Otis Redding: Soul Ambassador
BBC4: Fri 31st May 9pm - 10pm
BBC4: Tomorrow 12am
Repeat: BBC4 Sunday 2nd June 12:30am
“He was an overcomer… He did not believe in ‘It can’t be done’.” So says Stax vice-president Al Bell of the label’s greatest star, Otis Redding. And there’s plenty of evidence for that in this electrifying profile.
At his 1960s peak, the Georgia-born soul star faced the brick wall of bigotry in his homeland. But his stoical optimism bled into the vocals on tracks such as A Change Is Gonna Come. Outside the recording studio the black and white musicians were individually castigated but, says keyboard king Booker T, “We walked in the door, we became a unit.”
A musical giant attracts big contributors (Bryan Ferry, Elton John, Lulu), but we also hear movingly from those who were closest to him, including his wife Zelma. However, the performance footage is the chief selling point. Impassioned is an over-used word, but in Redding’s case, it’s the mot juste.
Profile of the soul singer, documenting his childhood and career, including unseen home movies that reveal how his 1967 tour of Britain dramatically changed his life and music. Plus, footage of rare performances and intimate interviews with Redding's widow, daughter and previous band members Steve Cropper and Booker T.
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