Otis Redding III parents: Meet Otis Redding & Zelma Atwood

Otis Redding III was born to parents Otis Redding and Zelma Atwood. Redding III’s parents had three other children; Dexter Redding, Demetria Redding and Karla Redding. Redding III was the last born.

Sadly, on Tuesday, April 18, 2023, Redding III died from cancer at age 59.

Redding III’s death comes about 56 years after his father died along with several members of his band, in a plane crash on Dec. 10, 1967, outside Madison, Wis.

Redding III was just three years old when his father died.

How did Otis Redding III’s parents meet?

Redding, then aged 18, met his wife Zelma who was 17 years at a “The Teenage Party”.

Who was Otis Redding?

Redding is widely regarded as one of the greatest singers in the history of American popular music and a seminal artist in soul music and rhythm and blues.

Nicknamed the “King of Soul”, Redding’s style of singing gained inspiration from the gospel music that preceded the genre and also influenced many other soul artists of the 1960s.

Born in Dawson, Georgia, Redding quit school at age 15 to support his family, working with Little Richard’s backing band, the Upsetters, and by performing in talent shows at the historic Douglass Theatre in Macon.

In 1958, he joined Johnny Jenkins’s band, the Pinetoppers, with whom he toured the Southern states as a singer and driver. An unscheduled appearance on a Stax recording session led to a contract and his first hit single, “These Arms of Mine”, in 1962.

Initially popular with African-Americans, Redding later reached a wider American pop music audience.

Along with his group, he first played small shows in the American South. He later performed at the popular Los Angeles night club Whisky a Go Go and toured Europe, performing in London, Paris and other major cities. He also performed at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967.

Redding received many posthumous accolades, including:

• Two Grammy Awards,
• The Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award,
• Induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,
• The Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame and
• The Songwriters Hall of Fame.