Otis Redding III obituary

Otis Redding III, a singer and guitarist has died from cancer at age 59. Redding III was the son of the legendary 1960s soul singer Otis Redding.

Otis was just 3 years old when his father died at age 26 in a plane crash in 1967.

He and his three siblings, including brother and future bandmate Dexter, were raised by their mother Zelma on the 300-acre Big O Ranch where their dad was buried.

More than a decade after the death of  their father, Otis Redding III and his brother, Dexter, formed the funk band The Reddings, which recorded six albums in the 1980s.

Though The Reddings released their final album in 1988, Redding continued to play music, and appeared onstage at Carnegie Hall for a 2018 tribute concert in honor of his father.

In a 2017 interview with The Telegraph, Otis Redding III intimated that his dad’s boots was a big one to fill.

“Who can live up to Otis Redding? I mean, I had his name, I got a little bit of talent, but you know, nobody can really live up to the King of Soul,”

“We do his songs, my brother Dexter does a great job. We do our thing. But we know that we respect the game — he’s the King of Soul.”

Redding III noted in the same interview that he believed his father’s legacy was “timeless,” and hoped that younger artists would be inspired by all that he accomplished in his short life.