Just before he died in a plane crash at the end of 1967 I hired Otis Redding to play a concert at my college. Aside from being an incredible show, it was a genuine educational experience-- in terms of learning what soul music was all about. That was also the year he had one of his only mainstream hits, "Tramp," a duet with Carla Thomas (although the biggest hit was "Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay," recorded the week of his death and rising to #1 right after the plane crash).