The December 10, 1967 small aircraft accident that took the lives of singer Otis Redding and most of the Bar-Kays was to the soul music of the ‘60s what the famed Buddy Holly/Richie Valens/Big Bopper crash was to early rock ’n’ roll—a pointless and bottomlessly tragic snuffing out of massive potential. Redding was only 26, and had just recorded the song that would go on to be his first #1, “(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay.” The Bar-Kays, a prodigiously gifted Memphis session group whom Redding had selected as his touring band, were only in their late teens. The plane crashed, for unknown reasons, into Lake Monona near Madison, WI.
The lone survivor was Bar-Kays trumpet player Ben Cauley (bassist James Alexander also lived—he took a different plane). Cauley related the harrowing story of the crash in the Dec 28, 1967 issue of Jet.
I guess God was with me. I was asleep. And I remember waking up because I couldn’t breathe. The engines sounded real loud and I had a funny spinning sensation of falling through space. I thought the plane had hit an air pocket. I heard [saxophonist] Phalon [Jones] moan ‘Oh, no.’ Just like that. ‘Oh, no.’ And I turned to say something to him, but I couldn’t because I couldn’t breathe. I reached down and unbuckled my seat belt. I don’t know why. I just reached down and unbuckled it. This may have saved my life. I don’t know. God must have been with me. Otis (Redding) was sitting directly in front of me in the co-pilot’s seat. I didn’t hear him say a word. Didn’t see him do a thing. The next thing I remember is bobbing up in the water holding onto this cushion.
The group was traveling from Ohio to Wisconsin for a performance, having just finished an engagement at Leo’s Casino in Cleveland. But on Redding’s last night alive, they also did a televised performance that still survives. Upbeat was a nationally syndicated musical variety show shot at WEWS in Cleveland and hosted by a young Dick Clark manqué named Don Webster. After its 1971 cancellation Webster stayed in Cleveland to serve variously as the station’s weatherman, announcer, and station manager for another three decades, but in its heyday, the show was host to an incredible lineup of talent including James Brown, the Monkees, Rolling Stones, Stevie Wonder, Love, and no kidding The Velvet Underground. Nowhere near enough of those episodes have seen the light of day in the YouTube era, and let’s hope they exist somewhere, but fortunately, we can see those last recorded performances of Redding and the original Bar-Kays, performing “Respect” and dueting with Mitch Ryder on “Knock on Wood.”
Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Otis Redding gives a blistering set on ‘Ready, Steady, Go!’ 1966