With astonishing breadth, respected music historian Ribowsky (The Supremes) deftly weaves Otis Redding's story with the rise and fall of Stax Records. Born the son of a preacher man in Macon, Ga., Redding gravitated toward the blues and R&B at a young age, even while his father warned him that singing such music could come to no good. By the time he turns 17, Otis is singing in clubs, showcasing his canny genius for singing the songs of other and writing his own. Phil Walden, a Mercer University student with a heart for rock and roll and a head for promotion, signs on as Redding's first manager, encouraging him eventually to head to Memphis and Stax, where Stax president Jim Stewart invites a reluctant Redding to lay down a track. From that moment, Redding's career begins to rise and in 1965 he scores a hit with "Respect," a song that illustrated Redding's vulnerability and his fear of losing his marriage. Ribowsky follows Redding from the Fillmore West to Monterey in order to illustrate the deep influence his music had on acts including the Grateful Dead and Janis Joplin. In the end, as Ribowsky brilliantly shows, Redding was a man of music, and that music's originality changed the face of rock 'n' roll and soul. (June) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

The world of music lost a giant in 1967 when singer Otis Redding was killed when his plane went down in a storm over Lake Monona in Wisconsin. Although only 26 years old at the time of his death, he had already, as prolific music author Ribowsky makes clear, transformed southern soul music by adding to the foundation laid by Little Richard and James Brown a deep emotional component that broadened its popularity to a white audience. His label, Stax, was a rawer alternative to Motown, and Redding a rougher side of soul than the silky Smokey Robinson. Redding's still-surviving widow, Zelma, has been zealously protective of her husband's legacy, but Ribowsky has labored hard to get at the singer's emotional center. Unlike other performers who died far too young, Redding's death did not come out of abuse, and though he suffered, it was a universal human suffering a pain in the heart that, partnered with unerring musical instinct, personal strength, and a little tenderness, he transformed into art. Ribowsky goes into the seamy side of the record business but also the sheer beauty and magic of the sixties soul music that Redding epitomized.--Levine, Mark Copyright 2015 Booklist