It Happened 50 Years Ago: Otis Redding

In the mid-1960s, Georgia-born musician Otis Redding emerged as one of the most celebrated soul artists in the country. Redding would proceed to hit the Top 40 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart eleven times during the 1960s, most famously with “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay,” which reached number one in 1968. Unfortunately, a number of Redding’s hits, including his biggest one, came after his death in a plane crash in Wisconsin at the age of 26, an event that occurred exactly 50 years ago today. To remember Redding, take a listen to his first Top 40 hit, “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now),” which is featured above.