmet Ertegun. Atlantic provided an outlet for the groundbreaking work of African-American performers in the 1950s and '60s.

Wexler helped boost the careers of both the "King of Soul," Ray Charles, and the "Queen of Soul," Aretha Franklin. Wilson Pickett, Solomon Burke and Percy Sledge were among the other R&B greats who benefited from Wexler's deft recording touch. Among the standards produced by Wexler: Franklin's "Respect," a dazzling, feminist reworking of an Otis Redding song; Sledge's deep ballad "When A Man Loves A Woman" and Pickett's "In the Midnight Hour," with a horn vamp inspired by Wexler's admittedly rhythmless dancing.
Jerry Wexler's son Paul said the record producer died at home of heart disease; the death was first confirmed by David Ritz, co-author of Wexler's 1993 memoir, "Rhythm and the Blues."
Aretha Franklin noted that Wexler produced her first platinum album, the classic 1972 gospel recording "Amazing Grace."

"I think the things that we produced absolutely brought soul to the forefront as evidenced by my having the cover of Time magazine," she said. "There had definitely been a musical revolution there, revolutionary change in music, and soul came into prominence."

He also produced Dusty Springfield's classic "Dusty in Memphis," which would become a benchmark of "blue-eyed" soul, as well as key recordings for the Memphis-based soul label Stax Records; Wexler created a partnership where Atlantic distributed Stax records and eventually took control of their master recordings.

Jerry Wexler was the son of Polish immigrants and a music buff since his teens, Wexler, a New York City native, landed a job writing for Billboard magazine in the late 1940s after serving in World War II and studying journalism at Kansas State University. He coined the term "rhythm and blues" for the magazine's Black music charts; previously, they were listed under "race records." The album covers were plain brown wrappers so that no Black artist's picture would appear on the record cover. Race Music was considered vulgar and was believed to be capable of perverting white youths. Elvis Presley took the music and the lyrics to mainstream white audiences. He was the bridge that allowed Black music to reach white audiences. His performing of Black R&B songs opened the door for Black artists to reach mainstream audiences.

Rest In Piece Ike Turner. Jesus Loves You.
Ike Turner was remembered in a Home Going Musical Service in Gardena, California on 21 December 2007. Ike's funeral was part memorial service, part rock concert. The nearly three-hour remembrance at Greater Bethany Community Church City of Refuge in Gardena featured Turner's eight-piece band, the Kings of Rhythm, which performed rollicking renditions of some of the musician's greatest hits, including "Nutbush City Limits" and "Proud Mary." The songs brought the crowd of hundreds to its feet.

"Daddy wouldn't want any of us crying," said Turner's daughter, Mia Turner. "He would want us to throw a party."

Among those eulogizing Turner, who died Dec. 13 at age 76, were music producer Phil Spector and rock 'n' roll pioneer Little Richard, who described his friend as "one of the greatest musicians I have ever met in my life."

Little Richard said that Turner's breakthrough rock 'n' roll hit, "Rocket 88," "shook my soul."

"I took that same introduction and made `Good Golly, Miss Molly,'" he said. "I took that same thing and made a huge hit."

Ike Turner was responsible for a string of hits throughout his career, including 1959's "A Fool in Love" and 1970's "Take You Higher," but his musical legacy was forever tarnished by his image as the drug-addicted, brutally abusive former husband of Tina Turner, who did not attend Friday's funeral. When Ike Turner died, a spokeswoman for Tina said she hadn't had contact with him in 35 years and would not comment.

Ike Turner knew that his personal problems threatened to overshadow his musical accomplishments, said Rob Johnson, producer of Turner's Grammy-winning 2001 album "Here and Now."

"He understood, as a very sensitive artist, the challenge that would be involved in stepping up and moving forward and reinitiating the contribution of his genius, of his music, and giving that gift that God gave him back to society," he said. "How much courage that took for him. It could have been real simple to sit under a rock and let life go by, but he didn't accept that."

Many speakers alluded to Turner's personal woes, though none directly addressed his history of drug and domestic abuse.

"Stop holding this mess — whatever it is — against this man. Even Jesus forgives," said Little Richard, 75, who was once a minister in the Seventh Day Adventist Church.

Ike Turner's Widow Begs Tina Turner To Forgive him.: "He Was A Human Being"
The widow of late star Ike Turner has begged his first wife Tina to forgive him - because he "helped" her during their marriage. Rocker Ike died at his San Marcos, California home, aged 76, but Tina refused to pay tribute to the star. But Ike's widow Jeanette Turner hopes Tina can now forgive her former partner, who she brands "a good human being".

She says, "I know that she was hurt. But there's something called forgiveness and I know Ike really forgave himself, which is really hard to do.

"I'm not defending what he did. I'm not saying he didn't do what he did when he was with Tina or me. But he was a human being. And being all of that, he's still a child-like person - pure and a good person always willing to help people.

"He was a human being and he helped Tina... he helped a lot of people.




Phil Spector, who produced Turner's song "River Deep, Mountain High," said, "There was only one Ike, and I learned more from Ike than any professors I know."

He went on to say that Turner was "demonized and vilified" by his ex-wife, Tina Turner. He called the 1993 film "What's Love Got To Do With It," based on her autobiography, a "piece of trash movie," inspiring applause from some mourners.

"Ike made Tina the jewel she was," said Phil Spector, who stood trial for murder earlier this year for the shooting death of actress Lana Clarkson. A judge declared a mistrial in September after jurors failed to reach a verdict.

Spector also accused Oprah Winfrey and Whoopi Goldberg of "demonizing" Turner on their talk shows.
Of Turner's 17 months in jail for a drug conviction in 1989, Spector said, "He was sent to prison for no other reason than he was a Black man in America."
Each speech was punctuated with performances by Turner's band, the crowd rising to its feet again and again to sing and dance along.

Concert promoter Charlie Dutton, Turner's friend and colleague for 40 years, called him "the most talented musical person to ever live on earth.""He doesn't get his just dues for what he really did," Dutton said.

Other speakers included Ike Turner Jr., who brought his father's two Grammy Awards on stage.

"He made billions and billions and billions of people happy," he said. "He had the best life."

The service began with a photo montage from throughout Turner's life set to his song "Jesus Loves Me," which features the refrain "I'm a bad boy, but Jesus loves me anyway."



The service concluded with scores of mourners gathering near Turner's casket, which sat beneath a guitar-shaped wreath made of white flowers.

A 10-piece horn-and-drum ensemble played as mourners left the church.

Who was the real Ike Turner? It was not the drug crazed wife beater that some Hollywood scriptwriter dreamed up. It is truly unfortunate that several generations of movie goers have accepted the Hollywood version as the real Ike Turner. Hollywood movies are not made to educate but only to entertain and to make money. The film “What’s Love Got To Do With It?” starring Lawrence Fishburn is about as accurate a portrayal of the real life Ike Turner as Fat Albert is of Bill Cosby. I do not condone, downplay or ignore abusive behavior but it would be a shame to allow the media to diminish the tremendous contributions that Ike Turner made to music history. His achievements have been tremendously overshadowed by a few negative incidents in a life of otherwise great accomplishments.

I like Ike. Ike Turner, that is. I loved Ike. Ike Turner one of rock's critical architects died Wednesday, 12 December 2007 at his home in suburban San Diego. He was 76. There was no immediate word on the cause of death.



Born Ike Wister Turner (Nov 5, 1931-Dec 12, 2007) he was an American musician, bandleader, talent scout and record producer, best known for his work with his former wife Tina Turner as one half of the Ike & Tina Turner duo. Spanning a career that lasted half a century, Ike's repertoire included blues, soul, rock and funk. Alongside his former wife, he was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991 and in 2001 was inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame.



Many sources state Turner's real name to be "Izear Luster Turner, Jr." however, in his autobiography Takin' Back My Name, it is stated as "Ike Wister Turner." In the book, Turner explains about this confusion. His father, Izear Luster Turner, was a minister for the local church. Turner had thought he was named Izear Luster Turner, Jr. after his father, until he found out that his name was registered as Ike Wister Turner while applying for his first passport. Turner died at 76 years old at his home in San Marcos, California, near San Diego.
Chief Investigator at the Medical Examiner's Office in San Diego rules Ike Turner's death was "accidental".
The cause of death for Mr. Turner was hypertensive cardiovascular disease and pulmonary emphysema with other contributing factors, such as, cocaine toxicity , Paul Parker, the chief investigator at the medical examiner's office, said in a statement 16 January.

Parker concluded that Turner's death would be ruled accidental, although an official announcement has not been made.


He was born in Clarksdale, Mississippi , to Beatrice Cushenberry and Izear Luster Turner. Ike got his first taste of pleasing an audience at the age of eight working at the local Clarksdale radio station, WROX, located in the Alcazar Hotel in downtown Clarksdale. A man in charge of the station put Turner to work as he watched the record turntables.


He won a Grammy in 2007 in the traditional blues album category for "Risin' With the Blues."

Turner, a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, is credited by many rock historians with making the first rock 'n' roll record, "Rocket 88," in 1951. Produced by the legendary Sam Phillips, it was groundbreaking for its use of distorted electric guitar. His music career began in earnest in the late-1940s where he formed a group whom he christened The Kings of Rhythm. In 1951, the band recorded what historians have debated as "the first rock and roll record" with "Rocket 88", listed on the charts as Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats. Brenston was both the band's saxophonist and the leading vocalist of the song and Turner was the original writer though credits initially stated that Brenston had written it also. The song was one of the first examples of guitar distortion, which happened by accident when one of the amplifiers dropped before the recording.



Ike and the Kings of Rhythm settled into local fame in St. Louis where the band locally recorded for a St. Louis label and even appeared on local television shows. Throughout this early period, Turner became a recording scout and A&R man for independent record companies including Sun Records - where "Rocket 88" was recorded at, helping the likes of Howlin' Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson, Elmore James and Otis Rush get signed. He also became a sideman playing guitar for these blues acts and more. Musically, Turner was known for his hard-hitting guitar style. He was known to put the whammy bar of his Fender Stratocaster to frequent use.

Turner met the 18-year-old Anna Mae Bullock, whom he would later marry, in 1959 and quickly made the husky-voiced woman the lead singer of his group, refashioning her into the sexy Tina Turner. Her stage persona was highlighted by short skirts and stiletto heels that made her legs her most visible asset. But despite the glamorous image, she still sang with the grit and fervor of a rock singer with a twist of soul.
The pair would have two sons. They also produced a string of hits. The first, "A Fool In Love," was a top R&B song in 1959, and others followed, including "I Idolize You" and "It's Gonna Work Out Fine." Over the years they're genre-defying sound would make them favorites on the rock 'n' roll scene, as they opened for acts like the Rolling Stones.

The densely layered hit "River Deep, Mountain High" was one of producer Phil Spector's proudest creations. A rousing version of "Proud Mary," a cover of the Creedence Clearwater Revival hit, became their signature song and won them a Grammy for best R&B vocal performance by a group.

Accolades for his early and later work continues to come in, and Turner managed to garner a comfortable income as his songs were sampled by a variety of rap acts.
"You can go ask Snoop Dogg or Eminem, you can ask the Rolling Stones or (Eric) Clapton, or you can ask anybody — anybody, they all know my contribution to music, but it hasn't been in print about what I've done or what I've contributed until now," Turner said.

Mr. John Q. Public can be forgiven for thinking that Ike Turner was a wife-beating drug dealer who made his name riding on the skirt-tails of Tina Turner. That is totally wrong. He was there at the birth of Rock'n'Roll and was playing with his whammy when Hendrix was still with his mammy.
As a youngster Ike had soaked up the delta blues and while still in his teens formed the Kings of Rhythm with Jackie Brenston and Raymond Hill and worked with Robert Nighthawk and Sonny Boy Williamson II. On March 5, 1951, he helped make history at the Sun studios in Memphis when the Kings of Rhythm recorded what many consider to be the first ever Rock'n'Roll record, Rocket 88. Ike led the band and played some sparkling piano, letting Jackie Brenston take the vocals and the plaudits.
For the rest of the decade Ike worked as arranger/talent scout/guitarist etc. for a myriad of labels. Clients who benefited include Billy "The Kid" Emerson, Howlin' Wolf (Ike plays piano on How Many More Years), Billy Gayles (Just One More Time - superb) and virtually anyone who ventured out of northern Mississippi. His importance can't be overlooked. If in doubt, have a quick listen to his guitar on Johnny O'Neal's Ugly Woman cut in the summer of '53 but unreleased at the time - the only reason being that the hot summer sun must have played some tricks on ole' Sam's head.


In 1954 he relocated to St Louis and assumed the same role he'd had in Memphis. In 1959 he met Anna Mae Bullock and a new chapter in his life began. She became his wife and Tina Turner and their work together as Ike & Tina Turner saw them sky-rocket to new heights with hot and raunchy R&B. Since their divorce Ike has been pretty much cast aside by the industry, but had recently shown signs of finding some of the old magic. He had been active on stage and in the recording studio, and just as importantly, his contribution to rock music is starting to be appreciated.
Chief Investigator at the Medical Examiner's Office in San Diego rules Ike Turner's death was "accidental".
The cause of death for Mr. Turner was hypertensive cardiovascular disease and pulmonary emphysema with other contributing factors, such as, cocaine toxicity , Paul Parker, the chief investigator at the medical examiner's office, said in a statement 16 January.

Parker concluded that Turner's death would be ruled accidental, although an official announcement has not been made.

I will always like Ike.

R & B

Rhythm and blues (or R&B) was coined as a musical marketing term in the United States in 1949 by Jerry Wexler at Billboard magazine, and was used to designate upbeat popular music performed by African American artists that combined jazz, gospel, and blues. It replaced the term race music, which was deemed offensive, as well as the Billboard category name "Harlem Hit Parade," in June of 1949, and was initially used to identify the style of music that later developed into rock and roll. In 1948, RCA Victor was marketing black music under the name "Blues and Rhythm," but the words were reversed by Wexler of Atlantic Records, the most aggressive and most dominant label in the R&B field in the early years. By the 1970s, rhythm and blues was being used as a blanket term to describe soul and funk as well. Today, the acronym "R&B" is almost always used instead of "rhythm and blues", and defines the modern version of the soul and funk influenced African-American pop music that originated with the demise of disco in 1980.
Original rhythm and blues
Original Rhythm and blues
Stylistic origins:
Upbeat blues, hard bop, and gospel
Cultural origins:
1940s US
Typical instruments:
Guitar - Bass - Saxophone - Drum kit - Keyboard
Mainstream popularity:
Significant from 1940s to 1960s
Derivative forms:
Rock and Roll - Soul music - Funk
Subgenres
Doo wop
In its first manifestation, rhythm and blues was the predecessor to rockabilly and rock and roll. It was strongly influenced by jazz and jump music as well as black gospel music, and influenced jazz in return (hard bop was the product of the influence of rhythm and blues, blues, and gospel music on bebop) and African tribal beats.
The first rock and roll consisted of rhythm and blues songs like "Rocket 88" and "Shake, Rattle and Roll" making an appearance on the popular music charts as well as the R&B charts. "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On", the first hit by Jerry Lee Lewis was an R&B cover song that made #1 on pop, R&B and country and western charts.
Musicians paid little attention to the distinction between jazz and rhythm and blues, and frequently recorded in both genres. Numerous swing bands (for example, Jay McShann's, Tiny Bradshaw's, and Johnny Otis's) also recorded rhythm and blues. Count Basie had a weekly live rhythm and blues broadcast from Harlem. Even a bebop icon like arranger Tadd Dameron also arranged for Bull Moose Jackson and spent two years as Jackson's pianist after establishing himself in bebop. Most of the studio musicians in R&B were jazz musicians. And it worked in the other direction as well. Many of the musicians on Charlie Mingus's breakthrough jazz recordings were R&B veterans. Lionel Hampton's big band of the early 1940s, which produced the classic recording "Flying Home" (tenor sax solo by Illinois Jacquet) was the breeding ground for many of the bebop legends of the 1950s. Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson was a one-man fusion, a bebop saxophonist and a blues shouter.
The 1950s was the premier decade for classic rhythm and blues. Overlapping with other genres such as jazz and rock and roll, R&B also developed regional variations. A strong, distinct style straddling the border with blues came out of New Orleans and was based on a rolling piano style first made famous by Professor Longhair. In the late 1950s, Fats Domino hit the national charts with "Blueberry Hill" and "Ain't That a Shame". Other artists who popularized this Louisiana flavor of R&B included Clarence "Frogman" Henry, Frankie Ford, Irma Thomas, The Neville Brothers, and Dr. John.
[edit]

Contemporary R&B
Contemporary R&B
Stylistic origins:
Funk, soul music, and pop music
Cultural origins:
Early 1980s US
Typical instruments:
synthesizers - Keyboard - Drum machine
Mainstream popularity:
Moderate since 1980s around the world, especially in recent years in the United States
Subgenres
Quiet Storm
Fusion genres
New Jack Swing - Hip-hop soul - Neo soul - 2Step
Other topics
Musicians
It was not until the 1980s that the term "R&B" regained ordinary usage. During that time, the soul music of James Brown and Sly & the Family Stone had adapted elements from psychedelic music and other styles through the work of performers like George Clinton. Funk also became a major part of disco, a kind of dance pop electronic music. By the early 1980s, however, funk and soul had become sultry and sexually-charged with the work of Prince and others. At that time, the modern style of contemporary R&B came to be a major part of American popular music.
R&B today defines a style of African-American music, originating after the demise of disco in 1980, that combines elements of soul music, funk music, pop music, and (after 1986) hip hop in the form known as contemporary R&B. In this context only the abbreviation "R&B" is used, not the full expression.
Sometimes referred to as "urban contemporary" (the name of the radio format that plays hip hop and R&B music) or "urban pop", contemporary R&B is distinguished by a slick, electronic record production style, drum machine-backed rhythms, and a smooth, lush style of vocal arrangement. Uses of hip hop inspired beats are typical, although the roughness and grit inherent in hip hop are usually reduced and smoothed out.
[edit]

History
With the transition from soul to R&B in the early to mid 1980s, solo singer Luther Vandross and new stars like Prince (Purple Rain) and Michael Jackson (Off the Wall, Thriller) took over, and dominated the primary schools throughout the 1980s. Jackson's Thriller, which repopularized black music with pop audiences after a post-disco backlash among United States mainstream audiences, is the best-selling album of all time worldwide.
Female R&B singers like Whitney Houston and Janet Jackson gained great popularity during the last half of the decade; and Tina Turner, then in her 50s, came back with a series of hits with crossover appeal. Also popular was New Edition, a group of teenagers who served as the prototype for later boy bands such as the New Kids on the Block, The Backstreet Boys, and others.
In 1986, Teddy Riley began producing R&B recordings that included influences from the increasingly popular genre of hip hop music. This combination of R&B style and hip-hop rhythms was termed new jack swing, and artists such as Keith Sweat, Guy, Jodeci, and BellBivDeVoe (featuring former members of New Edition). Another popular, but short-lived group, with more pronounced R&B roots was Levert, whose lead singer, Gerald Levert, was the son of O'Jays lead vocalist Eddie Levert.
In the early 1990s, R&B group Boyz II Men repopularized classic-soul inspired vocal harmony, and several similar groups (among them Shai, Soul for Real, and Dru Hill) would follow in their footsteps. Boyz II Men, and several of their competitors, benefited from lush ballads from producers such as Babyface and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, who brought Michael Jackson's sister Janet Jackson to fame during the late 1980s and early 1990s. As a solo artist, Babyface and contemporaries such as Brian McKnight eschewed prominent hip hop influences, and recorded in a smooth, soft style of R&B termed quiet storm.
In the early 1990s, alternative rock, adult contemporary, and gangsta rap ruled the charts, and R&B artists began adding even more of a rap/hip hop sound to their work. New jack swing had its synthesizer-heavy rhythm tracks replaced by grittier East Coast hip hop inspired backing tracks, resulting in a genre labeled "hip hop soul" by Sean "Puffy" Combs, producer for Mary J. Blige. Blige and other hip hop soul artists such as R. Kelly, Montell Jordan, Brandy, and Aaliyah, more than their slicker new jack swing predecessors, brought hip hop slang, style, and attitudes to R&B music. The subgenre also includes a heavy gospel influence with vocal inflections and sounds. The style became less popular by the end of the 1990s, but later experienced a resurgence. The hip hop soul sound continues to be heard in the work of artists such as Jaheim, Ashanti, Amerie, and Keisha Cole.
During the mid-1990s, highly successful artists such as Mariah Carey, girl group TLC and the aforementioned Boyz II Men brought contemporary R&B to the mainstream. Boyz II Men and Mariah Carey recorded several Billboard Hot 100 number-one hits, including "One Sweet Day", a collaboration between both acts which became the longest-running number-one hit in Hot 100 history. In addition, both Boyz II Men and TLC released albums in 1994, II and CrazySexyCool, respectively, that sold over ten million copies, earning them diamond certification from the Recording Industry Association of America. Other top-selling R&B artists from this era included singer Toni Braxton, singer/songwriter/producer R. Kelly, and girl group En Vogue.
During the later part of the decade, neo soul, which added a 1970s soul music influence to the hip hop soul blend, arose, led by artists such as D'Angelo, Lauryn Hill, and Maxwell. Several artists, most notably Missy Elliott, further blurred the line between R&B and hip hop by recording in both genres simultaneously.
During the late-1990s and early 2000s, the influence of pop on R&B could be heard in the work of several pop musicians, most notably Jennifer Lopez and the later recordings of *NSYNC and the early recordings of 98 Degrees. *NSYNC's lead singer Justin Timberlake went on to make several solo recordings that showed heavy influences from both R&B and hip hop music. Other pop stars who perform heavily R&B influenced pop music (sometimes referred to as "dirty pop","urban pop", or a modern definition of "hip pop") include Britney Spears, Gwen Stefani, and Pink.
In the United Kingdom, R&B found its way into the UK garage subgenre of 2Step, typified by R&B-style singing accompanied by breakbeat/jungle rhythms. Among the most notable 2Step artists is Craig David, who crossed over to American R&B audiences in the early 2000s.
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Present day
By the 2000s, the cross-pollination between R&B and hip hop had increased to the point where, in most cases, the only prominent difference between a record being a hip hop record or an R&B record is whether its vocals are rapped or sung. Mainstream modern R&B has a sound more based on rhythm than hip hop soul had, and lacks the hardcore and soulful urban "grinding" feel on which hip-hop soul relied. That rhythmic element descends from new jack swing. R&B began to focus more on solo artists rather than groups as the 2000s progressed. As of 2005, the most prominent R&B artists include Usher, Beyoncé (formerly of Destiny's Child), and Mariah Carey, whose music often blurs the line between contemporary R&B and pop.
Soulful R&B continues to be popular, with artists such as Alicia Keys,John Legend, Toni Braxton and American Idol winner Fantasia showcasing classic influences in their work. Some R&B singers have used elements of Caribbean music in their work, especially dancehall and reggaeton.
Quiet storm, while still existent, is no longer a dominant presence on the pop charts, and is generally confined to urban adult contemporary radio. Most of the prominent quiet storm artists, including Babyface and Gerald Levert, began their careers in the 1980s and 1990s, although newer artists such as Kem also record in the quiet storm style. Its influence can still be seen in singles such as Mariah Carey's "We Belong Together", Usher's "Confessions, Pt. 2" and Destiny's Child's "Cater 2 U".
In addition, several producers have developed specialized styles of song production. Timbaland, for example, became notable for his hip hop and jungle based syncopated productions in the late-1990s, during which time he produced R&B hits for Aaliyah, Ginuwine, and singer/rapper Missy Elliott. By the end of the decade, Timbaland's influences had shifted R&B songs towards a sound that apporximated his own, with slightly less of a hip hop feel. Lil' Jon became famous for a style he termed "crunk & B", deriving its influences from the Southern hip hop subclassification of crunk music. Jon gave his main R&B artist, Ciara, the title of "The First Lady of Crunk & B", and Brooke Valentine and Usher have also recorded R&B songs with strong crunk influences.
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Contemporary R&B subgenres
These are the major subgenres of contemporary R&B, roughly in chronological order of popularity.
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Quiet storm
For more details on this topic, see quiet storm.
Quiet storm is a broad category of R&B and jazz-based music that is mellow, laid-back and often romantic. Its name comes from an innovative radio show that originated at WHUR at Howard University in the mid-1970s, named after Smokey Robinson's hit 1975 single "Quiet Storm". Unlike contemporary R&B, quiet storm shows little influence from hip hop, and generally plays to the urban adult contemporary crowd. The genre achieved great mainstream success during the 1980s with artists like Luther Vandross, Anita Baker, and Sade. Among other notable quiet storm musicians are Lionel Richie, Gerald Levert, Joe, and Brian McKnight.
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New jack swing
For more details on this topic, see new jack swing.
A fusion of hip hop music and R&B, new jack swing was distinguished by significant use of rapped choruses or bridges and prominent use of drum machines such as the Roland TR-808. Teddy Riley and his group Guy are credited with being the inventor of the genre; other notable figures include Bobby Brown, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, Jodeci, and Boyz II Men. A female alternative, new jill swing, was championed by acts such as Janet Jackson, Total, Shanice, TLC, and SWV.
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Hip hop soul
For more details on this topic, see hip hop soul.
Essentially new jack swing for the 1990s, hip hop soul took the style further towards a pure hip hop sound, usually accompanied by a nervy, gangsta rap-esque image. The sound was remenescent of funk with the inclusion of relatively darker baselines with elongated groove notes. Among its most notable figures were Montell Jordan, BLACKstreet, Groove Theory, and the "Queen of Hip Hop Soul", Mary J. Blige.
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Neo soul
For more details on this topic, see neo soul.
Neo soul blends a hip hop influenced R&B sound with the classic soul of the 1970s. True neo soul is characterized by an earthy feel, accented by soul-styled harmonies, and accompanied by alternative hip hop beats. It generally has a much less mainstream sound than general R&B music. Some artists of this genre include Tony! Toni! Toné!, Angie Stone, Maxwell, D'Angelo, Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill, and Jill Scott.
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Samples
"Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson (file info)
"Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson was a hit single in 1982 from the album Thriller. Its music video was the first by a black artist to air in regular rotation on MTV, and "Billie Jean" remains among Jackson's best-known and most successful recordings.
Problems listening to the file? See media help.
"Treat Her Like a Lady" by The Temptations (file info)
"Treat Her Like a Lady" by The Temptations was a hit single in 1984 from the album Truly for You. Although the group had been releasing charting singles since the early 1960s, "Treat Her Like a Lady" is an archetypical mid-1980s R&B recording.
Problems listening to the file? See media help.
"Untitled (How Does It Feel)" by D'Angelo (file info)
"Untitled (How Does It Feel)" by D'Angelo was a hit single in 2000 from the album Voodoo. It was accompanied by a controversial video featuring nothing but a nude D'Angelo. The musician is one of the most renowned male artists of the hip hop/R&B/70's soul fusion neo soul.
Problems listening to the file? See media help.
"We Belong Together by Mariah Carey" (2005) (file info)
Carey's most popular song as a solo artist in the U.S. received Grammy Awards for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and Best R&B Song. This is the R&B sound of the 00's with a Quiet Storm sound
Problems listening to the file? See media help.
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See also
The related genres of blues, gospel, soul music, funk, disco, and hip hop music
List of R&B musicians
Rhythm and Blues Foundation
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks - The Billboard magazine singles and tracks chart commonly referred to as "The R&B singles chart" over the years.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhythm_and_blues"
Categories: R&B Radio formats American styles of music

Booker T. & the M.G.'s.

Booker T. & the M.G.'s is a soul band, most prominent in the 1960s and 1970s. They are most commonly associated with Stax Records and are often placed in the subgenre of Memphis soul. They are probably best known for their 1962 hit instrumental "Green Onions" and for being the "house band" for many Stax/Volt performers. As originators of the unique Stax sound, the group was one of the most prolific, respected and imitated of their era: By the mid-1960s, bands on both sides of the Atlantic were trying to sound like Booker T. & the MG's.
Core members of the group include Booker T. Jones (organ, piano), Steve Cropper (guitar), Donald "Duck" Dunn or Lewie Steinberg (bass), and Al Jackson Jr. (drums). Isaac Hayes, Carson Whitsett, and Willie Hall have also been part of the group.
Early years
In the summer of 1962, seventeen-year-old keyboardist Booker T. Jones, twenty-year-old guitarist Steve Cropper, bass player Lewie Steinberg and Al Jackson, a drummer making his debut with the company, were in the Memphis studio to back up former Sun Records star Billy Lee Riley. During downtime, the four started playing around with a bluesy little organ ditty reminiscent of Ray Charles. Jim Stewart, the president of Stax, liked what he heard and hit the record button. He liked the finished product enough to want to release it. Now, they just needed a B-side.
Cropper remembered a riff that Jones had come up with weeks earlier and before long, they had a second song. The group, of course, now needed a name. Another Stax band featuring Jones, called The Triumphs, had succeeded with a regional hit called "Burnt Biscuits." Jackson suggested another car name, The MG's. Stax even contacted the automobile makers in an effort to somehow cross-promote each other, but according to legend, the car company did not want to be associated with such music. Everybody liked Jackson's name, so MG became "Memphis Group."
Stewart wanted to release the single with the first song, titled "Behave Yourself" as the A-side and the second song as the B-side. Steve Cropper and radio disc jockeys thought otherwise, so soon, Stax released Booker T. & the MG's "Green Onions" backed with "Behave Yourself." It went to number one on the R&B charts and hit number three on the Pop charts. They soon after released an all-instrumental album entitled Green Onions.
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Success
Over the next two years, Cropper, Jackson, Jones, and Steinberg, along with Cropper's bandmate from The Mar-Keys, bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn, as well as keyboardist Isaac Hayes and various horn players, would set the standard for soul music. Where the sign outside of Detroit's pop-soaked Motown Records aptly read "Hitsville U.S.A.," the marquee outside of the movie theatre where Stax was located proclaimed "Soulsville U.S.A."
Lewie Steinberg, a solid bass player from a family of musicians, recorded one more album with the band, 1965's Soul Dressing. Where the Green Onions album was cover-filled, every song but one on Soul Dressing was an original. Nevertheless, the chemistry — musically and personally — wasn't quite right. Steinberg stepped aside, and Dunn became the group's full-time bassist.
The line-up of Cropper, Dunn, Jackson, and Jones would go on to back up Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Albert King, Johnnie Taylor, Eddie Floyd, The Staple Singers, and jumpstart Wilson Pickett's solo career. They played on and produced hundreds of records, including classics like "Walkin' the Dog," "Hold On! (I'm Coming)" (on which the multi-instrumentalist Jones played tuba over Dunn's bass line), "Soul Man," "Who's Making Love," "I've Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now)," and "Try a Little Tenderness," among others. They defined much of what was expected from soul music — especially "southern soul" — where "the groove" was most important, the lyrics sometimes being inconsequential.
As artists in their own right, they began to come together with 1967's Hip Hug-Her album. Surprisingly, "Hip Hug-Her" was the first single released with Jones playing a Hammond B-3 organ, the sound that made him a legend. They had hits with the title track, and also with their cover of The Rascals' "Groovin'".
Also in 1967, they joined the now famed Stax European tour. Dubbed "Hit the Road, Stax!" they performed and backed up the label's stars. In June of that year, they, along with Otis Redding, appeared at the Monterey Pop Festival, alongside musicians like Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, The Who, and Jefferson Airplane. They were also later invited to play Woodstock, but Al Jackson was worried about the helicopter needed to deliver them to the site, and so they decided not to play.
The Hip Hug-Her album was followed by Doin' Our Thing and Soul Limbo. The song "Soul Limbo" was a hit (later used by BBC-TV as their Cricket theme), as was their now classic version of "Hang 'em High". And in 1969, they scored their second biggest hit with "Time is Tight", from the soundtrack to the movie Uptight.
In 1969, Duck Dunn and Booker T. Jones, in particular, had become enamored with The Beatles, especially their work on Abbey Road. The appreciation was mutual, as The Beatles had patterned a lot of what they did on the MG's. John Lennon was a huge Stax fan who fondly called the group, "Book a Table and the Maitre D's." As well, Paul McCartney, like Dunn, played bass melodically, without straying from the rhythm or the groove. It was obvious through each of their playing that they admired one another. And as the story goes, after being locked away in the Memphis studio, when the company embarked on the "Hit the Road, Stax!" tour of 1967, The Beatles sent limos to the airport and bent down to kiss Steve Cropper's ring. The MG's had no idea, until then, of the impact they were having on the rest of the world.
Jones, Dunn, and Jackson recorded McLemore Avenue, named for the street where Stax was located. Jones later taught Cropper, who had not heard Abbey Road, what to play. Released in 1970, the album stands on its own, while at the same time showcasing the Beatles' compositional strength. They covered thirteen of Abbey Road's songs, condensing twelve of them into medleys, and released a cover of George Harrison's "Something". The cover, pictured above in this article, is indeed an intentional spinoff of The Beatles' Abbey Road "street crossing" album cover.
They followed up in 1971 with what would be their last single, "Melting Pot", and their last album, of the same name, featuring eight originals.
Before the Melting Pot album was recorded, Booker T. Jones had left Stax and, in fact, part of the album was recorded in New York, not the Stax studio. Also becoming unhappy with new business affairs at Stax was Steve Cropper and shortly after, he would also leave. Dunn and Jackson remained on and did session and production work. Jackson, who had been in Hi Records producer Willie Mitchell's band, played on and wrote many of Al Green's biggest hits.
In 1973, Dunn and Stax session guitarist Bobby Manuel recruited B-3 organ phenomenon Carson Whitsett to be part of a band that was to back up a promising new Stax artist named Stefan Anderson. Their drummer was not working out, so they brought in Al Jackson. The project, however, did not ultimately yield any results, but the rehearsals were promising, prompting Jackson and Dunn to reform the MG's.
The 1973 album entitled The MG's, with Manuel and Whitsett replacing Cropper and Jones, was not commercially successful, and it did not have a song that became a single. Carson Whitsett would go on to back up the Bobby Blue Bland, Little Milton, and Kathy Mattea, and have his songs recorded by the likes of Johnnie Taylor, Solomon Burke, B.B. King, Etta James, Conway Twitty, and Lorrie Morgan. Bobby Manuel would become a staple of the Memphis music scene and later founded HighStacks Records in a tribute to Stax and Hi Records.
After a promising meeting in late September 1975, Jones and Cropper (who were now living in Los Angeles) and Jackson and Dunn (still in Memphis), decided to give each other three months to finish up all of their projects. They would then devote three years to Booker T. & the MG's. Nine days later, on October 1st, Al Jackson, the drummer who had been a key to the sounds of both Stax and Hi Records, was murdered in his home.
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Later career
Over the next decade, all three remaining members remained very active, producing, writing, and playing with other artists. In 1986, former co-owner of Atlantic Records Jerry Wexler (who was in the studio when the MG's cut Cropper's and Wilson Pickett's "In the Midnight Hour") asked the group to be the "house band" for Atlantic Records' 40th anniversary. The night before, Booker T. Jones came down with food poisoning, so Paul Shaffer stepped in at the last minute. The rehearsals with Jones, Cropper, and Dunn, along with the powerhouse drummer Anton Fig (of Shaffer's Late Show with David Letterman band), went so well that the group decided to play some dates together.
Over the next few years, they played together occasionally, and in 1992, Bob Dylan asked them to again serve as house band at the concert commemorating his thirty years in the music business. There, they backed up Dylan, Stevie Wonder, Johnny Cash, Eric Clapton, and even Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, showing they could still be anyone's band. While there, Neil Young asked the group to back him up on his world tour the following year.
Also in 1992, the MG's were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 1995, when the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame opened its museum in Cleveland, Ohio, the MG's served as the house band once more, playing behind Aretha Franklin, Sam Moore, John Fogerty, and Al Green, as well as performing themselves.
Booker T. Jones, Donald "Duck" Dunn, and Steve Cropper moved into the 21st century as active as ever. Jones, Dunn, and Al Jackson's cousin, drummer Steve Potts supplied the music for Neil Young's 2002 album Are You Passionate?. Cropper, along with Isaac Hayes and Sam Moore, welcomed Stax president Jim Stewart into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame in 2002. The MG's, usually with Steve Potts, still play select dates. The three remaining members still play their classic instrumentals.
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External links
Booker T and the MGs at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booker_T._%26_the_M.G.%27s"
Categories: R&B musical groups Soul musical groups Funk musical groups Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees

Otis Redding

Otis Ray Redding, Jr. (September 9, 1941 – December 10, 1967) was an influential Black-American deep soul singer, best known for his passionate delivery and posthumous hit single, "(Sittin' On) the Dock of the Bay."

Early Life
Redding was born in the small town of Dawson, Georgia. At the age of 5, he moved with his family to Macon, Georgia. He sang in the choir of the Vineville Baptist Church, and became something of a local celebrity as a teenager after winning a local Sunday night talent show 15 weeks in a row.
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Career
In 1960, Redding began touring the South with Johnny Jenkins and The Pinetoppers. That same year he made his first recordings, "She's All Right" and "Shout Bamalama" with this group under the name "Otis and The Shooters".
In 1962, he made his first real mark in the music business during a Johnny Jenkins session when he recorded "These Arms of Mine," a ballad that Redding himself had written. The song became a minor hit on Volt Records, a subsidiary of renowned "Southern soul" label Stax, based in Memphis, Tennessee. His manager was fellow Maconite Phil Walden (who later founded Capricorn Records). Otis Redding continued to release for Stax/Volt, and built his fanbase by extensively touring a legendarily electrifying live show with support from fellow Stax artists Sam and Dave. Further hits between 1964 and 1966 included "Mr. Pitiful", "I Can't Turn You Loose", "Try a Little Tenderness", "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" (The Rolling Stones song), and "Respect" (later a smash hit for Aretha Franklin).
Redding wrote many of his own songs, which was unusual for the time, often with Steve Cropper (of Stax house band Booker T & the MG's, who usually served as Otis' backing band in the studio). Soul singer Jerry Butler co-wrote another hit "I've Been Loving You Too Long". One of his few songs with a significant mainstream following was "Tramp" (1967) with Carla Thomas. Later that year, Redding played at the massively influential Monterey Pop Festival.
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Death
Redding and six others were killed when the plane on which they were traveling crashed into Lake Monona in Madison, Wisconsin on December 10, 1967. Ben Cauley, one of the members of Redding's backup band, The Bar-Kays, was the only person aboard the plane to survive. He had been asleep until just seconds before impact, and recalled that upon waking he saw bandmate Phalon Jones look out a window and say, "Oh, no!" Cauley then unbuckled his seat belt, and that was his final recollection before finding himself in the frigid waters of the lake, grasping a seat cushion to keep himself afloat. Otis Redding's body was recovered when the lakebed was dragged with a grappling hook and photos exist of his body being brought out of the water. [1] The cause of the crash was never precisely determined.
Redding was laid to rest in a tomb on his private ranch in Round Oak, Georgia, about 20 miles north of Macon.
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After death
"(Sittin' on) the Dock of the Bay" was recorded only three days prior to Redding's death. It was released the next month and became his first #1 single and first million-seller. The fact that "(Sittin' on) the Dock of the Bay" ultimately became Redding's greatest commercial success is somewhat ironic, not only because its release came after his death, but also because the song is actually a significant stylistic departure from the bulk of his other work.
A few further records were posthumously released, including "Hard to Handle" (1968).
His sons Dexter and Otis III founded together with cousin Mark Locket the funk/disco-band "The Reddings" in the late 1970s.
In 2002, the city of Macon honored its native son, unveiling a memorial statue of Redding in the city's Gateway Park.
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Sample
Download sample of "Mr. Pitiful"
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Discography
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Albums
Pain in My Heart (1964, Atco) US: #103 UK: #28
The Great Otis Redding Sings Soul Ballads (1965, Volt) US: #75 UK: #30
Otis Blue (1965) US: #75 UK: #6
The Soul Album (1966) US: #54 UK: #22
Complete & Unbelievable: The Otis Redding Dictionary of Soul (1966) US: #73 UK: #23
King & Queen (1967) with Carla Thomas US: #36 UK: #18
Live in Europe (1967) US: #32 UK: #14
The Dock of the Bay (1968) US: #4 UK: #1
History of Otis Redding (1968) US: #9 UK: #2
The Immortal Otis Redding (1968, Atco) US: #58 UK: #19
In Person at the Whiskey A Go-Go (1968) US: #82
Love Man (1969) US: #46
Tell the Truth (1970) US: #200
Live at the Monterey International Pop Festival (1971, Reprise) US: #16
The Best of Otis Redding (1972) US: #76
The Very Best of Otis Redding (2000) UK: #26
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Singles
"Shout Bamalama" (1961)
"Gettin' Hip" (1961, Alshire)
"These Arms of Mine" (1962, Volt) R&B: #20 US: #85
"That's What My Heart Needs" (1963) R&B: #27
"Pain in My Heart" (1963) US: #61
"Come to Me" (1964) US: #69
"Security" (1964) US: #97
"Chained and Bound" (1964) US: #70
"Mr. Pitiful" (1964) R&B: #10 US: #41
"Stand By Me" (1964)
"Things Go Better With Coke..." (A Man And A Woman) [1964 Commercial]
"I've Been Loving You Too Long" (1965) R&B: #2 US: #21
"Just One More Day" (1965) b-side of I've Been... R&B: #15 US: #85
"Respect" (1965) R&B: #4 US: #35
"That's How Strong My Love Is" (1965) R&B: #18 US: #74
"I Can't Turn You Loose" (1965) R&B: #11 UK: #29
"My Girl" (1965)
"(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" (1966) R&B: #4 US: #31 UK: #33
"My Lover's Prayer" (1966) R&B: #10 US: #61 UK: #37
"Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song)" (1966) R&B: #12 US: #29 UK: #23
"Try a Little Tenderness" (1967) R&B: #4 US: #25
"I Love You More Than Words Can Say" (1967) R&B: #30 US: #78
"Shake" (1967) R&B: #16 US: #47 UK: #28
"Glory of Love" (1967) R&B: #19 US: #60
"Tramp" (1967, Stax) with Carla Thomas R&B: #2 US: #26 UK: #18
"Knock on Wood" (1967) with Carla Thomas R&B: #8 US: #30 UK: #35
"(Sittin' On) the Dock of the Bay" (1968, Volt) R&B: #1 US: #1 UK: #3
"The Happy Song (Dum-Dum)" (1968) R&B: #10 US: #25 UK: #24
"Amen" (1968, Atco) R&B: #15 US: #36
"Hard to Handle" (1968) b-side of Amen R&B: #38 US: #51 UK: #15
"I've Got Dreams to Remember" (1968) R&B: #6 US: #41
"Lovey Dovey" (1968, Stax) with Carla Thomas R&B: #21 US: #60
"White Christmas" (1968, Atco)
"Merry Christmas, Baby" (1968) b-side of White Christmas US: #9
"Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" (1968) R&B: #10 US: #21
"When Something is Wrong With My Baby" (1969) with Carla Thomas
"A Lover's Question" (1969) R&B: #20 US: #48
"Love Man" (1969) R&B: #17 US: #72
"Free Me" (1969) R&B: #30
"Look at That Girl" (1969)
"Demonstration" (1969)
"Give Away None of My Love" (1970)
"I've Been Loving You Too Long (Live)" (1971)
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External links
http://www.otisredding.com official site
Otis Redding at All Music Guide
THE OTIS REDDING FRENCH SITE
Otis Redding at the Internet Movie Database
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otis_Redding"
Categories: 1941 births 1967 deaths American male singers American songwriters Accidents and incidents in general aviation Entertainers who died in their 20s People from Georgia (U.S. state) Plane crash victims Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Soul musicians