Otis Redding He is known as The King of Soul, and once you hear the passion in his music it is hard to deny him that title. Born from simple means, he had a dream and worked throughout his life to pursue it. He got to work for idols and mentors and soon made a name for himself. He became one of the greatest singers in popular music. Unfortunately, we lost him and his incredible talent far too early. Otis Redding, one of the most influential artists of the 1960’s and beyond. On September 9th, 1941 in Dawson, Georgia, Otis Ray Redding, Jr was born. At an early age he started singing with the Vineville Baptist Church. He also performed frequently with a local talent show for five dollar cash prizes. He had won so much that eventually he was…show more content… He got his big break working as a driver for a guitarist named Johnny Jenkins. Along with being a driver he was also a gofer for Johnny Jenkins group, The Pinetoppers. There was one day that he had followed Johnny Jenkins to the recording studio, hoping to get to record his own music. As luck would have it, Johnny had finished early because he felt his own session was not making any progress and told Otis he could do some recording. He recorded two songs one of which was “These Arms of Mine.” This had become his first number one hit and propelled him to become one of the most popular black artists in the…show more content… He also toured all through Europe performing in London, Paris and Stolkholm. This was during a time when very few soul artists performed out of the United States. By 1967, he had become so popular that in England he had actually taken over Elvis Presley’s reigning eight years as “world’s best male vocalist” on Melody Maker’s annual pop poll. During his tour in 1967, upon his arrival he was picked up by The Beatles personal limousine. Otis Redding had enjoyed England so much, that he had said if he ever decided to move out of the United States he would move to