Otis Ray Redding Jr. was an American singer and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the greatest singer-songwriters 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. His singing style influenced many other soul artists of the 1960s.

Redding was born in Dawson, Georgia, the fourth of six children, and the first son of Otis Redding Sr. and Fannie Roseman. Redding Sr. was a sharecropper and then worked at Robins Air Force Base, near Macon, and occasionally preached in local churches. When Redding was three, the family moved to Tindall Heights, a predominantly African-American public housing project in Macon. At an early age, he sang in the Vineville Baptist Church choir and learned guitar and piano. From age 10, Redding took drum and singing lessons. At Ballard-Hudson High School, he sang in the school band. Every Sunday he earned $6 by performing gospel songs for Macon radio station WIBB, and he won the $5 prize in a teen talent show for 15 consecutive weeks. His passion was singing, and he often cited Little Richard and Sam Cooke as influences. Redding said that he "would not be here" without Little Richard and that he "entered the music business because of Richard – he is my inspiration. I used to sing like Little Richard, his rock 'n' roll stuff ... My present music has a lot of him in it.