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Otis Redding
Otis Redding's raw, emotionally intense vocal delivery, recorded at Stax Records in Memphis alongside the label's tightly rehearsed house band, became one of the defining sounds of Southern soul music during the mid-1960s, distinguishing his gritty, gospel-influenced style from the more polished, pop-oriented sound coming out of Motown at the same time. His performance at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, held in front of a predominantly white rock audience largely unfamiliar with his music beforehand, is widely credited with introducing Redding and Southern soul music to a broader mainstream American audience beyond his existing R&B fan base. Redding died in a plane crash in December 1967, just three days after recording "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay," a song notably more reflective and melancholic than his earlier, more upbeat material, and the single became his first and only number-one hit, released posthumously just weeks after his death. His original recording of "Respect," later reworked and transformed into an entirely different kind of anthem by Aretha Franklin's 1967 cover, remains one of the most significant examples in music history of a cover version eclipsing and reshaping the meaning of the original recording.
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Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder, blind since shortly after birth, signed to Motown Records at 11 and released his first number-one hit, "Fingertips, Pt. 2," at just 13, becoming one of the youngest artists ever to top the Billboard Hot 100 chart. His run of albums throughout the 1970s — Talking Book, Innervisions, Fulfillingness' First Finale, and Songs in the Key of Life — is widely regarded as one of the most sustained creative peaks in popular music history, and Wonder won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year three times during that decade alone. Wonder played most of the instruments on many of his own recordings himself, including keyboards, drums, and early synthesizers, and his pioneering use of the Moog synthesizer helped bring electronic instrumentation into mainstream soul and funk music years before it became standard across popular music generally. His advocacy helped establish Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a federal holiday, including a multi-year campaign built around his 1980 song "Happy Birthday," written specifically to build public support for the holiday, reflecting Wonder's sustained activism alongside his recording career.
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