Explore the Museum / Take a Virtual Gallery Tour / Featured Exhibit / Past Exhibits / Teacher's Corner

Otis Redding with his cattle on his Big O Ranch near Macon, Georgia. Courtesy Zelma Redding.

Telegram of condolence to Redding family from Booker T. & the MGs. Courtesy Zelma Redding.

OTIS REDDING: FROM MACON TO MEMPHIS - An Exhibit from the Private Collection of Zelma Redding

OTIS REDDING: FROM MACON TO MEMPHIS

An Exhibit from the Private Collection of Zelma Redding

December 10, 2007 – April 30, 2008

His rise in the music industry was nothing short of meteoric. He arrived at Stax Records in 1962 as the driver and equipment handler for Johnny Jenkins & the Pinetoppers, a band with whom he had occasionally performed in and around his native Macon, Georgia. At the end of the evening, after having asked all day for a chance to sing, Stax Records founder Jim Stewart and Booker T. & the MGs guitarist and songwriter Steve Cropper gave him that chance. There in the famed Studio A, when Otis Redding began singing "These Arms of Mine," the world changed forever. For the next five years, Redding would record hit after hit, take Europe by storm, and enthrall thousands of love children at the Monterey Pop Festival alongside the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Jefferson Airplane.

But the world changed again that same year, when, on December 10, 1967, Redding, the pilot, and all but two members of his touring band the Bar-Kays were killed when his plane crashed in Lake Monona, just a few minutes from the airport in Madison, Wisconsin. Only Bar-Kay trumpet player Ben Cauley survived the crash; fellow Bar-Kay member James Alexander was on a different, commercial flight. Otis Redding was 26 years old.

The Stax Museum of American Soul Music, located at the site of Stax Records in Memphis, Tennessee, where Redding recorded the songs that captured the hearts of millions, is proud to host a very special exhibit to pay homage to the singer, loving husband, and father. "OTIS REDDING: FROM MACON TO MEMPHIS - An Exhibit from the Private Collection of Zelma Redding" opens on Monday, December 10, 2007 in commemoration of Redding’s passing, and will be on display through April 30, 2008.

With items on loan from Otis Redding’s widow and daughter, Zelma and Karla Redding-Andrews, the exhibit features a collection of never-before-shown family photographs taken on the Reddings’ 300-acre ranch outside Macon, and shows more than Otis Redding the singer and entertainer. Redding is seen petting his cattle, holding his son Otis Redding III, pitching hay from his barn, and engaged in other activities that portray him at home. The exhibit also includes personal mementos from Mrs. Redding such as telegrams of condolence from Booker T. & the MGs, then-Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter, and others.

"Stax Records was like a second home for Otis," stated Zelma Redding. "He recorded some of his biggest hits there and worked with some of the world’s best musicians. We are pleased to be able to share some of our personal family moments in this exhibit."

In addition to the artifacts on loan from Zelma Redding and Karla Redding-Andrews, “OTIS REDDING: FROM MACON TO MEMPHIS” contains several items on loan from private collector Bob Grady and never-before-shown artifacts from the Stax Museum archives. “OTIS REDDING: FROM MACON TO MEMPHIS” is hosted with the assistance of ArtsMemphis, the Georgia Music Hall of Fame, and the Big “O” Youth Educational Dream Foundation, which the Redding family founded in 2007 in an effort to continue Redding’s dream of encouraging and assisting youth by enhancing their lives through education and the arts.

For more information, please contact Tim Sampson 901-261-6324, tim@soulsvilleusa.com, or Karen Lee 310-283-9171 kl364@aol.com. For more information about the Big “O” Foundation and other Otis Redding-related events, please visit www.otisredding.com. Images available upon request.

For more information, please contact Tim Sampson 901-261-6324, tim@soulsvilleusa.com, or Karen Lee 310-283-9171 kl364@aol.com. For more information about the Big “O” Foundation and other Otis Redding-related events, please visit www.otisredding.com. Images available upon request.

"I SHOT RAY CHARLES - Howard Moorehead, Photographer"

"I SHOT RAY CHARLES - Howard Moorehead, Photographer"

"I SHOT RAY CHARLES - Howard Moorehead, Photographer"

“I SHOT RAY CHARLES - Howard Morehead, Photographer"

June 6, 2008 - December 31, 2008

The Stax Museum of American Soul Music is pleased to announce that it will be home to a very special exhibit from June 6, through December 31, 2008 – “I SHOT RAY CHARLES, Howard Morehead, Photographer.” This collection of some 50 images of the late, great Ray Charles features the singer, songwriter, and entertainer as captured by the distinguished photographer Howard Morehead. One of the few successful African American photojournalists to work regularly in the entertainment field, one of Morehead’s favorite subjects was his friend Ray Charles. The photos in this exhibit span 40 years, depicting Charles at the peak of his career and in the twilight of his life. The show’s title comes from an essay written by Morehead and discovered among his photographs that were donated after his death in 2003 to the California African American Museum (CAAM) in Los Angeles, where this exhibit originated.

“I SHOT RAY CHARLES” is on loan from CAAM, which recently hosted the Stax Museum’s exhibit, “WATTSTAX: I Am Somebody.” The photographs have been carefully selected from the more than 2,500 photos that were donated to CAAM by Fran Cooper and the Morehead estate. While many of the photos capture Charles alone in his musical empire and personal space, others show him in the company of other icons, including the famed “It’s the Real Thing” Coca Cola commercial with soul mates Aretha Franklin and Billy Preston.


For more than 45 years, Howard Morehead, the first West Coast staff photographer for Ebony and Jet magazines, used his camera to create dramatic images, establish faces, distill time, and capture icons in action.
The Stax Museum of American Soul Music, located in Memphis, Tennessee at the original site of Stax Records, is an entity of the Soulsville Foundation, the nonprofit organization that also operates the Stax Music Academy and The Soulsville Charter School.

For more information, please contact Tim Sampson 901-261-6324, tim.sampson@soulsvillefoundation.org.



Sponsored by AT&T The Real Yellow Pages

www.yellowpages.com

 The above photo is from the Collection of the California African American Museum. Gift of Fran Cooper, Administrator fo the Howard Morehead Estate.