Otis Redding
September 9, 1941 - December 10, 1967 (aged 26)
It’s been 55 years since Otis Redding was killed in a plane crash into Lake Monona in Madison, Wi. My sister lives a block from the area that the plane went into the water. I remember when he was killed and thought then, “How can this happen”? We had lost so many musicians to plane crashes. Buddy Holly and Richie Valens, and the Big Bopper went down in a plane crash in Iowa February 3, 1959 on “The Day The Music Died”.
On its final approach to Madison on December 10, 1967, however, the private plane carrying soul-music legend Otis Redding would crash into the frigid waters of a small lake three miles short of the runway, killing seven of the eight men aboard, including Redding.
"(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" was released in January 1968. It became Redding's only single to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and the first posthumous number-one single in U.S. chart history.
Soul singer Otis Redding, 26, died in the crash of his chartered twin-engine Beechcraft 18 on December 10, 1967. Redding and members of his band, the Bar-Kays, had taken off from the airport in Cleveland for a flight to Madison, Wisconsin, with pilot Richard Fraser. The weather was bad, with cold drizzle and fog. While on the approach to Madison the airplane plunged into Lake Monona. The exact cause of the crash remains undetermined, but the Beechcraft may have been experiencing engine problems. Of the seven passengers, the only survivor was 20-year-old Ben Cauley, one of the musicians. (The opening band for Redding in Madison that night was to be a local outfit called the Grim Reapers, featuring future Cheap Trick guitarist Rick Nielsen.) Four months after Redding’s death his single “(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay” reached the top of the charts.
“King of Soul” died in Lake Monona plane crash 55 years ago this weekend. It was his first #1 record.
September 9, 1941 - December 10, 1967 (aged 26)
It’s been 55 years since Otis Redding was killed in a plane crash into Lake Monona in Madison, Wi. My sister lives a block from the area that the plane went into the water. I remember when he was killed and thought then, “How can this happen”? We had lost so many musicians to plane crashes. Buddy Holly and Richie Valens, and the Big Bopper went down in a plane crash in Iowa February 3, 1959 on “The Day The Music Died”.
On its final approach to Madison on December 10, 1967, however, the private plane carrying soul-music legend Otis Redding would crash into the frigid waters of a small lake three miles short of the runway, killing seven of the eight men aboard, including Redding.
"(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" was released in January 1968. It became Redding's only single to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and the first posthumous number-one single in U.S. chart history.
Soul singer Otis Redding, 26, died in the crash of his chartered twin-engine Beechcraft 18 on December 10, 1967. Redding and members of his band, the Bar-Kays, had taken off from the airport in Cleveland for a flight to Madison, Wisconsin, with pilot Richard Fraser. The weather was bad, with cold drizzle and fog. While on the approach to Madison the airplane plunged into Lake Monona. The exact cause of the crash remains undetermined, but the Beechcraft may have been experiencing engine problems. Of the seven passengers, the only survivor was 20-year-old Ben Cauley, one of the musicians. (The opening band for Redding in Madison that night was to be a local outfit called the Grim Reapers, featuring future Cheap Trick guitarist Rick Nielsen.) Four months after Redding’s death his single “(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay” reached the top of the charts.
“King of Soul” died in Lake Monona plane crash 55 years ago this weekend. It was his first #1 record.
