Tracy Lynn Curry (born June 10, 1968), primarily known by his stage name The D.O.C., is an American rapper from Dallas, Texas. In addition to a solo career, he was a member of the hip hop group Fila Fresh Crew, and a creative force behind the gangsta rap group N.W.A, where he co-wrote many of their releases. He has also semi-frequently worked with Dr. Dre, who is one of the founders of N.W.A and produced two of his solo albums.

After Fila Fresh Crew split up in 1988, The D.O.C. went on to pursue a successful solo career. In 1989, he released his debut album, No One Can Do It Better, which reached number-one on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart for two weeks and spawned two number one hits on the Hot Rap Songs chart: "It's Funky Enough" and "The D.O.C. & The Doctor". The album went platinum five years after its release. Months after the release of No One Can Do It Better, The D.O.C. almost died when a car accident resulted in crushing his larynx, permanently changing his voice. Since his recovery, he has released two more albums, Helter Skelter and Deuce, both released 7 years apart. Since 2008,^[1] The D.O.C. has been working on new material for his fourth album Voices through Hot Vessels.

Music career[link]

[edit] Early career and No One Can Do It Better (1986–1989)

Curry began his career as a member of Fila Fresh Crew, a hip hop group that was originally based in Dallas, Texas. While in the group, The D.O.C was known as Doc-T. The group had four tracks featured on the compilation album N.W.A. and the Posse, which was released in 1987 and featured various other artists. The same four tracks would later appear on the groups album Tuffest Man Alive, released in 1988. The group disbanded shortly after its release, however.

After leaving the Fila Fresh Crew, Doc-T moved to Los Angeles, and changed his stage name to The D.O.C.. He was signed to Ruthless Records and contributed lyrics and vocals to N.W.A.'s debut album, Straight Outta Compton, Eazy-E's debut, Eazy-Duz-It and co-wrote "Keep Watchin'" from Michel'le's self-titled debut album (all three produced by Dr. Dre). In 1989, The D.O.C. released his Dr. Dre-produced debut album, No One Can Do It Better. The album was very well received by critics, and sold very well, peaking at #20 on the Billboard 200, eventually going platinum.^[2] Allmusic gives the album a five-star rating and describes it as "an early landmark of West Coast Rap" as well as "an undeniable masterpiece".

Accident and aftermath (1989–2007)[link]

In November 1989, five months after the release of No One Can Do It Better, The D.O.C was involved in a near-fatal car accident. Driving home from a party, he fell asleep at the wheel and his car veered off the freeway. Curry, who was not wearing a seat belt, was thrown out the rear window, slamming face first into a tree. His injuries required 21 hours of plastic surgery, and he spent 2½ weeks in the hospital. He couldn't speak for about a month, and he was left with a different, raspier voice.^[3]

However, The D.O.C. remained important to N.W.A; he continued to write for the group and contributed lyrics to their final album Niggaz4Life and their 1990 EP 100 Miles and Runnin', where he co-wrote all the songs except for "Just Don't Bite It" and "Kamurshol". Dr. Dre also used his talents as one of the writers for his debut solo album The Chronic, on Death Row Records contributing to the tracks "Lil' Ghetto Boy," "A Nigga Witta Gun," and "Bitches Ain't Shit". He also appeared on the skit track "The $20 Sack Pyramid." He is referenced by name in "Nuthin' but a G Thang," and appears in the song's video as well. The liner notes to The Chronic say, "I want to give a special shout out to The D.O.C. for talking me into doin' this album." His name is mentioned by Snoop Dogg in the intro of the album. ("Peace to my nigga D.O.C., still makin' it funky enough").

In addition to The Chronic, The D.O.C. worked on Snoop Dogg's debut album Doggystyle, and added some vocals on the song "Serial Killa". The D.O.C. continued to be a ghostwriter for various songs on Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg albums.

The Dr. Dre song "What's the Difference?" from the album 2001 features the following lyrics, sung by Dre:

Back when Cube - was rollin wit Lorenzo in a Benzo I was bangin wit a gang of instrumentals, got the pens and pencils, got down to business; but sometimes the business end of this shit can turn your friends against you - but you was a real nigga, I could sense it in you - I still remember the window of the car that you went through, that's fucked up - But I'll never forget the shit we been through, and I'ma do whatever it takes to convince you, cuz you my nigga D.O.C.

[edit] Surgery and Voices Through Hot Vessels (2008–present)

In a May 2008 interview, The D.O.C. revealed that he and Dr. Dre were working on his fourth album, entitled Voices Through Hot Vessels. He explained, "There is an album, and you got the title, but that's also because that's the title Dre likes. Dre and I decided to do another D.O.C. album after this Detox record. We decided to do one more together and end our story the right way."^[4]

According to a 2009 interview, Snoop Dogg assisted The D.O.C. in seeking a voice therapist. It was found that The D.O.C.'s vocal cords are not irreparably severed or crushed, and that his voice could still be surgically restored by up to 70%. As such, LA-Based Publicist, Idalyze Nasiha Rose, has assisted him in finding a surgeon who will repair his vocal cords.^[5] The D.O.C. is currently undergoing final tests before the surgery takes place, which may or may not be televised.

There is a great deal of buzz about The D.O.C.'s documentary film about the early days of The D.O.C. and presumably his accident, drug addiction and road to recovery. The D.O.C. is writing a book about his experiences on Ruthless Records and Death Row Records, his vocal surgery and subsequent recovery.

The D.O.C. will be making one of many trips to Barcelona to meet with HMG label owner Alex Roberts whom he contacted in 2009 to set up a meeting with Roberts associate Dr. Paolo Macchiarini, and it was March 2011 that The D.O.C. finally arrived in Barcelona to meet with Roberts and Dr. Macchiarini where he and Dr. Macchiarini discussed the first part of the procedure on what it would take to restore The D.O.C.'s voice which will take place at the world-renowned doctor's clinic in either Stockholm, Sweden or perhaps Florence, Italy. The D.O.C. will have his film crew with him.

In 2011, The D.O.C. rejoined forces with his long time business partner—entertainment and digital media entrepreneur John "Tech" Huffman—to start a company called DOC Ventures (DOCv). The D.O.C. and Tech are also class A shareholders and executive producers of HipHopDraft in America presents "I Got My Voice Back".

Personal life[link]

The D.O.C. dated Erykah Badu for several years. Together they have a daughter named Puma, born on July 5, 2004.^[6]

Media appearances[link]

• The song "It's Funky Enough" has appeared on popular video games Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, True Crime: Streets of LA and Madden 2005. Also, "Whirlwind Pyramid" appeared on Tony Hawk's Underground 2 and "The Formula" appeared on True Crime: Streets of LA. And his song Mind Blowin' was part of the NBA Live 2005 soundtrack.
• He made a guest appearance in Shyne's music-video for the song "That's Gangsta", which samples the same beat D.O.C. uses for his first hit "It's Funky Enough", Foster Sylvers's "Misdemeanor". The song "Lend Me An Ear" was featured on Lakai skate shoe's video "Fully Flared."

Discography[link]

Studio albums

• 1989: No One Can Do It Better
• 1996: Helter Skelter
• 2003: Deuce
• 2012: Voices through Hot Vessels^[7]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Interview at HipHopDX (Hoopla Media Group)
• Interview at HipHopDX (Hoopla Media Group)
• The DOC The 411 on The DOC [authored by Balance: 411@hiphop.sh]
• Interview 2008 at BallerStatus.com by Chad Kiser
• MySpace
• Interview Part 1 2008 at DubCNN.com by Chad Kiser
• Interview Part 2 2008 at DubCNN.com by Chad Kiser
• Interview at DubCNN.com
• The D.O.C. discography at Discogs.com
• Interview at ThaFormula.Com
• The D.O.C. at Allmusic

Look up doc or DOC in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

DOC, Doc or doc may refer to:

Media[link]

• Doc (TV series), a 2001-2004 PAX series
• Doc (1975 TV series), a 1975-1976 CBS sitcom
• "D.O.C." (Lost), a television episode
• Doc Films, a University of Chicago film society
• Doc (film), a 1971 Western film
• Documentary Organization of Canada, known as DOC, is a non-profit organization supporting documentary filmmakers in Canada

Computing[link]

• DOC (computing), a word processing file format, typically used by Microsoft Word.
• DiskOnChip, a type of flash memory device
• Dave's own version of Citadel, a bulletin board software variant

Food and wine appellations[link]

• Denominazione di origine controllata, an Italian level of classification
• Denominação de Origem Controlada, a Portuguese level of classification
• Denominación de Origen Calificada, a Spanish level of classification

People[link]

"Doc" is a common slang term for a physician; dentist; or, in the US Military, a Hospital Corpsman.

• Doc Blanchard (1924-2009), American football player and fighter pilot
• Doc Brown (rapper), British rapper and comedian
• Doc Hammer, American musician and writer of The Venture Bros
• Doc Holliday (1851-1887), American dentist, gunfighter, and gambler
• Doc Medich (b. 1948), American baseball player
• Doc Neeson (b. 1947), Irish-born Australian rock singer
• Doc Pomus (1925-1991), American blues singer and songwriter
• Doc Rivers (b. 1961), American basketball player and coach
• Doc Searls (b. 1947), journalist and author
• Doc Severinsen (b. 1927), American trumpeter and bandleader
• Doc Shaw (b. 1992), American actor, singer and rapper
• Doc Watson (b. 1923), American musician and songwriter
• A.A. Ames (1842-1911), American politician
• Mike Emrick (b. 1946), American hockey broadcaster
• Dwight Gooden (b. 1964), American baseball player
• Roy Halladay (b. 1977), American baseball player
• Harold L. Humes (1926-1992), American writer and activist
• Donald Minnegan (1902-2002), former coach and athletic director at Towson University
• Donncha O'Callaghan (b. 1979), Irish rugby union footballer
• Krzysztof Raczkowski (1970-2005), musician
• E. E. Smith (1890-1965), American science fiction writer
• The D.O.C., American rapper

Fictional characters[link]

• Doc (Buffyverse), a character in Buffy the Vampire Slayer
• Doc (Chrono Cross)
• Doc (G.I. Joe), two characters in the G.I. Joe universe
• Doc (cartoon character), an animated cat introduced by Walter Lantz Studios in 1959
• Doc Daneeka, a character in the novel Catch-22
• Doc Hudson, a character in the film Cars
• Doc Louis, a character in the video game series Punch-Out!!
• Doc Savage, a character in pulp fiction
• Emmett Brown, a scientist from Back to the Future
• Monte 'Doc' Parker, a character in the series Third Watch
• Doc, a character in the series Fraggle Rock
• Doc, a character in the series Red vs. Blue
• Doc, a character in the film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (generally considered to be the head dwarf, as he leads them from the diamond mine home and makes the decision to allow Snow White to become their resident housekeeper)
• Doc Saturday, a character in the series The Secret Saturdays
• Doc Boy, a character from the Garfield series

Medicine[link]

• DOC, an abbreviation for drug of choice in pharmacology
• DOC, an abbreviation for either of two different drugs:
  • 11-Deoxycorticosterone, a steroid hormone, or
  • 2,5-Dimethoxy-4-chloroamphetamine, a psychedelic amphetamine

Other uses[link]

• Dartmouth Outing Club
• Day-old cockerel, a term in falconry
• Department of Conservation (New Zealand)
• Department of Corrections (various)
• United States Department of Commerce
• Diesel Oxidation Catalyst, a diesel retrofit system for automobiles
• Dissolved organic carbon, a molecule classification
• Doc (mascot), the Towson University mascot
• Dominion of Canada
• Dóc, a village in Csongrád County, Hungary
• Dóc, the Hungarian name for Dolaţ village, Livezile Commune, Timiş County, Romania
• ISO 639-3 code for the North Dong language or dialect

See also[link]

• Dock (disambiguation)
• Documentation

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

O.co Coliseum Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum
The Coliseum, Oakland Coliseum
O.co Coliseum logo
Former names	Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum (1966–1998, 2004–present) Network Associates Coliseum (1998–2004) McAfee Coliseum (2004–2008) Overstock.com Coliseum (May 2011)
Location	7000 Coliseum Way Oakland, California 94621
Coordinates	37°45′6″N 122°12′2″W / 37.75167°N 122.20056°W / 37.75167; -122.20056Coordinates: 37°45′6″N 122°12′2″W / 37.75167°N 122.20056°W / 37.75167; -122.20056
Broke ground	April 15, 1964[1]
Opened	September 18, 1966
Renovated	1995-1996
Owner	Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority (City of Oakland and Alameda County)
Operator	SMG
Surface	Bluegrass
Construction cost	$25.5 million ($183 million in 2012 dollars[2]) $200 million (1995-1996 renovation) ($296 million in 2012 dollars[2])
Architect	Skidmore, Owings and Merrill HNTB (1995-1996 renovation)
General Contractor	Guy F. Atkinson Company[1]
Capacity	Baseball: 35,067 (expandable to approx. 60,000) Football: 63,026 Soccer: 47,416 or 63,026 (depending on configuration)
Field dimensions	Left Field - 330 feet (101 m) Left-Center - 367 feet (112 m) Center Field - 400 feet (122 m) Right-Center - 367 feet (112 m) Right Field - 330 feet (101 m) Backstop - 60 feet (18 m)
Tenants
Oakland Athletics (MLB) (1968–present) Oakland Raiders (AFL / NFL) (1966–1981, 1995–present) Oakland Invaders (USFL) (1983–1985) Oakland Clippers (NPSL/NASL) (1967–68) Oakland Stompers (NASL) (1978) San Jose Earthquakes (MLS) (2008–2009)[3]

O.co Coliseum^[4] – also known as Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum^[5], and commonly The Oakland Coliseum or The Coliseum; and formerly known as Network Associates Coliseum, McAfee Coliseum, and Overstock.com Coliseum^[6] – is a multi-purpose stadium, located in Oakland, California, in the Coliseum Industrial area. It contains 6,300 club seats (of which 2,700 are available for Athletics games) and 143 luxury suites (of which 125 are available for Athletics games), with a variable seating capacity of 35,067 for baseball, 63,026 for football, and either 47,416 or 63,026 for soccer, (depending on configuration).

It is part of the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum complex, which consists of the stadium and neighboring Oracle Arena.

It is currently home to the Oakland Athletics, of MLB, and the Oakland Raiders, of the NFL. It was also home to the San Jose Earthquakes, of MLS, who used the stadium for several larger attendance games, during the 2008-2009 seasons. As of September 28, 2011, the Coliseum is the last multi-purpose stadium to serve as a full-time home to both an MLB team and an NFL team.

It also hosted some games of the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup.

Stadium history[link]

1960s[link]

Business and political leaders in Oakland had long been in competition with its neighbor, San Francisco, as well as other cities in the West, and were also trying for Oakland and its suburbs (the greater East Bay) to be seen nationally as a viable metropolitan area with its own identity and reputation, distinct and separate from that of San Francisco; professional sports was seen as a primary way for the East Bay to gain such recognition. As a result, the desire for a major-league caliber stadium in the city of Oakland intensified during the 1950s and 1960s.^{[citation needed]}

By 1960, a non-profit corporation was formed to oversee the financing and development of the facility (rather than city or county government issuing taxpayer-backed bonds for construction). Local real estate developer Robert T. Nahas headed this group (which included other prominent East Bay business leaders such as former US Senator William Knowland and Edgar F. Kaiser), which later became the governing board of the Coliseum upon completion. It was Nahas' idea that the Coliseum be privately financed with ownership transferring to the city and county upon retirement of the construction financing.^[7]

Robert T. Nahas served twenty years as President of the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Board. On the death of Nahas, the San Francisco Chronicle's Rick DelVecchio quoted Jack Maltester, a former San Leandro mayor and Coliseum board member, "If not for Bob Nahas, there would be no Coliseum, it's really that simple." Nahas had to be a diplomat dealing with the egos of (Raiders owner) Al Davis, (Athletics owner) Charles O. Finley and (Golden State Warriors owner) Franklin Mieuli.

Preliminary architectural plans were unveiled in November 1960, and the following month a site was chosen west of the Elmhurst district of East Oakland alongside the then-recently completed Nimitz Freeway. A downtown site adjacent to Lake Merritt and the Oakland Auditorium (which itself, many years later, would be renamed the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center) was also originally considered.^[7] The Port of Oakland played a key role in the East Oakland site selection; The Port swapped 157 acres (64 ha) at the head of San Leandro Bay to the East Bay Regional Park District, in exchange for 105 acres (42 ha) of park land across the freeway, which the Port in turn donated to the City of Oakland as the site for the Coliseum sports complex.^[8]

The Oakland Raiders of the American Football League moved to Frank Youell Field, a makeshift stadium near downtown Oakland, in 1962, and the Coliseum was already being heralded in the local media as the Raiders' future permanent home. Baseball was also a major factor in the planning of the Coliseum. As early as 1961, the American League publicly indicated that it wished to include Oakland in its West Coast expansion plans. In 1963, American League president Joe Cronin suggested that Coliseum officials model some aspects of the new ballpark after then-new Dodger Stadium, which impressed him,^[9] though these expansion plans seemed to fade by the middle of the decade.

After approval from the city of Oakland as well as Alameda County by 1962, $25 million in financing was arranged. Plans were drawn for a stadium, an indoor arena and an exhibition hall in between them. The architect of record was the San Francisco office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and the general contractor was Guy F. Atkinson Company. Preliminary site preparation began in the summer of 1961. Construction began in the spring of 1962. The construction schedule was delayed for two years due to various legal issues and cost overruns; the original design of the Coliseum had to be modified slightly in order to stay on budget.^[10] (For details on the indoor arena, now known as Oracle Arena, refer to that facility's article.)

In 1965, it was rumored that the Cleveland Indians might leave Cleveland for a West Coast city (such as Oakland), but the Indians ended up remaining in Cleveland. Charlie Finley, owner of the Kansas City A's, unhappy in Kansas City, impressed by Oakland's new stadium and personally convinced to consider Oakland by Nahas,^[11] eventually got permission after several unsuccessful attempts and amid considerable controversy, to relocate his American League franchise to the stadium for the 1968 season (for details on the controversy, see the separate articles for the A's and the Kansas City Royals, the expansion franchise created to replace the A's in Kansas City).

The Raiders played their first game at the stadium on September 18, 1966. In 1968, the Kansas City Athletics became the Oakland Athletics and began play at the new stadium. The Athletics' first game was played on April 17, 1968. The stadium complex cost $25.5 million to build and rests on 120 acres (49 ha) of land. On April 17, 1968, Boog Powell hit the first major league home run in the history of the Coliseum.^[12] On May 8 of that year, Catfish Hunter pitched the ninth perfect game in Major League history at the Coliseum.^[13]

The Coliseum features an underground design where the playing surface is actually below ground level (21 feet / 6 meters below sea level). Consequently fans entering the stadium find themselves walking on to the main concourse of the stadium at the top of the first level of seats. This, combined with the hill that was built around the stadium to create the upper concourse, means that only the third deck is visible from outside the park. This gives the Coliseum the illusion of being a short stadium from the outside.

In its baseball configuration, the Coliseum has far and away the most foul territory of any major league ballpark. This is especially the case along the foul lines. Thus, many balls that would reach the seats in other ballparks are caught for outs at the Coliseum. The distance to the backstop was initially 90 feet (27 m), but was reduced to 60 feet (18 m) in 1969.

From 1968 through 1981 and again in 1995, two football configurations were used at the stadium. During Raider preseason games and all regular season games played while baseball season was still going on, the field was set up from home plate to center field. Seats that were down the foul lines for baseball games became the sideline seats for football games, which started up to 120 feet away from the field (most football-only stadiums have sideline seats that start around 60 feet away). Once the A's season ended, the orientation was switched: the football field ran from the left field line to the right field line, seats were moved from behind first and third base to create corners for the end zone to fit into (these seats were then placed to fill in the space that was normally behind home plate and near the foul poles for baseball games). Temporary football bleachers were then added in front of the baseball bleachers to form the sideline on the east (visitors') side, and the baseball bleachers were not sold. Raider season ticket holders would thus have two season ticket locations in different parts of the stadium that roughly corresponded to the same location in relation to the field.

1970s[link]

The Black Hole (sections 104, 105, 106, and 107) during a Raiders home game against the Atlanta Falcons on November 2, 2008

From 1970-72 the stadium hosted three college football benefit games featuring Bay Area schools versus historically black colleges.

Hosted the 1971 East–West Shrine Game on January 2nd, 1971.

In 1972, the Athletics won their first of three straight World Series championships and their first since their years in Philadelphia.

Commencing in 1973, the stadium hosted an annual Days on the Green concert series, presented by Bill Graham and his company Bill Graham Presents, which continued on into the early 90s.

Marvin Gaye made his official return to live performing and touring at the Coliseum on January 4, 1974 and the Coliseum was the basis for his one-million selling live album, Marvin Gaye Live! At the time, music industry executives cited the tour as a "heralded event" as Gaye made a comeback to live touring nearly four years after the death of his late singing partner Tammi Terrell.

Led Zeppelin played what turned out to be their final North American concerts with twin shows during their 1977 North American Tour. After their first show on July 23, members of Led Zeppelin's entourage were arrested after a member of promoter Bill Graham's staff was physically assaulted during the performance.

The awkwardness of the baseball-football conversion, as well as the low seating capacity (around 54,000 for football) and that the prime seating on the east side consisted of temporary bleachers led the Raiders to explore other stadium options. One such option was Memorial Stadium on the UC Berkeley campus. Several preseason games were played there in the early 1970's along with one regular season game in 1973 (a 12-7 victory over the Miami Dolphins during September while the A's regular season was going on). However, in response to traffic and parking issues associated with these games (while Cal games drew a large number of students who live on or near campus and walk to the games, Raider games attracted fans from a larger geographic area who were used to tailgating at the Coliseum and were more likely to drive to games), the City of Berkeley passed a Professional Sports Events License Tax in which the city collected 10% of all gate receipts, making the staging of professional games inside the city cost-prohibitive. The Raiders were granted an injunction from the city collecting the tax, arguing that the tax was a regulatory measure rather than a revenue measure, and was therefore an improper regulation on land held in trust by the Regents of the University of California. However, the grant of the injunction was reversed by the California Court of Appeals, who found it to be a revenue measure, despite the fact that the city had made the measure immediately effective "due to danger to the public peace, health, and safety of the City of Berkeley as a result of the holding of professional sports events there."^[14]

The stadium was not well maintained for most of the late 1970s. Its condition was most noticeable during baseball season, when crowds for A's games twice numbered fewer than 1,000. On 17 April 1979, only 653 fans attended the game versus the Seattle Mariners.^[15] During this time, it was popularly known as the "Oakland Mausoleum."

1980s[link]

In 1980, the Raiders won Super Bowl XV. Two years later, the Raiders moved to Los Angeles, leaving the A's as the only remaining tenants of Oakland Coliseum. Only days later, Finley sold the A's to Marvin Davis, who planned to move the A's to Denver. However, city and county officials were not about to lose Oakland's status as a major-league city in its own right, and refused to let the A's out of their lease. Finley was forced to sell the team to the owners of San Francisco-based Levi Strauss & Co.

An A's game at the Coliseum in 1980

The Bill King Broadcast Booth; note the tarp on the third deck

The 1987 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was held at the stadium. From 1988-1990, the venue saw three more World Series. In 1989, the Athletics won their fourth Series since moving to Oakland, sweeping the San Francisco Giants in the earthquake-interrupted "Battle of the Bay" Series.

The stadium played host to Amnesty International's Human Rights Now! Benefit Concert on September 23, 1988. The show was headlined by Sting and Peter Gabriel and also featured Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Tracy Chapman, Youssou N'Dour, Roy Orbison and Joan Baez.

1990s[link]

In the '90s, several major concerts were held, but these were not "Days on the Green", by definition, because they occurred at night.

Richard Marx shot the Video for Take This Heart on the Baseball field of the Coliseum.

Metallica and Guns N' Roses brought the Guns N' Roses/Metallica Stadium Tour to the coliseum on September 24, 1992, with Body Count as their opening act.

The stadium was the location for the 1994 Disney movie Angels in the Outfield. Although Angel Stadium of Anaheim (known as Anaheim Stadium at the time) was where the Angels actually played, it was damaged in the 1994 Southern California earthquake. Anaheim Stadium was used for views from the outside and aerial views, while the Coliseum was used for interior shots.

In July 1995, the Raiders agreed to return to Oakland provided that Oakland Coliseum underwent renovations. In November 1995, those renovations commenced and continued through the next summer until the beginning of the 1996 football season (more info below). The new layout also had the somewhat peculiar effect of creating an inward jog in the outfield fence, in left-center and right-center. There are now three distance markers instead of one, at various points of the power alleys, as indicated in the dimensions grid. The Raiders return also heralded the creation of the "Black Hole," a highly recognizable group of fans who occupy one end zone seating during football games.

Along with the since-demolished Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, the stadium features the unusual configuration of laying the football field on a line from first to third base rather than laying it from home plate to center field, or parallel to one of the foul lines, as with most multi-purpose facilities. Thus, a seat behind home plate for baseball is behind the 50-yard line for football. With the Marlins opening their own ballpark in 2012, the stadium is set to become the last venue in the United States that hosts both Major League Baseball and an NFL team.

2000s[link]

On April 2, 2006, the broadcast booth was renamed in honor of the late Bill King, a legendary Bay Area sportscaster who was the play-by-play voice of the A's, Raiders and Warriors for 44 years.

On September 8, 2006, the stadium played host to The Gigantour, featuring performances by Megadeth, Lamb of God, Opeth, Arch Enemy, Overkill, Into Eternity, Sanctity and The SmashUp.^[16]

In November 2007, the San Jose Earthquakes, of MLS, announced they would be playing their "big draw" games, such as those featuring David Beckham and the Los Angeles Galaxy, at the stadium. Regular draw games are being played at Buck Shaw Stadium, in Santa Clara.^[17]

Midway through the decade, the stadium established a "no re-entry" policy. Each ticket can only be used once, after which a second ticket must be purchased in order to re-enter the Coliseum.

2010s[link]

On May 9, 2010, almost 42 years to the day of Catfish Hunter's perfect game, Dallas Braden pitched the 19th perfect game in Major League history at the Coliseum. A commemorative graphic was placed on the baseball outfield wall next to Rickey Henderson's retired number on May 17, their next home game.

U2 performed during their 360° Tour on June 7, 2011, with Lenny Kravitz and Moonalice as their opening acts. The show was originally scheduled to take place on June 16, 2010, but was postponed, due to Bono's emergency back surgery. As an emergency replacement, The Crunchees filled in at the last minute.

Naming rights[link]

The logo from 2004–2008

Logo from 2008–11

Logo from early 2011

In September 1997, UMAX Technologies agreed to acquire the naming rights to the stadium. However, following a dispute, a court decision reinstated the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum name. In 1998, Network Associates agreed to pay $5.8 million over five years for the naming rights and the stadium became known as Network Associates Coliseum, or, alternately in marketing and media usage as, "the Net."

In 2003, Network Associates renewed the contract for an additional five years at a cost of $6 million. In mid-2004, Network Associates was renamed McAfee, restoring its name from before its 1997 merger with Network General, and the stadium was renamed McAfee Coliseum accordingly.

In 2008, McAfee was offered a renewal of the naming contract, but it was declined. On September 19, 2008, the name reverted back to the pre-1997 name of Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. The stadium retained its original name until April 27, 2011, when it was renamed Overstock.com Coliseum via a 6 year, 1.2 million dollar naming rights deal with online retailer Overstock.com. On June 6, 2011, the Coliseum was renamed O.co Coliseum, after Overstock.com's marketing name. However due to a contract dispute with the Athletics regarding the Overstock/O.co naming rights deal, the A's continue to refer to the stadium as the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum in all official team communications and on team websites.^[18]

Despite the different name changes, locals generally refer to the stadium as "The Coliseum." This fits the trend of older stadium renamings being rejected by the general public. This is especially true in the San Francisco Bay Area where changes to the name of nearby Candlestick Park have been wholly rejected by voters, and changes to the names of both Pacific Bell Park and the San Jose Arena were received with much negative criticism and widely ignored by fans and media alike.

Seating capacity[link]

Possible replacements[link]

On August 12, 2005, the A's new owner Lewis Wolff made the A's first official proposal for a new ballpark in Oakland to the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority. The new stadium would have been located across 66th Avenue from the Coliseum in what is currently an industrial area north of the Coliseum. The park would have held 35,000 fans, making it the smallest park in the major leagues. Plans for the Oakland location fell through in early 2006 when several of the owners of the land proposed for the new ballpark made known their wish to not sell.

Throughout 2006, the Athletics continued to search for a ballpark site within their designated territory of Alameda County. Late in 2006, rumors began to circulate regarding a 143-acre (58 ha) parcel of land in Fremont, California being the new site. These rumors were confirmed by the Fremont city council on November 8 of that year. Wolff met with the council that day to present his plan to move the A's to Fremont into a soon to be built ballpark named Cisco Field. Wolff and Cisco Systems conducted a Press Conference at the San Jose-based headquarters of Cisco Systems on November 14, 2006 to confirm the deal, and showcase some details of the future plan. However, on February 24, 2009, after delays and increased public opposition, the Athletics officially ended their search for a stadium site in Fremont.^[19] Speculation was raised as to whether or not the Athletics franchise would remain in Northern California in the long term as a result of the termination of the Cisco Field plan.

The Coliseum in 1980 before construction of the Mount Davis structure (top) and Mt. Davis during baseball season in 2006, with tarp-covered upper deck (middle); the structure during football season. (bottom)

In 2010, two building sites have become leading candidates for a new Athletics' home: a site in downtown San Jose located near HP Pavilion (home of the NHL San Jose Sharks) and a proposed stadium in Oakland named Victory Court.^[20]

Under any such replacement proposals, the Oakland Raiders would presumably continue to play football in the Coliseum, although there have been recent proposals for a new football-only stadium in the Bay Area which the Raiders could share with the San Francisco 49ers and rumors regarding the Raiders' possible return to Los Angeles.^[21][22][23]

Mount Davis[link]

One feature of the 1996 expansion was the addition of over 10,000 seats in the upper deck that now spans the outfield in the baseball configuration. The effect of these new stands, comprising sections 335–355, was to completely enclose the stadium, eliminating the view of the Oakland hills that had been the stadium's backdrop for 30 years.

The stands are very narrow and steeply pitched, bringing the back row of its uppermost tier to a height rarely seen in modern stadiums. Due to the stands' height and the loss of the Oakland hills view, A's fans have derisively nicknamed the structure "Mount Davis" or "the AL-ps," in mockery of late Raiders owner Al Davis.^{[citation needed]}

It has been criticized as an area which has made the O.co Coliseum look ever more like a football stadium, and not at all one for baseball.^[24] From 1997 through 2004, the A's left the section open, but it was rarely filled except for fireworks nights and the postseason. The A's did not count the area in the listed capacity for baseball; hence, even though the "official" baseball capacity was 43,662 (48,219 with standing room), the "actual" capacity was around 60,000.

The tarp[link]

In 2006, the Athletics covered the entire third deck with a tarp, reducing capacity to 34,077—the smallest capacity in the majors. For the 2008 season, Sections 316–318 of the 3rd deck behind home plate were re-opened as the A's introduced their own "All-You-Can-Eat" seating area, similar to the right field bleachers at Dodger Stadium. This has increased the Coliseum's capacity for baseball to 35,067 - still very small. For the 2009 season, seats were $35 and only sold on a single game basis; All-You-Can-Eat seating was offered for every game in 2008, but for 2009 the section was only open for weekend games (Friday-Sunday) & all games against the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, and San Francisco Giants. For 2010, the A's discontinued All-You-Can-Eat, instead rebranding the area as the "Value Deck". Prices for these seats have decreased to $12 and are sold for every game ($15 price for premium games). To help compensate for the loss of AYCE, the A's have introduced Jumbo-Tickets that have stored stadium credit for food & merchandise ($10 on Plaza Club tickets & $6 for Value Deck tickets). Even if the game is otherwise sold out, the A's will not sell any seats in the area that remains covered.

An exception may be made if the A's return to the postseason. However, the A's did not remove the tarp during the 2006 postseason. Though it was never officially confirmed, it was widely speculated that the MLB Commissioner's office had plans to order the removal of the tarp in the event that the A's advanced to the 2006 World Series. Oakland was swept by the Detroit Tigers in the ALCS, making any such tarp-removal plans moot.

The closure of the upper deck can also be viewed as establishing two seating configurations: the lower and middle decks for baseball, and all sections plus additional seating for football and concerts.

The Coliseum during A's game in September 2008

See also[link]

San Francisco Bay Area portal

• Oracle Arena

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: O.co Coliseum

• Stadium site on oaklandathletics.com
• Official Site
• County Coliseum_coliseum.htm Visit to Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum
• History of Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum
• USGS aerial of Coliseum-Arena complex
• College football at the Oakland Coliseum from FootballGeography.com

Otis Ray Redding, Jr. (September 9, 1941 – December 10, 1967) was an American soul singer-songwriter, record producer, arranger, and talent scout. He is considered one of the major figures in soul music and rhythm and blues (R&B), and one of the greatest singers in popular music. His open-throated singing was an influence on other soul singers of the 1960s, and he helped to craft the lean and powerful style of R&B that formed the basis of the Stax Sound. After appearing at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, he wrote and recorded "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay", which became a number-one record on both the pop and R&B charts after his death in a plane crash.

Redding was born and raised in the American state of Georgia. At age 15, he left school to support his family by working with Little Richard's backing band, The Upsetters, and by playing talent shows for prize money. In 1958, he joined Johnny Jenkins's band, The Pinetoppers, and toured the Southern United States while serving as driver and musician. An unscheduled appearance on a session led to a turning point in his career. He signed a contract with Stax Records and released his debut album, Pain in My Heart, in 1964. This album produced his first Stax single, "These Arms of Mine".

Although Redding's initial popularity was with African Americans, he later became equally popular among the broader American public. He and his group first played small gigs in the South, then performed at the Whisky a Go Go nightclub, their first concert in the western United States. Internationally, Redding later performed in Paris and London among other venues. Redding's death was devastating for Stax, which was on the verge of bankruptcy. Later Stax discovered that Atlantic Records owned the rights to the entire catalog. Redding received many accolades, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Because of his influence on other artists, he received the honorific "King of Soul".

Early life[link]

Redding was born in Dawson, Georgia to gospel singer Otis Redding, Sr., and housekeeper Fannie Redding. His father had worked as a sharecropper and then at Robins Air Force Base, on weekends sometimes as a part-time preacher. When Redding was three, the family moved to Tindall Heights, a predominantly African American public housing project in nearby Macon. For a short time they lived in a small house in Bellevue. When it burned down the family moved back to Tindall.^[4] At an early age, he sang in the Vineville Baptist Church choir and learned guitar and piano. From the age of 10, he took drum and singing lessons. Later, at Ballard-Hudson High School, he sang in a school band. Every Sunday he earned US$6 by performing songs for Macon radio station WIBB.^[5] His passion was singing and often cited Little Richard and Sam Cooke as major influences. Redding said, "If it hadn't been for Little Richard, I would not be here. I entered the music business because of Richard – he is my inspiration. I used to sing like Little Richard, his Rock 'n' Roll stuff, you know. Richard has soul, too. My present music has a lot of him in it."^[6][7]

At age fifteen, Redding abandoned school to help his family financially. His father had contracted tuberculosis and was often hospitalized, leaving his mother as the primary financial provider for the family.^[4] Redding worked as a well digger, gas station attendant and guest musician in the following years. Another inspiration for Redding was the pianist Gladdy Williams, a well-known Macon musician. She often performed at Hillview Springs Social Club, where Redding sometimes played piano. When she hosted talent shows on Sundays, Redding accompanied his friends from the neighborhood, such as Little Willie Jones and bassist Eddie Ross.^[8] His breakthrough came when he played Little Richard's "Heebie Jeebies", winning a $5 contest fifteen weeks in a row, until being banned.^[9] Redding was soon hired by Little Richard's band The Upsetters. He was well-paid at about $25 per gig,^[4][5] but he did not stay for long.^[10]

In 1958, Redding had the opportunity to compete on disc jockey Hamp Swain's "The Teenage Party", a music contest at the Roxy Theatre, then at the Douglass Theatre.^[11] His backing band was not professional, so gig attendee Johnny Jenkins offered help. Jenkins later worked as lead guitarist and played with Redding on several gigs; with Jenkins' help, he won the contest every week.^[12] Shortly afterwards, he was invited to replace Willie Jones, frontman of Pat T. Cake and the Mighty Panters, featuring Jenkins on guitar.^[8] At the age of 19, Redding met 15-year-old Zelma Atwood at "The Teenage Party". She gave birth to Redding's son, Dexter, in the summer of 1960 and married Redding in August 1961.^[13] In mid-1960, he moved to Los Angeles with his sister, Deborah, and wrote his first songs including "She's Allright", "Tuff Enuff", "I'm Gettin' Hip" and "Gamma Lamma", the first later released as a single.^[5]

Career[link]

Early career[link]

As a member of the Pat T. Cake and the Mighty Panters, Redding toured in the Southern United States, especially on the Chitlin' circuit. These performance venues were safe for African-American musicians during the era of racial segregation which lasted into the early 1960s.^[14][15] Jenkins left the band to become the featured artist with The Pinetoppers.^[16] Around this time, Redding met Phil Walden, the future founder of the recording company Phil Walden and Associates (even though he had no associates),^[17] and later Bobby Smith, who ran Confederate Records, a small label. He signed with Confederate and recorded his second single, "Shout Bamalama" (a rewrite of "Gamma Lamma"), together with his band Otis and the Shooters.^[5][18] Wayne Cochran, the only solo artist signed to Confederate, became Pinetoppers' bass guitarist.^[16]

Next, Redding wrote the song, "These Arms of Mine". At the same time, Walden started to look for a record label. Atlantic Records representative Joe Galkin was interested in working with Jenkins and around 1962 proposed to send him to a Stax studio in Memphis. On the way to a Pinetoppers studio session, Redding drove for Jenkins, as the latter did not have a driver's license.^[19] Jenkins performed with Booker T. & the M.G.'s, and when the session ended early, Redding received the opportunity to perform two songs. The first was "Hey Hey Baby", but studio chief Jim Stewart thought it sounded too much like Little Richard. The second was "These Arms of Mine", featuring Jenkins on piano and Steve Cropper on guitar. Stewart later praised Redding's performance of the latter song and noted, "Everybody was fixin' to go home, but Joe Galkin insisted we give Otis a listen. There was something different about [the ballad]. He really poured his soul into it."^[13][20] Stewart signed Redding for Stax and released "These Arms of Mine", with "Hey Hey Baby" on the B-side. The single was released on Volt on October 1962, but charted in March the following year.^[21] It became one of his most successful songs, selling more than 800,000 copies.^[22]

[edit] Apollo Theater and Otis Blue

	These Arms of Mine noicon Sample of "These Arms of Mine". Redding's first released Volt single, it became his most successful until "I've Been Loving You".
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"These Arms of Mine" and other songs from the 1962–1963 sessions were included on Redding's debut album, Pain in My Heart. "That's What My Heart Needs" and "Mary's Little Lamb" were recorded in June 1963, the latter became one of the worst-selling singles by Redding.^[21] The title track, recorded on September, the next year, sparked some copyright issues, as it sounded like Irma Thomas' "Ruler of My Heart".^[21] Despite this, Pain in My Heart was released on January 1, 1964 and peaked at number 20 on Billboard's R&B chart and at number 85 on Billboard's Hot 100.

In November 1963, Redding and his brother, Rodgers, accompanied former boxer Sylvester Huckaby to the Apollo Theater in New York to record a live album for Atlantic Records, entitled T'Ain't Nothin' To Me. They travelled in a 1963 Ford XL Cabriolet, first to Bluefield, West Virginia, then through Virginia, Maryland, and finally to New York. Redding and his band were paid $400 per week, but had to pay $450 to King Curtis' band for the sheets of notes. Subsequently, the trio returned to Phil Walden and requested money. The boxer explained in Peter Guralnick's Sweet Soul Music their living circumstances in the rundown Theresa Hotel. He also spoke about meeting with Muhammed Ali and other stars. Ben E. King, who performed with Redding at the Apollo, gave him $100 when he heard about his financial situation. The album that resulted from the concert featured soul musicians Ben E. King, The Coasters, Doris Troy, Rufus Thomas, The Falcons and Redding.^[23]

The release of T'Ain't Nothin' To Me brought success to Redding and his band. Their tour car evolved from a plain wagon, to a van, to a minibus, and then a tour bus. Around this time, Phil Walden was drafted by the army, as was Redding's brother Rodgers; Walden's younger brother Alan joined Redding on his tours, while Earl "Speedo" Sims replaced Rodgers. The company, Phil Walden & Associates, grew to one of the most popular R&B booking agencies.^[24]

After he released the song "Security", the majority of Redding's songs had a slow tempo, causing disc jockey Moohah Williams to label Otis Redding as "Mr. Pitiful".^[25] Subsequently Cropper and Redding wrote a song with that name^[13] and included it on Redding's second studio album, The Great Otis Redding Sings Soul Ballads, released in March 1965.^[26] Jenkins began working independently from the group out of fear that Galkin, Walden, and Cropper might plagiarize his playing style during the sessions. It was previously suggested that he should back Redding during the time "These Arms of Mine" was on the charts.^[27] Around 1965, Redding co-wrote the song "I've Been Loving You Too Long" with The Impressions lead singer Jerry Butler in a hotel near the Atlanta airport. That summer, Redding and the studio crew arranged new songs for his next album, and ten of the eleven songs were written in a 24-hour period during July 9–10 in Memphis. Two songs, "Ole Man Trouble" and "Respect", had been finished earlier. "Respect" and "I've Been Loving You" were later recut in stereo during the Otis Blue-session, with the remarkable change that on the first song the line "hey hey hey" was sung by Earl Sims and not by Redding, while the latter song was completely rewritten.^[26] The album, entitled Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul, was released in September 1965.^[28]

Whisky a Go Go and "Try a Little Tenderness"[link]

	Try a Little Tenderness noicon Sample of "Try a Little Tenderness". The song, written by Jimmy Campbell, Reg Connelly and Harry M. Woods in the 1930s, has been frequently covered by many artists. Clarinetist Ted Lewis was the first to record a successful cover. Redding's rendition has been named the 204th greatest song of all time by Rolling Stone.[29][30]
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Redding's success allowed him to buy a 300-acre (1.2 km²) ranch in Georgia, which he called the "Big O Ranch." After his death, the property was extended to a 460-acre (1.9 km²) area.^[31] Stax was also doing well. Walden signed more and more musicians, including Percy Sledge, Johnnie Taylor, Clarence Carter and Eddie Floyd, and together with Redding they founded the production companies "Jotis Records" (derived from Joe Galkin and Otis), on which only four recordings were released, two by Arthur Conley and one by Billy Young and Loretta Williams, and Redwal Music (derived from Redding and Walden).^[32] Their audience had been mostly black, but Stax fans like The Beatles encouraged Redding to perform for a large, white audience. They chose Whisky a Go Go on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles. Redding was one of the first soul artists to perform in the Western United States. His performance received critical acclaim, including positive press in Los Angeles Times, and pushed him further into the mainstream. Bob Dylan attended the performance and offered Redding an altered version of one of his songs, "Just Like a Woman",^[13] but Redding did not record it, as he felt it contained "too much text".^[33] Redding said that was the "biggest mistake" of his career, according to a private press release issued on September 8, 2011, for a special exhibit at the Stax Museum.^[34]

In late 1966, Redding returned to the Stax studio. On this session he recorded tracks including "Try a Little Tenderness", originally written by Jimmy Campbell, Reg Connelly and Harry M. Woods in 1932.^[29] Today it is often considered his signature song.^[35] Jim Stewart said, "If there's one song, one performance that really sort of sums up Otis and what he's about, it's 'Try a Little Tenderness'. That one performance is so special and so unique that it expresses who he is. ... If you want to wrap it up, just listen to [it]." On this version Redding was backed by Booker T. & the MG's, and staff producer Isaac Hayes worked on the arrangement.^[36][37] "Try a Little Tenderness" was included on his next album, Complete & Unbelievable: The Otis Redding Dictionary of Soul. The song and the album were critically and commercially successful—former peaked at number 25 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart and at number 4 on R&B singles chart.^[38]

The spring of 1966 marked the first time that Stax scheduled a series of gigs in a number of cities.^[39] Walden and his crew did so as they intended to reach a wider audience. The majority of artists arrived in London, where R&B was popular thanks to artists like The Rolling Stones and The Beatles,^[37] on March 13, but Redding had flown in days earlier because of multiple interviews and an appearance in "Eamonn Andrews Show". When the crew arrived in London, The Beatles sent their limousine near the airport to pick up the band.^[39] Redding began touring Europe six months later.^[40] Prior to that, booking agent Bill Graham proposed that Redding play at the Fillmore Theatre around the late 1966. The performance was commercially and critically successful,^[37] prompting Graham to remark afterwards, "That was the best gig I ever put on in my entire life."^[41]

Last studio album and Monterey[link]

A year after the Fillmore, Redding released the studio album King & Queen, backed by Carla Thomas on vocals. The idea to produce a duet album was Jim Stewart's, as he thought it would progress their musical career, and that "[Redding's] rawness and [Thomas'] sophistication would work".^[42] The album was recorded in January 1967, while Thomas was studying at Howard University in Washington D.C. where she earned her M.A. in English. Ten out of six songs were cut during their session; the rest was overdubbed by Redding in the days following, due to their concert obligations. Three singles were lifted from the album, "Tramp", the first cut song, was released as a single in April, "Knock on Wood", and "Lovey Dovey", all three peaking at least in the top 60 charts on both the R&B and Pop charts.^[42] Redding and Thomas were awarded a gold plaque for this album Thomas recorded a solo-album, in Washington D.C. at the Bohemian Caverns, entitled The Queen Alone, but the album was never released.^[43]

Redding returned to Europe to perform at the Paris Olympia. The album entitled Otis Redding: Live in Europe was released three months later featuring this performance. Other live performances were in London and Stockholm.^[31] Redding was criticized for his arrogant and contrived performances in these last concerts. His controversial decision to take his protege Arthur Conley (whom Redding and Walden had contracted directly to Atco/Atlantic Records rather than to Stax/Volt) on the tour, instead of more established Stax/Volt artists such as Rufus Thomas and William Bell, received negative responses. Al Bell was active in the Stax reorganization, undertaking routine business and managing tours for Redding and others, the latter task formerly done by Estelle Axton, Stewart's sister. He was later hired as the new A&R head, replacing Steve Cropper, as the crew thought he would act superior.^[37][44]

The place Redding wrote his song "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay", in the San Francisco Bay

In 1967, Redding performed at the influential Monterey Pop Festival as the closing act on Saturday night, the second day of the festival. He was included on the bill through the efforts of promoter Jerry Wexler, who saw the festival as an opportunity to advance Redding's career.^[45] Until that point, Redding had performed mainly for black audiences.^[46] Redding's act, well received by the audience, included his own song "Respect" and a version of the The Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction".^[47] Redding and his backing band (Booker T and the MGs with the Mar-Keys horn section) opened with Cooke's "Shake" before he delivered an impulsive speech in which he asked the audience if they were the "love crowd", looking for a big response. The ballad "I've Been Loving You" followed. The last song was "Try a Little Tenderness", with an additional chorus. With a last "I got to go, y'all, I don't wanna go", Redding left the stage. This would be his last major concert.^[35] According to Sweet Soul Music, people such as Brian Jones and Jimi Hendrix were captivated by his performance; Robert Christgau wrote in Esquire, "The Love Crowd screamed one's mind to the heavens."^[48]

After Monterey, Redding wanted to record with his close friend Arthur Conley, but Stax was against the idea. The two moved from Memphis to Macon to continue writing. The result was "Sweet Soul Music", based on Sam Cooke's "Yeah Man".^[32] It peaked at number 2 on Billboard Hot 100.^[49][50] By that time Redding had developed polyps on his larynx, which he tried to treat with tea and lemon or honey. He was hospitalized in September 1967 at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York to undergo surgery.^[51]

In the winter of 1967, Redding again recorded at Stax. One new song was "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay", which was written by Cropper and Redding while they were staying with friend, Earl "Speedo" Sims, in a houseboat in Sausalito near San Francisco, California.^[52] Redding was inspired by the Beatles album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and tried to create a similar sound, against the label's wishes. It also met with dissatisfaction from his wife for its atypical melody. However, Redding wanted to change his musical style to avoid boring his audience. Meanwhile, the Stax crew were also dissatisfied with the new sound; Stewart thought that it was not R&B, while bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn thought the sound would damage Stax's reputation. However, Redding thought it was the best song he ever wrote and believed it would top the charts.^[53] Redding whistled at the end, either forgetting Cropper's ending rap,^[54] or paraphrasing it intentionally.^[55]

Death[link]

By 1967 the band had taken to traveling on Redding's Beechcraft H18 to gigs. They flew to Nashville, and on December 9, 1967, appeared on the nationally-syndicated Upbeat television show produced in Cleveland. They played three concerts in two nights at a small club called Leo's Casino.^[50][56][57] After a phone call with his wife and children, Redding's next stop was in Madison, Wisconsin. On the next day they were to play at the "Factory" nightclub near the University of Wisconsin after the opening act "The Grim Reapers", precursor of Cheap Trick.^[56][58]

Although the weather was poor, with heavy rain and fog, and Redding had been warned to postpone the flight, they did not stop their trip.^[59] Four miles from their destination at Truax Field in Madison, the pilot radioed for permission to land. Shortly thereafter, the plane crashed into Lake Monona. Ben Cauley, one of The Bar-Kays and the accident's only survivor,^[50] was sleeping shortly before the accident. He woke just before impact, and saw his bandmate Phalon Jones look out a window and exclaim, "Oh, no!" Cauley said the last thing he remembered before the crash was unbuckling his seat belt. He then found himself in frigid water, grasping a seat cushion to keep afloat.^[51] The cause of the crash was never determined.^[60] The only other Bar-Kays to survive were James Alexander and Carl Sims, who instead flew on a commercial flight for lack of room on the H18.^[61] Andrew Love and Wayne Jackson of The Memphis Horns had earlier declined to take part in the tour.^[50][62]

Redding died just three days after recording Dock of the Bay, on the third anniversary of Sam Cooke's death.^[43][50] His unexpected death was a shock for friends and family. Aretha Franklin stated, "I heard it on the TV. My sister Caroline and I stopped everything and stayed glued to the TV and radio. It was a tragedy. Shocking."^[63]

Redding's body was recovered the next day when the lake bed was searched.^[64] Many musicians asked the family to postpone the funeral from December 15 to December 18 so that they could attend.^[63] The service took place at the City Auditorium in Macon, attended by many prominent musicians. More than 4,500 people came to the obsequy, overflowing the 3,000-seat hall, although many did not know who he was. Johnny Jenkins did not come, fearing his reaction would be worse than Zelma Redding's.^[65] Redding was entombed at his ranch in Round Oak, about 20 miles (32 km) north of Macon.^[66] Jerry Wexler delivered the eulogy.^[67] Redding was survived by his wife and three children, Otis III, Dexter and Karla.^[68] In November 8, 1987, a memorial plaque was placed on the lakeside deck of the Madison convention center, Monona Terrace.^[69]

Posthumous releases and proposed recordings[link]

"(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" was released in January 1968 and became Redding's only number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100, and the first posthumous number-one single in US chart history.^[70] It sold approximately four million copies worldwide and received more than eight million airplays.^[71][72] The album The Dock of the Bay was the first posthumous album to reach the top spot on the UK Albums Chart.^[73]

Shortly after Redding's death, Atlantic Records, distributor of the Stax/Volt releases, was purchased by Warner Bros. Stax was required to renegotiate its distribution deal, and found that Atlantic actually owned the entire Stax/Volt catalog. Stax was unable to regain the rights to its recordings, and severed its relationship with Atlantic. Atlantic also held the rights to all unreleased Otis Redding masters.^[74] It had enough material for three new studio albums—The Immortal Otis Redding (1968), Love Man (1969), and Tell the Truth (1970)—all issued on its Atco Records.^[74] A number of successful singles emerged from these LPs, among them "Amen" (1968), "Hard to Handle" (1968), "I've Got Dreams to Remember" (1968), "Love Man" (1969), and "Look at That Girl" (1969).^[74] Singles were also lifted from two live Atlantic-issued Redding albums, In Person at the Whisky a Go Go, recorded in 1966 and issued in 1968 on Atco, and Monterey International Pop Festival, a Reprise Records release featuring some of the live Monterey Pop Festival performances of The Jimi Hendrix Experience on side one and all of Redding's performances on side two.

In September 2007, the first official DVD anthology of Redding's live performances was released by Concord Music Group, then owners of the Stax catalog. Dreams To Remember: The Legacy of Otis Redding featured 16 full-length performances and 40 minutes of new interviews documenting his life and career.^[75] On May 18, 2010, Stax Records released a two-disc recording of three complete sets that he played at the Whisky a Go Go in April 1966.^[76]

Plans were made by Carla Thomas to record another duet album in December the same year, although Phil Walden disputed this claim. There was also a proposal by Redding to record an album featuring cut and rearranged songs in different tempo; for example, ballads would be uptempo and vice versa.^[77] Another suggestion was to record an album entirely consisting of country standards.^[78]

Songwriting[link]

In his early career, Redding mostly covered songs from popular artists, such as Little Richard, Sam Cooke, or Solomon Burke. Around the mid-1960s he wrote his own songs—always taking along his cheap, red acoustic guitar—and sometimes asked for the Stax member's opinion of the lyric's quality. He often worked on lyrics with other musicians, such as Earl Sims, his brother Rodgers, Sylvester Huckaby, Phil Walden or Steve Cropper. During the time of regeneration, Redding wrote about 30 songs in a session lasting about two weeks.^[79] Typical was his free improvisation during the song's end.^[80] Most of lyrics of his songs were about love, leading to his nickname of "Mr. Pitiful". Redding was the sole copyright holder on all of his songs.^[81]

In "(Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay" he abandoned the romantic themes and replaced them with "sad, wistful introspections, amplified by unforgettable descending guitar riffs by Cropper".^[82] On the official website of the Songwriter's Hall of Fame, it was suggested that the song "was a kind of brooding, dark voicing of despair, ('I've got nothin' to live for/Look like nothin' gonna come my way')" as "his music, in general, was exultant and joyful". According to the journalist Ruth Rob, author of the liner notes for the 1993 box-set by Rhino Records, "It is currently a revisionist theory to equate soul with the darker side of man's musical expression, blues. That fanner of the flame of 'Trouble's got a hold on me' music, might well be the father of the form if it is, the glorified exaltation found in church on any Sunday morning is its mother." And further on the site declares that "glorified exaltation indeed was an apt description of Otis Redding's songwriting and singing style."^[83] Booker T. Jones compared Redding with Leonard Bernstein stating, "He was the same type person. He was a leader. He'd just lead with his arms and his body and his fingers."^[84]

Otis Redding favored short and simple lyrics over long and complicated; When asked whether he intended to cover Dylan's "Just Like a Woman", he responded that the lyrics were "too long".^[33] Furthermore, he stated in an interview:

Basically, I like any music that remains simple and I feel this is the formula that makes 'soul music' successful. When any music form becomes cluttered and/or complicated you lose the average listener's ear. There is nothing more beautiful than a simple blues tune. There is beauty in simplicity whether you are talking about architecture, art or music.^[85]

Beside the songwriting, Redding also arranged horn lines, always humming to show the horn section what notes he had in his mind. His horn arrangements were described by the blowers as complicated and difficult. The song "Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song)" reflects his habit to hum with the horn section.^[86] Apart from songwriting, Redding served as a record producer, arranger, and talent scout.^[87]

Personal life and wealth[link]

Redding, who was 6 feet 2 inches (1.88 m) tall and weighed 220 pounds (100 kg), was an athletic family man who loved football and hunting.^[79][88] He was described as vigorous, trustworthy,^[33] naturally full of fun and vitality,^[68] and as a true businessman. Biographer Peter Guralnick has said Redding would even have been respected by the Ku-Klux-Klan.^[33] According to several people, Redding's personality was not fully matured neither on stage nor in public life. His brother Rodgers thought he was "confused", while Alan Walden described him as "naive". He was not only a musician, company founder, talent scout and record producer, but was also active in philanthropic projects. Through his keen interest for the Black youth he intended to build a summer camp for disadvantaged people from urban slums and ghettos.^[85]

Redding was a very wealthy person. According to several advertising copies, he had around 200 suits, 400 pair of shoes, and he earned about $35,000 per week for his concerts.^[89] For the "Big O Ranch" he spent about $125,000. As the owner of the Otis Redding Enterprises of Macon, he earned through performances, music publishing ventures and royalties from record sales more than a million dollars in 1967 alone.^[63] One columnist said, "in one year ... he sold more records than Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin combined."^[90]

Style[link]

Redding appeared a little bit clumsy on stage, and he sometimes received advice from Rufus Thomas. Jerry Wexler said Redding "did not even know how to move", and "stood stock-still and moved only his upper body". However, Wexler later explained Redding was well received by the audience, as his delivered strong message was noticeable.^[91] Author Peter Guralnick explains in Sweet Soul Music this painful vulnerability, which was attractive for the audience, but not for his friends and partners, as such a feeling was not known in Redding's self-assurance. His early shyness was well-known.^[84] Redding was, however, known for his generally electrifying performances.^[92] After the release of Otis Blue, Redding became a "catalogue" artist, meaning that his albums were not immediately million-sellers, but were rather sold continually over the years.^[32]

Another characteristic was his raw voice and the ability to convey strong emotion. Richie Unterberger of Allmusic noted his "hoarse, gritty vocals, brassy arrangements, an emotional way with both party tunes and aching ballads."^[93] In the book Rock and Roll: An Introduction, authors Michael Campbell and James Brody suggested that "Redding's singing calls to mind a fervent black preacher. Especially in up-tempo numbers, his singing is more than impassioned speech but less than singing with precise pitch."^[94] According to the book, "Redding finds a rough midpoint between impassioned oratory and conventional singing. His delivery overflows with emotion" in his song "I Can't Turn You Loose".^[94] Booker T. Jones, an American musician, described Otis' singing as energetic and emotional, but said that his vocal range was limited, including neither low nor high notes.^[95] Peter Buckley of The Rough Guide To Rock describes his "gruff voice, which combined Sam Cooke's phrasing with a brawnier delivery" and later suggested he "could testify like a hell-bent preacher, croon like a tender lover or get down and dirty with a bluesy yawp".^[87]

Legacy[link]

Otis Redding has been called the "King of Soul",^[96] an honorific title also given to James Brown^[97] and Sam Cooke.^{[98][99][100]} He remains one of the most recognized artists in soul music. His lean and powerful style exemplified the Stax Sound,^{[87][101][102]} and gave Stax a new identity; he was sometimes said to be its "heart and soul",^[103] while artists such as Al Jackson, Duck Dunn and Steve Cropper also helped to expand its structure.^[102] His open-throated singing,^[101] the tremolo/vibrato, the manic, electrifying stage performances,^[92] and honesty were particular hallmarks, along with the use of interjections, for example "gotta, gotta, gotta", some of which came from Sam Cooke.^[33][103] Producer Jim Stewart thought the "begging singing" was stress-induced and also caused by Redding's extreme, early shyness.^[84] Early on he copied the singing style of Little Richard, one of his idols, but gradually developed his own style. He was primarily influenced by soul musicians such as Little Richard and Sam Cooke, whose live album Live at the Copa was a strong influence,^[33] but later explored different genres that were popular during his time. He studied contemporary music of The Beatles, Bob Dylan. The influence of rock musicians such as Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix, can be heard in songs like "Hard to Handle", which contains rock and roll elements.^[104]

Artists from many genres named Redding as a musical influence. The Beatles were generally influenced by the soul music of Motown Records and Stax. Guitarist George Harrison called "Respect" an important influence for "Drive My Car".^[105] The Rolling Stones also mentioned Redding an important influence.^[106][107] Other artists who have acknowledged the influence of Redding are bands like Led Zeppelin,^[108][109] The Grateful Dead,^[110] Lynyrd Skynyrd,^[111] The Doors;^[110] and virtually every soul/R&B musicians from the early years, such as Al Green, Etta James,^[31] William Bell,^[110] Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Arthur Conley.^[112] Several musicians from the late 20th century have covered or mixed his songs, perhaps the most notable being the Grammy Award-winning "Otis" by Kanye West and Jay-Z.^[19][31] According to band colleague Sam Andrew, Janis Joplin was influenced by his singing style. She herself stated that she learned "to push a song instead of just sliding over it" after hearing Redding.^[113]

Awards and honors[link]

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, where he was inducted in 1989, declared Redding's name to be "synonymous with the term soul, music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm and blues into a form of funky, secular testifying."^[114] Readers of the British music newspaper Melody Maker voted him as the top vocalist of 1967, superseding Elvis Presley, who had topped the list for the prior 10 years.^{[71][112][115]} In 1993, the U.S. Post Office issued an Otis Redding 29-cent commemorative postage stamp.^[116] Redding was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1994,^[83] and in 1999 he received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.^[117] The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame listed three Redding recordings, "Shake", "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay", and "Try a Little Tenderness," among its list of "The 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll."^[118] American music magazine Rolling Stone ranked Redding at number 21 on their list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time"^[119] and number 8 on their list of the "100 Greatest Singers of All Time".^[95] Q ranked Redding at number 4 on "100 Greatest Singers", after only Frank Sinatra, Aretha Franklin and Elvis Presley, respectively.^[120]

Five of his albums, Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul, Dreams to Remember: The Otis Redding Anthology, The Dock of the Bay, Complete & Unbelievable: The Otis Redding Dictionary of Soul and Live in Europe, were ranked by Rolling Stone on their list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". The first album was singled out for praise by music critics; apart from the Rolling Stone listing at number 74, NME ranked it 35 on their list of the "Greatest Albums of All Time",^[121] while Time listed it on their "100 Greatest Albums of All Time" list.^[122] In 2002, the city of Macon honored its native son by unveiling a memorial statue in the city's Gateway Park. The park is next to the Otis Redding Memorial Bridge, which crosses the Ocmulgee River.^[123] The Rhythm and Blues Foundation named Redding as the recipient of its 2006 Pioneer Award.^[124] Billboard awarded Redding the "Otis Redding Excellence Award" the same year.^[31] A year later he was inducted into the Hollywood's Rockwalk in California.^[72] In commemoration of the 40th anniversary of Redding's death, the Georgia Music Hall of Fame, where he was inducted in 1988,^[72] presented the first major exhibition of music, photographs, film and artifacts documenting the singer's life and musical legacy.^[125]

Discography[link]

References[link]